Football mourns loss of Sir Bobby Robson - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet
There are people out there who experienced much more of Sir Bobby Robson's career up close and personal than I did so I'm not going to attempt to compete with them in describing his legacy in football or repeat someone else's first hand account of an encounter with the man and how that revealed something deeper about him and why his passing is such a significant event. If you, our readers, have such stories, please share them.
The thing that sticks out for me after reading all of the stories about Sir Bobby this morning is this: he managed Barcalona. Why does this stick out in my mind? Because it got me wondering about the state of football in England that there doesn't really seem to be anyone from the UK who might ever change jobs who would be considered for this role (or one with any of the other major continental powers).
Assuming Sir Alex will never coach another club who do you have? Moyes? Nice manager who does a great job with limited resources but he hasn't even been discussed for higher profile jobs in England let alone Spain or Italy. Certainly, we can all observe that the Premier League is a net importer of players. Based on the money available, this makes sense. That said, is the state of managers in England SO BAD that 3 of the "Big Four" are managed by men from the continent and England's only significant managerial export is Steve McLaren who has charge of a just-better-than-average Dutch side. Not exactly Barca or even Ajax. For the UK to produce no one better than Moyes over the course of a generation is just amazing. Is it testament to England being more open to the idea of bringing in foreign managers based on merit (or reputation)? Or is the managerial talent just not there?
Thoughts?
Update: I'd like to just add this to Neal's post. Robson loved his team, and I loved his teams. As regular readers of the blog know, I'm a former Newcastle fan. I say former in that my allegiances shifted to my fantasy team rather than following or supporting any one team. I've blogged about this at the end of last season when Newcastle were going down in what I called my Magpies Lament. I think that Sir/Uncle Bobby put together a young, exciting team at Newcastle. One that hit some real highs, but as befits a young team had some real lows. He was sacked after a poor start to a season, and the club never recovered.
Farewell, Sir Bobby. I'll treasure the memories and I'll treasure this:
There are people out there who experienced much more of Sir Bobby Robson's career up close and personal than I did so I'm not going to attempt to compete with them in describing his legacy in football or repeat someone else's first hand account of an encounter with the man and how that revealed something deeper about him and why his passing is such a significant event. If you, our readers, have such stories, please share them.
The thing that sticks out for me after reading all of the stories about Sir Bobby this morning is this: he managed Barcalona. Why does this stick out in my mind? Because it got me wondering about the state of football in England that there doesn't really seem to be anyone from the UK who might ever change jobs who would be considered for this role (or one with any of the other major continental powers).
Assuming Sir Alex will never coach another club who do you have? Moyes? Nice manager who does a great job with limited resources but he hasn't even been discussed for higher profile jobs in England let alone Spain or Italy. Certainly, we can all observe that the Premier League is a net importer of players. Based on the money available, this makes sense. That said, is the state of managers in England SO BAD that 3 of the "Big Four" are managed by men from the continent and England's only significant managerial export is Steve McLaren who has charge of a just-better-than-average Dutch side. Not exactly Barca or even Ajax. For the UK to produce no one better than Moyes over the course of a generation is just amazing. Is it testament to England being more open to the idea of bringing in foreign managers based on merit (or reputation)? Or is the managerial talent just not there?
Thoughts?
Update: I'd like to just add this to Neal's post. Robson loved his team, and I loved his teams. As regular readers of the blog know, I'm a former Newcastle fan. I say former in that my allegiances shifted to my fantasy team rather than following or supporting any one team. I've blogged about this at the end of last season when Newcastle were going down in what I called my Magpies Lament. I think that Sir/Uncle Bobby put together a young, exciting team at Newcastle. One that hit some real highs, but as befits a young team had some real lows. He was sacked after a poor start to a season, and the club never recovered.
Farewell, Sir Bobby. I'll treasure the memories and I'll treasure this:
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