A bit about the legend, Sir Bobby Robson (1933-2009)

I don't really know where to start with this but my thinking is to go from my personal feelings to the football side might seem a bit too meaningless but the other way round will give a good overall idea of the man. This man was football through and through, he even said he often put his football before his family which was one of his major regrets but also one of his great prides. He managed clubs and did brilliantly with them from winning the eufa cup with Ipswich of all clubs, to winning 3 out of 4 competitions in his first year as manager of Barcelona. He didn't do too badly with England either coming the closest to winning a cup since 66' with some arguing with the side he had this was a given, however he knew how to get the best out of these players only being beaten by marradona and what some described as the hand of god, Sir Bob quite angrily and quite rightly described as "the hand of a rascal". Moving on to Newcastle, the team I support, when Bobby Robson came to the club we were as usual spiralling downwards, Ruud Gullit had been sacked after leaving the great Shearer on the bench, and Shearer himself had lost his magic touch. It only took a few words from Sir Bob for shearer to bang in the goals in an 8-0 win over sheffield in his first game. The success that followed was a 4th, 3rd and 5th league finishing after an initial 11th, leading the team to the champions league were they didn't fare to badly amongst the elite. Unfortunately Robson was rather unfairly sacked for a what was then "too bad for Newcastle" 5th, however the slide down the league since shows this to be an unwise move, with managers following not having the passion or ability that Robson showed in his tenure. Quite fittingly just days before his passing, Sir Bobby was honoured with a testimonial match between England and Germany, mimicking his days as England manager, whereby we won 3-2 with Shearer ending the scoring with a penalty. All proceeds went to his great charity Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Foundation.

Now what the man means to me, obviously my interest in him started when he became Newcastle manager, his success here was the first time in my life i'd seen exciting times for Newcastle, as my love for football only really developed after Keegan. One day whilst in Darlington i saw he had come for a book signing, although i didn't read much at the time I wanted to meet the man himself, so was willing to fork out whatever was needed to get the book and ultimately meet him. I'll never forget how I was nervous and inspite having a stupid haircut at the time, when posing for a photo he calmed my nerves by saying "come here" and putting his arm round my shoulder, and standing tall. I read his book and realised why he was such a prescence and how he could stand so tall, with such pride. He was a man who was brought up on working class ethics, you work for your family to support them, but no matter how hard times get you shouldn't grumble, and you should always be respectful and grateful for who and what you've got. He maintained this throughout his life, with no-one having a bad word to say about him on his passing, the man had such grace and such pride that he saw the best in people and could get on with anyone. A few things stick with me, one is something his wife always said to him, which he carried around with him and it has been passed onto me, his wife told him, you should be able to see the seaside or countryside every day of your life. This is a sentiment i think that is powerful and something i try my best to follow. Finally (but not exclusively) one of the great things about him is his determination, which came through in his charity work for and his battle against cancer. He himself had 5 bouts of cancer, beating it 4 times before finally and tragically succumbing, however his fundraising during this time has been immense, raising well over a million for cancer research and treatment. I have heard stories how he defied advice from doctors to not attend, and refused the requests of others to look after his own health when fundraising saying "i will not allow this disease to stop me fundraising". This is a great example to all of what a man is, a man will not be beaten by anything, and a man looks out for the needs of others. You will be sorely missed Sir Bobby, there are two few men like you.

I have so far raised nearly £350 pound for The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation for my Bungee Jump, but as fundraising should never stop and especially since his passing I would still like to raise more despite having already done the jump. If you would like to donate here is the link:
www.justgiving.com/matthewjeffries
If you would like to see the jump itself this is actually the link :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAl_rm62t18