EPL Talk » Newcastle United

Farewell Sir Bobby Robson 1933-2009

Paul Bestall — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:44:28 +0000

It’s with a heavy heart that I start this posting, as the sad news that Sir Bobby Robson has finally lost his fight with cancer after a 13 year battle with the disease. Sir Bobby’s last public appearance was at the charity match for his foundation on Sunday, and it was heartbreaking yet wonderful to see him receive the adulation of his beloved Geordie fans one last time.

Robson was the most successful English manager of the last 50 years, of that there is no argument, both at home in England and with various stints in Spain, Portugal and Holland. A true gentleman, his warmth, generosity and love of the game touched everyone that he came in contact with throughout his long and distinguished career. Whilst Clough had success at Forest in his early days, he never built on his early success at Derby County or Nottingham Forest, save for a League Cup win in 1988. Robson won trophies in 4 countries and took his country to a World Cup semi final over a 10 year period.

A successful footballer, Robson was a deep lying centre forward, similar to the role that Teddy Sheringham would later distinguish with such panache. He started his career at Fulham, but as with Sir Tom Finney, his father made him concentrate on a proper trade, becoming an apprentice electrian whilst still training with Fulham. In the two spells he spent at Craven Cottage, Robson made 344 appearances and scored 77 goals. The spells at Fulham bracketed a 6 year spell with West Bromwich Albion, where he appeared 239 times and hit 56 goals. He also regularly appeared for England, earning 20 caps and getting 4 goals between 1957 – 1962.

Yet, Robson’s playing career would be eclipsed by his success as a manager, though it didn’t get off to the best start. Returning after a spell in Canada, playing for the Vancouver Royals, Robson joined Fulham for a third time as manager in 1968. Robson took over a struggling side and was unable to keep them in the First Division. The following season, with Fulham in 8th, he discovered he had been sacked on a “Robson Sacked” placard outside Putney tube station.

It was to be his next place of employment that would set Robson on the path to greatness,;he took over at Ipswich Town in 1969. Staying for a total of 13 years, in his last 9 seasons at Portman Road, Ipswich only finished lower than 6th once. This achievement could not be understated, surrounded by the giants of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Aston Villa, Ipswich were punching well above their weight. He consistently delivered European Football and under his guidance the club won the F.A. Cup in 1978 and the U.E.F.A. Cup in 1981.

It was clear that he had a job for life at Ipswich Town and his success as bringing players through the youth system was a testament to his skill as a spotter of players. In the 13 years he was the manager, he only signed 14 players, an incredible figure that showed the qualities the scouting network and youth system delivered.

In 1982, Ron Greenwood announced he would leave the England job and the F.A made Robson their preferred choice. The F.A’s dislike of Brian Clough meant the role was Robson’s to lose and even a last minute offer of a ten year contract at Ipswich couldn’t change his mind.

He took over in June 1982 and would spend 8 years in charge of his country. There were low points of course along the way, failure to qualify for Euro 84 and the teams woeful performance in Euro 88 but the success of getting England to Quarter Finals of the World Cup in 1986, and within a post width of a rematch in the final of Italia 90 saw Robson deliver the best showing by an England side in a World Cup since 1966.

Robson’s final two years in the England job saw him recieve unbelievably negative press, consistently being urged to quit. When the F.A. decided to remove him in 1990, I wonder just how long in Graham Taylor’s reign they’d realised what a mistake they’d made? Robson left with the success of Italia 90 still ringing in his ears and embarked on a 9 year managerial campaign in Europe. Taking over at PSV Eindhoven, he won the title in his first two seasons, but the PSV board wanted more success in Europe and Robson was removed in the summer of 1992. He then moved to Portugal and Sporting Lisbon, meeting a young interpreter by the name of Jose Mourinho.The two then moved to Porto and Barcelona. In 1999, Robson eventually got the job he’d always wanted, when he became the manager of Newcastle United.

Robson’s battle with cancer began in 1991 and he has fought 5 separate bouts of the disease in the last 18 years. He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2007, but still struggling to recover from a stroke caused by a brain tumour in 2006, it was one last fight too far. Setting up his foundation, it has so far raised over £1.5 million in 18 months, I hope that figure will rise in the next few weeks.

So farewell Sir Bobby. I will miss you; you were a lovely man, kind, warm, generous and gave me some wonderful times as an England fan. Football is a lesser sport with your loss.

“My condition is described as static and has not altered since my last bout of chemotherapy; I am going to die sooner rather than later. But then everyone has to go sometime and I have enjoyed every minute.” Sir Bobby Robson

“As a trainer without doubt Robson is one of the greatest in the world” Ronaldo

“He was like a father to me, I’ll never forget the love he showed me” Paul Gascoigne

Legends of English Football: #3 Len Shackleton

Paul Bestall — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:31:06 +0000

For most Sunderland fans, there is nothing finer than taking a player from Newcastle and making him one of your own. When the Mackems broke the transfer record in 1948 by paying £20,500 to bring Shackleton to Roker Park, they captured one of English football’s most mercurial talents. Shackleton was a mould breaker, a player who refused to conform and loved to entertain the public.

Born in Bradford in 1922, Shackleton ended up as a trainee at Arsenal but was freed, aged 17 as the Second World War started. Managing to avoid being drafted, he signed a contract on Christmas Day with Bradford Park Avenue. At the time, it was illegal to sign a contract on Christmas Day, but Shackleton reminisced about breaking the law when he signed. “I didn’t care and neither did the club. It was all I wanted to do”

Park Avenue, whilst now stuck in the Unibond League, were a steady lower league side at the time and throughout the war Shackleton used to play twice a day. He’d turn out for B.P.A in the morning and then appear as a guest for Bradford City in the afternoons. He hit 171 goals during 6 seasons of war time football and he became an idol at Park Avenue. At the end of the war, Shackleton was highly sought after and the club turned down several offers but they eventually received an offer they couldn’t turn down from Newcastle United and Len made his way to St James Park for £13,000.

As debut’s go, Shackleton’s first game for Newcastle couldn’t have gone much better as he scored six and set up four in a 13-0 romp against Newport County. Yet, Shackleton didn’t enjoy his time at the Geordies at all. Asked later in his career about his feelings towards them he summed it up as “I’m not biased when it comes to Newcastle United, I don’t care who beats them”

In February 1948, Shackleton made the move which would make him a legend and joined Sunderland. The club was earning a reputation for spending big money, becoming known as the Bank of England club throughout the early 50’s, but Shackleton perhaps never received the credit he deserved as Sunderland simply couldn’t win a trophy that they’re investment suggested they should. Adored by the fans and management at Sunderland, he was not popular with power brokers of English football.

You see, Shackleton was known as the “Clown Prince of Football”; he loved to entertain the crowd and bamboozle any opponent that came up against him. Scoring the simply goal was not enough, he needed to entertain. He would dribble once, twice, even three times past a defender just to show he was completely in control of the ball. Famously against Arsenal, he dribbled his way into the box, stood on the ball and looked at an imaginary watch on his arm. As the defender came flying in, he simply rolled the ball to one side and continued dribbling around the mystified Arsenal defenders.

Against Sheffield United, he once held up play by smashing the ball in to a snowdrift to waste time and his most famous trick was to play a one two with the corner flag, leaving many a full back on their behinds, cursing their luck to marking him. Yet, for his popularity with the general public, he was despised by the F.A. The England manager of the time, Walter Winterbottom once remarked “I wish Len would come half way to meet the needs of the team, there wouldn’t be anyone to touch him.”

It is clear to anyone who knew about football in the late 40’s and early 50’s that for Shackleton to only ever have received 5 caps for England was a disgrace, but the man himself didn’t care. “England play at Wembley Stadium, not the London Palladium.” In 1955, he published his controversial autobiography that included the now legendary chapter entitled “The Average Director’s Knowledge of Football”. It was a blank page.

A niggling ankle injury sustained in the 1951-52 season eventually caught up with Shackleton and he was forced to retire after the first game of the 1957-58 season. In retirement, Shackleton continued to be a thorn in the football authorities side, comparing footballers in the 1940’s and 50’s as modern day slaves and as a journalist for both the Daily Express and the Sunday People continued to criticise the suits he felt ruined the sheer joy of football.

The Prince passed away in 2000, in Grange upon Sands after suffering a heart attack and his legacy still continues to bring joy to the legions of fans that saw him at his pomp in the 1940’s and 50’s. A true maverick of the English game, he claimed that Paul Gascoigne was the only player he’d ever pay to see as he was the only one who almost as talented as he was.

The world record transfer in 1948 of £20,500 when he joined Sunderland
309 goals in 612 games
1 goal in 5 England Appearances
First footballer to publish his autobiography

Sunderland Need To Move Quickly But Realistically

Paul Bestall — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:12:29 +0000

The only thing that surprised me about Ricky Sbragia’s resignation was the timing of it, coming just 20 or 30 minutes after the final whistle. It was odd to watch Niall Quinn speaking about his manager not wanting to take up the option of another year as manager, whilst Sbragia stood there impassively.

Now it seems that the man who dared to question Roy Keane’s scattergun approach to transfer policy, correctly in my opinion, Ellis Short, is finalising his deal to buy out the board and complete his takeover at the Stadium of Light. A transfer kitty of £200 million will then apparently be made available to whoever takes the hot seat over which just makes me throw my hands up in exasperation.

60 years ago, Sunderland were known as the “Bank of England” due to their wealth but times have moved on and once again we’re faced with another club who seem to have no realisation of where they are in the scheme of things. The names being mentioned with the vacancy go from the ludicrous, Frank Rijkaard, to the obvious, Alan Curbishley, to the stupid, Steve Bruce being a Newcastle fan. The number one target, Martin Jol looks set for his dream job as Ajax manager; can Sunderland honestly think they can match Ajax in terms of appeal?

Now I’ve nothing against Sunderland wanting to better themselves but once again this is a club that the new owner assumes that just because it’s in the Premiership, everyone will be queuing up to join them. No offence to Sunderland fans but Short must be living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks that they can attract the quality of players or a top quality manager he seems to think will want to join them.

Despite the amounts of money washing around in the Premiership, to attract the top players you either need to be based in London, or an internationally known club such as Liverpool or Manchester United. Sunderland are neither at the present moment and Short needs to look at how tough Manchester City are finding it to attract the big name players they assumed would be desperate to join them. Regardless of what a lot of people think, the top players want to win trophies, with money being a distant second.

You can have all the money in the world, but as in Sunderland’s case, you have no real international presence or modern history, you will struggle to improve the player quality with signings from abroad. Look at Newcastle in their pomp or Leeds United when they were going well, which top quality international stars did they sign? None. Not one, because of geographical location and history of success.

They may have signed some great players, but not one of true top level international quality. Ginola was a swear word in France by the time he joined Newcastle after being blamed for the goal that cost France qualification to USA 94. Faustino Asprilla was a loose cannon, unable to fit in anywhere, a risk too far for many managers.

With Short trying to throw money at Sunderland, he may be very surprised of the actual lack of interest from a top quality manager to join him. With several massive clubs in Europe needing new managers, Juventus, Munich, Real Madrid, Ajax, PSG, Chelsea, Celtic and German champions Wolfsburg to name a few, he’ll realise that money isn’t everything in Premiership football. Can Sunderland honestly compete with those sides, regardless of the money the may have?

Even in England, they only have to look up the road to Newcastle United to see the type of player having loads of money can give you. Inconsistent, infuriating and unwanted else where, the perception of the last few years in the UK was that if a player went to Newcastle, it was purely for the money as they had no chance of any silverware.

Short needs to be realistic at Sunderland and grow them steadily, otherwise he could end up with a frustrating summer and team full of mercenary players. Once again, a quick glance up the road will tell them all they need to know about that policy.

What Next For Michael Owen?

Michael Timbury — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:04:21 +0000

With Newcastle teetering over the relegation trap door, skipper Michael Owen will lead a mass exodus at the club, should they fall through it into the Championship on Sunday. With Owen out of contract it is likely that he will leave the club in the summer regardless. The question is where will he go? A number of clubs have reportedly shown interest and being that he is available on a free reduces the risk for anyone willing to take a punt on a striker who is injury prone, but also proven class.

Of the Premiership clubs, Owen has been linked with moves to Aston Villa, Everton, Man City, Tottenham, Arsenal and a return to Liverpool. Rumours emerged last week of a pay as you play deal from Celtic that included massive goal bonuses and then there have been a few smaller cries of offers and interest from abroad. Personally I think moving north of the border at this stage of Owen’s career would be suicide, especially on a pay as you play deal. Owen is too good for the SPL right now and can still achieve a lot at a higher level. Of course the prospect of Champions League football might appeal but it’s not like he’d ever win that particular competition with Celtic.

Aston Villa is a potential destination which may be favourable to Owen as he would have the opportunity to link up with Emile Heskey once more, something that Owen has always prospered from. John Carew is also of the Heskey mould and could provide a similar foil for Owen. Everton may not be the most popular club for Owen to align himself with given his history but could be what it needed to push the Toffees to the next level. These two seem the most likely of choices as Spurs have already got three strikers in the form of Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Darren Bent that can offer what Owen does. Man City are being linked with every Tom, Dick and Jose so their name was destined to crop up on the list of suitors but the actual chances of them signing Owen are slim. Mainly because he wouldn’t cost an outrageous transfer fee and it seems that City don’t deal in the bargain bin anymore.

Arsenal and Liverpool aren’t likely to be interested either. Owen isn’t really the kind of player Arsene Wenger likes (i.e. English), and would rather blood someone like Carlos Vela who, given Arsenal’s tight budget, wouldn’t cost the club anywhere near the amount Owen’s wages would. As for Liverpool, Rafa Benitez is hardly likely to re-sign a player who was shown the door almost immediately after Rafa took over at Anfield. I would like to see Owen try again abroad, although I can understand the player’s reluctance given his stint on the Real Madrid bench in 2004/05. Perhaps Italy would be a more viable option should Owen’s prospects be limited domestically as the Italian style may just suit his game more. Newcastle still remains an option if they stay up and it wouldn’t surprise me if Alan Shearer was to remain as manager, then Owen might just be inclined to stay put.

Premiership Final Day Preview

Paul Bestall — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:44:09 +0000

Ready For Sunday then?

So, how’s your nerves? Sky Sports News have today been running an article about stress relief for fans for Sunday. Tips included having a hot bath, avoiding alcohol and meditating to stay relaxed in the build up to the final round of matches in the Premiership. Which will be no help to any of the fans who’s nerves are probably already shredded about Sunday. For the first time in the UK, we’re going to have 4 games broadcasted from the Premiership simultaneously with streams coming in from Hull, Sunderland, Aston Villa and West Ham, which worries me about the potential for an RSI based injury.

The trapdoor to the Championship is wide open, beckoning 2 teams to join West Bromwich Albion in relegation despair. Poor WBA, such lovely football, but no cutting edge, what they’d give for a 15 goal a season striker, it would have made all the difference to such a good football side as daft as that sounds. At 6pm, we will know which of the four candidates will have joined them, with each team’s destiny entirely in their own hands, but for Middlesbrough, it just looks too big a job.

Turning around a 5 goal deficit on Hull City, couple with a Newcastle defeat, is the Boro’s only hope. It’s not impossible to imagine Manchester United putting 3 past Hull, but to win 2-0 at West Ham? That’s a tough ask for most sides, but is it impossible to achieve? Come the last day, nothing would surprise me anymore. Can a team who’ve only scored 27 goals get at least 2 away from home and hope that results in two other games go their way?

Most eyes are going to be on the K>C Stadium, to see exactly which team Ferguson sends out to face Hull City. I’m annoyed by the accusations of a “weakened” Manchester United side taking the field, a side that will probably feature Neville, Ferdinand, Nani, Fletcher,Giggs and Tevez. Disgraceful isn’t it to pick such inexperienced players as those. It’s a side track issue that shouldn’t be even a discussion point; all of those players would walk into every other side outside the top 4 without question.

Newcastle need to worry about themselves at Villa Park, if they don’t win then it could possibly not matter. They have to win and hope for the best, but it’s a massive ask of a team that has only won 2 games this year. Defenders are dropping like flies, Owen isn’t fit, Andy Carroll is definitely out and a couple of youth team players may be on the bench. It all looks hopeless, yet I can’t condemn them fully, something just won’t allow me to say they’re down. It looks impossible but with all of the potential relegation sides in such poor form, it’s too close to call.

Finally, Sunderland, who have just drifted into this situation from seemingly nowhere. Keane walked out when he was rightly questioned over his signings by the majority investor, Ellis Short, over just what value for money they were getting. When someone pays £6 million for Teemu Tainio, you’ve got to ask questions haven’t you? Of all the sides at the bottom, they’ve spent the most, yet got worse so have the most to lose in my opinion, by being relegated some Sunday.

I’m going to be here all the way through on Sunday, so if you can’t get to watch any of the games, hopefully you’ll join us here on epltalk.com, and I’ll try to keep pace with events for us all. Let’s hope we’ve we have a fantastic last day and may the best teams stay up!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Join the live blog on Sunday at 10:45am ET/3:45pm BST for the Premier League finale hosted by Paul Bestall. Celebrate the final day of the relegation battle with one eye on the television set, and the other eye on your computer as you participate in the online experience with football fans from around the world.