Bobby Robson

Sir
Bobby Robson
CBE

Robson in 1988
Personal information
Full name	Robert William Robson
Date of birth	(1933-02-18)18 February 1933
Place of birth	Sacriston, England
Date of death	31 July 2009(2009-07-31) (aged 76)
Place of death	County Durham, England
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s)	Inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1950–1956	Fulham	152	(68)
1956–1962	West Bromwich Albion	239	(56)
1962–1967	Fulham	192	(9)
1967–1968	Vancouver Royal Canadians	0	(0)
Total		583	(133)
International career
1957–1962	England	20	(4)
Managerial career
1967	Vancouver Royal Canadians
1968	Fulham
1969–1982	Ipswich Town
1982–1990	England
1990–1992	PSV Eindhoven
1992–1994	Sporting CP
1994–1996	Porto
1996–1997	Barcelona
1998–1999	PSV Eindhoven
1999–2004	Newcastle United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sir Robert William Robson CBE (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009)^[2] was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. He is widely considered to be one of the best English managers of all time as well as one of the greatest managers in the history of the game.^[3][4]

Robson's professional playing career as an inside forward spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for three clubs: Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, and, briefly, Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals. After his playing career, he found success as both a club and international manager, winning league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which remained the national team's best run in a World Cup since 1966 until they reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Republic of Ireland national team, while his final official club job was at boyhood club Newcastle United, whom he left in 2004. He held several managerial positions outside of England, most notably one year at Barcelona in 1996–97, as well as stints at PSV, Sporting CP and Porto.

Robson was created a Knight Bachelor in 2002, was inducted as a member of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003, and was the honorary president of Ipswich Town. From 1991 onwards, he had recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in March 2008, put his name and efforts into the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a cancer research charity which had raised over £12 million as of March 2018.^[5] In August 2008, his lung cancer was confirmed to be terminal; he said, "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."^[6] He died just under a year later, in July 2009.