Does The Newcastle United Manager Deserved To Be Compared With Sir Bobby Robson?

Sir Bobby Robson took charge at bottom club Newcastle United in the 1999-2000 season and his impact was immediate. In his first game in charge, he faced Sheffield Wednesday and thrashed them 8-0. What a way to announce your arrival!

Sir Bobby went on to lead Newcastle to a respectable 11th placed finish, but his transformation of the North-East club was just getting started. By the 2001-2002 season, Robson had guided Newcastle to a 4th placed finish and qualification for the Champions League and then went one better the following season by finishing 3rd and gaining qualification for Europe’s top competition once again. He did so with a core of young players, playing attacking football that the Newcastle faithful loved. In short, he had united a whole city to an extent that hasn’t been seen since, until now.

When Freddy Shepherd sacked the managerial icon in 2004, it divided opinion. He still held that high esteem in the city of Newcastle, as seen by him given the Freedom of the City in 2005.

Sacking Sir Bobby set off an immediate dip in Newcastle’s fortunes. The season after sacking him they finished 14th and within 5 seasons were relegated from the Premier League.

So when Rafa Benitez joined the club towards the end of last season, it excited fans. Many had already resigned themselves to relegation, but they knew they had a manager capable of taking them back to the heights of the early 2000s. They famously turned up to their last game at St James park in their 5-1 victory over Tottenham with banners begging Benitez to stay.

And stay he did. After a major restructuring of the playing staff in the summer, Benitez has made a fantastic start to his campaign in the Championship with them currently sitting top. But most importantly, he has once again reunited a city that lives and breath football.

So it is of no surprise that Benitez is being compared to Sir Bobby. It’s not so much about his performance so far, but the fact that the City of Newcastle is once again moving in the same direction, with purpose and excitement about the future of their football club.

One person excellently positioned to comment on this is Kieron Dyer. He was one of the young players that flourished under Sir Bobby Robson’s reign. “When the team and supporters are united, the momentum is unstoppable,” Dyer said. “I still keep a close eye on events there and I’m very excited about how things are going under Rafa Benítez.”

But that is where the comparisons should stop. Sir Bobby had such an influence over the team and the Premier League as a whole.

And Rafael Benitez agrees. “You have to be proud of that. But I am still at the beginning. My career is fine, because I am old. But in terms of Newcastle, the city and what Sir Bobby meant to the club, that is still far away for me.”

Let’s wait until Benitez gets to the Premier League and pushes for places in the top 4 before we compare him to the man affectionately known as ‘The Gentleman of English Football’.