Newcastle United To Unveil Sir Bobby Robson Statue

Posted on April 26th, 2012 | 92 Comments |

Sir Bobby Beside His Ipswich Statue
Newcastle United have announced that a statue of Sir Bobby Robson is to be unveiled before the final home game of the season on 6th May. The statue will be nine and a half feet high and cast in bronze. It will be situated at the south west corner of St James’ Park.

Ipswich Town, of course, have had a statue of Sir Bobby outside their ground for many years – a much younger Sir Bobby it has to be said. I’ve had my photo taken standing beside that one, and will be completing the set when United’s new statue is in place!

The club’s managing director Derek Llambias told the club’s official website:

“We’re delighted to be able to honour Sir Bobby Robson with this lasting tribute.

“He was a great man and ambassador for this football club and for the city. He achieved great success during his time as manager of Newcastle United and this statue is a fitting way for the club to remember him.”

Lady Elsie Robson added:

“It’s very fitting that there will be a tribute to Bob outside Newcastle United’s ground. This is where his love of football began.”

“As a boy he’d come here with his dad and he likely queued to get into the ground where the statue will be sited.”

“My husband’s career took him all over the world but he was always a Newcastle fan at heart. He loved this club and was very proud to be its manager.”

“I think the statue design is wonderful and I’m very grateful to Newcastle United for funding it.”

Older fans will no doubt question why there is no equivalent statue of Joe Harvey, who won the FA Cup as a player and was also the last manager to bring home significant silverware in the shape of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. I admit to having a degree of sympathy with that view, and perhaps it’s something the club could additionally consider.

In the meantime, it will be great to see Sir Bobby honoured in this way – and no doubt there will be many fans, with special memories of the great man, who will be delighted to see the new statue unveiled.

NUFCBlog Author: UTD111 UTD111 has written 59 articles on this blog.

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92 Responses

  1. “Older fans will no doubt question why there is no equivalent statue of Joe Harvey, who won the FA Cup as a player and was also the last manager to bring home significant silverware in the shape of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.”

    Aye, good point, but less of the “older” thankyou, UTD111. I was only a bairn when Harvey was manager. He was captain for two FA Cup wins too.

  2. I was including myself in the “older” category Worky – not that it’s any comfort to either of us like LOL!

  3. I think we should get statues of all the great managers we’ve had over the years made & encircle them around the club, that would be a fantastic way for fans who only visit the club every now & then or for fans visiting the club from outside of the UK to see the history of the club.. :)

    We may not have won many trophies in the last 40+ years but we’ve had some fantastic football throughout the years & Pardew is the latest manager to bring that to the club & long may it continue :) HWTL

  4. “Great Managers” – lemme see…..the 2 above plus Sir Kevin Keegan, then I’m struggling!! Stan Seymour?

    How about Gordon Lee? Got us to 5th then boogered off LOL!

    Richard Dinnis anyone?

    Willie McFaul?

    We might not have a very big circle there Toon69!!

  5. Absolutely delighted the club have announced this. The last gentleman of football, oozed class, sadly lacking in todays game. Back where he belongs, looking over the club he loves.

  7. Stan Seymour Senior aka “Mr Newcastle United.”

    58 years with the club, League winner and FA Cup winner as a player (one of the best we ever had), two further FA Cups as a manager, another FA Cup as Chairman and the man who signed Jackie Milburn amongst others. Where’s his statue?

  9. Yep – Stan Seymour should definitely qualify….

    The thing is, when you ask people why Sir Bobby was “great” – they tend to go on about his exploits elsewhere – he was only at United for the final 5 yrs of his career. And he turned us down the first time when he was at Barca.

    Whereas blokes like Stan and Joe were United men through and through.

    Anyway – think my position on all of this is that it’s great to see the SBR statue going up, but these other greats deserve one too!

  10. GS says:
    April 26, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    “Good article on Chris Hughton. I didn’t realise Brum were in SUCH a mess when he took over.”

    GS, they lost about 14 / 15 players, and had the Europa League to deal with, which undoubtedly held them back earlier in the season. They must have played around 60 games this season.

  11. UTD111 says:
    April 26, 2012 at 4:24 pm

    “And he turned us down the first time when he was at Barca.”

    He was under contract at Barcelona, UTD111. Perhaps his finest hour as a manager was when he went in a Cruyff – Van Gaal sandwich at Barcelona and didn’t look out of place at all. He was originally taken on as a kind of stopgap between the two brilliant but feuding Dutchmen. However, after advising them on Luis Figo, signing Ronaldo the first, winning the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup all in that one season, they didn’t quite know what to do with Van Gaal on his way. Despite being shunted to Technical Director though, Robson being the man he was wouldn’t break his contract.

  12. Yep I can remember him being interviewed on the telly waving his arms in the air, shrugging his shoulders and repeating “I’m under contract” – but the interviewer went on and on – one of the most pointless interviews I’ve ever seen as it was obvious he wasn’t going to change his mind!

  13. about time!!!!
    the statue should be massive, like the saddam hussain one, in the middle of baghdad.
    that way bobby will be able to look over, all he surveys.

    i was just wondering when the “frankie pingle” statue was being unveiled?

  14. Take em one at a time,
    SBR ? nice guy, good manager, had the best side’s since KK’s.
    Joe Harvey, so-so player, replaced at right half by Jimmy Scoular, a much better player.
    As a manager still so-so.
    Stan Seymour, disliked by the fans, sold a bunch of good players, had success in the early fifties, in the FA cup, but still disliked by the fans.
    Niether deserves a statue.

  15. Chuck@14

    Got to hand it to you Chuck – I think your posts are a hoot!

    You certainly know how to use that stirring spoon!!

    “Are you Worky in disguise?”

    LOL!!

  16. Great to see Sir Bobby remembered in this way, nice touch from St James’ current residents. I have heard of the other names mentioned above but know very little about what they done when they were at the club. Sir Bobbys last season was 02/03 (I think) that would make me 19 to 20 at the time, I kna noot aboot the 50’s like!

  18. @UTD111, Aye theres a bit to get through there like, luckily I have to entertain myself at work until 2am so should be through it by then. I would show colleagues your joke page from UTD111.COM but I fear it may be flagged as inappropriate, LOL.

  22. Nee beef here, I’m off to do some actual work that they pay me for, I’ll be back later to throw some more insults.

  25. UTD111 says:
    April 26, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    “He’s havin a go at us oldies Worky LOL!”

    I telt ye I was only a bairn when Joe Harvey was manager. I didn’t used to go down and watch Albert Shepherd like you! :-)

  26. Worky @25

    Cheeky booger – that would make me 120 yrs old ish

    I’m a 60’s Leazes Ender! – (wish we had a smilie for sticking yer tongue out LOL)

  27. bit off the topic but does anyone else think we should go for agbonlahor, he can play cf/lw/lm so can adapt to different tactics plus he is rapid when it comes to pace

  28. UTD111 says:
    April 26, 2012 at 6:35 pm

    “(wish we had a smilie for sticking yer tongue out LOL)”

    You mean :-P ?

    colon, hyphen, capital “P”

    ps or just colon, capital P. :P

  29. jim says:
    April 26, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    “bit off the topic but does anyone else think we should go for agbonlahor, he can play cf/lw/lm so can adapt to different tactics plus he is rapid when it comes to pace”

    He’d be the best part of £15 million, Jim, and I don’t think the club would go for that. I think that we should go for some good defenders like Jan Vertonghen and another one first TBH.

  30. UTD111 says:
    April 26, 2012 at 6:35 pm

    “Cheeky booger – that would make me 120 yrs old ish”

    Sorry, UTD111. Chuck might have seen him in action?

  31. UTD111
    A hoot you say!
    Hey ! call em like i see em (well mostly)
    On the other hand,
    There’s only one Workey-Ticket,
    Oooooone Workey Tiiiiicket,
    There’s only one Workey Ticket,
    But it aint me babe!

  34. workyticket says:

    “When’s Freddy Shepherd getting his statue?”

    Probably just after SJH gets his :lol:

  36. Strong reports that Guardiola to leave Barca – press conference tomorrow.

    They better keep their thieving hands off Pardew.

    Rodgers installed as favourite for the job.

  37. Yeah used to watch Joe Harvey, mind he was getting past his sell by date.
    Never thought he was anything special, now his replacement, “Dorty Jimmy Scoular” hey thats what the fans called him.
    He would make Tiote look like a pacifist, toughest enforcer i ever saw play for the side.

  42. Perhaps there will be an opening at Swansea, if Rogers goes to Spurs.
    They could probably explain to him how they keep possession.

  44. chuck says:
    April 26, 2012 at 7:34 pm
    Perhaps there will be an opening at Swansea, if Rogers goes to Spurs.
    They could probably explain to him how they keep possession.
    _________________________________________

    Here we go again!!

    Worky – you remember you asked yesterday what all the debate about Swansea was for??

    It’s a friendly disagreement between me an Chuck about SWansea’s tippy-tappy football versus teams wot score and finish in the top six LOL

  46. The press will be having kittens if Guardiola is a free agent. The story is on ESPN. Another distraction for Chelsea and more speculation for Citeh.

    Should make the run in just a little more interesting.

  47. Pep just called me. He said he had heard my 5-a-side team is struggling & now that he has a bit of time wants to help out. He’s bringing his boots & a handful of small but talented lads he thought were the next Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro,Fab, Villa, Alves…only I’m not convinced there are seven of them & the first one is called Sleepy…

  48. UTD111
    It’s called possession football, a game which only sides with managers who are students of the game, play.
    Requiring good technique, combined with tactical understanding and frequently practised drills.
    Something beyond AP’s ken, ken whatta mean?

  49. Aw C’mon Chuck – there’s been loads of games this season where United have kept the ball – we just used it better than Swansea.

    That’s why we’re 4th and they’re….well nowhere really.

    Are you saying United play hoofball? Have you seen us play this season?

  53. UTD111 says:
    April 26, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    “Worky @40

    I saw Albert “Ankles” Bennett play

    Does that count?”

    Currently running a pub in Norwich, apparently.

  54. GS says:
    April 26, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    “Strong reports that Guardiola to leave Barca – press conference tomorrow.”

    There’s a big soap going on behind the scenes at Barcelona, GS, I’ve been following the Cruyff / Guardiola side of it. It’s much better than anything on the telly.

  55. UTD111 says:
    April 26, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    “Here y’go Chuck

    Hoofball Team

    Possession stats:”

    Any particular reason why you just picked Stoke, the “hoofball” team par excellence as an example, UTD111 ;-)

  56. Yeah saw most games, believe it some were not pretty.
    We gotta learn to string more than three or four passes to-gether, you know, possession like !
    Not eight men defending, with the backs hoofing hail mary passes up to two isolated strikers, who have no support.
    Eh! whadda ya gonna do ?

  59. Stoke for christ sake the worlds no 1# hoofball side, thats who you are comparing us with, c’mon guy.
    If you look hard enough perhaps you could find another game where we had max possession, good luck !

  62. “A table of average possession in the Premier League shows a huge gap between seven sides (Arsenal, Swansea City, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool) who all average 55-59% of possession during a game, and the other 13 sides.

    No other team average more than 50%, and many do not attempt to. When comparing the possession table with the league table, the two greatest anomalies are Swansea (second in possession terms, 14th in the table) and Newcastle United (11th in possession terms, fifth in the table). Their match at the Liberty Stadium was a fascinating clash of contrasting approaches, with Swansea recording an amazing 77% of the ball, but losing 2-0”

  64. GS says:
    “Here’s one to stir the pot. Look at goal attemps”

    Sneaky lil bastad GS. That was the home game where we werent “at it” and Swans were happy for a point :)

  65. So i suppose those sides like Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man U., Citeh and Liverpool, with exceptional possession time are purely the top sides by accident?

  67. 65
    chuck says:
    April 26, 2012 at 8:29 pm
    So i suppose those sides like Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Man U., Citeh and Liverpool, with exceptional possession time are purely the top sides by accident?
    ____________________________________

    Dunno if you’ve noticed Chuck – but Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool are below us. Top sides in what way?

    Arsenal are 3 points ahead but we have a game in hand.

    Manure and City are above everybody!

  68. UTD says:

    “Dunno if you’ve noticed Chuck – but Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool are below us. Top sides in what way?”

    Table says Arsenal, Man U and Citeh are above us so get those B/W specs off for a minute :)

  69. You can prove anything with statistics but I know which team I would rather watch. And a slight nod to you AndyMac and Chuck – more so in the 433 formation.

  70. Av anly been away an hour and everyone’s fallen oot, what’s gannin on? Anyway thought I’d pop back and wind up the community elders, LOL.

  71. And I have a question for you more tactically astute people – do we revert back to 442 when Shola comes on?

  72. UTD111
    They are all with the exception of Pool in the top six, if you include pool, it,s the top eight, co-incidence
    that the six teams who maintained the most possession are all in the top eight, i think not and therefor rest my case.

    We Nufc appear to be the exception to the rule.

    Can anyone tell me why a decent LB like santon has sat on the bench for a good part of the season ?

  75. Chuck and UTD111:

    There are a lot of resting cases on here the past few days … M’lud.

  76. AndyMac says:
    April 26, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    “Table says Arsenal, Man U and Citeh are above us so get those B/W specs off for a minute”

    And all the others have won major trophies in the latest millenium too, including the Champion’s League for Liverpool and several League titles for Chelsea, who are also in the Champion’s League final this year. We just look so desperate with all this crowing about being above Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham in the table for five minutes.

    Why can’t we just maintain a dignified silence until we’ve actually won something in colour, as they all have several times already?

  78. Worky @76:

    we are average most of the time, so this is about as fun as it gets. Nobody goes too far because we all know the history of NUFC.

  79. Now on Ed’s blog we have already won 3 European Cups in the past 5 weeks and will get 20 out of the next 12 points.

  80. Marty says:
    April 26, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    “Av anly been away an hour and everyone’s fallen oot, what’s gannin on?”

    It’s called “spirited debate,” Marty, or if it’s Chuck “handbags.” ;-)

  82. Your mate Bielsa’s done it again WT. :)

    Should be a good, albeit all Spanish, final. Barca beckoning ?

  84. Santon completely learns ‘on the job’, Newcastle are defo not 5th, try 7-10th.
    By next season he should be aclimatized & very good, can’t wait!
    Should be well suited to euro football too.

    ;)

  87. AndyMac says:
    April 26, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    “Your mate Bielsa’s done it again WT.”

    He’s only allowed to have Basques in the team too, Andy. I wonder how Newcastle would be doing if Pardew was only allowed to play Northumbrians, and then when they were sold to richer teams, he would have to find another Northumbrian to take his place? No French, no Sengalese, no Argentinians, Italians etc, even though all the other teams can recruit from all over the world. I don’t even know if Shola and Steven Taylor would qualify as they were born in Nigeria and Greenwich respectively.

  88. AndyMac says:
    April 26, 2012 at 10:26 pm

    “Soz Marty its all about the team. How you view it is up to you ! Blue pill or red ?”

    Andy some of us on here, the ones who can remember the likes of Jackie Milburn, and even Albert “Ankles” Bennett could probably do with some of the blue pills by now. ;-)

  90. STEPHEN C
    “Acclimated”, first time i hoid such a woid, but they invent new words every day, ah well !

    WORKEY
    Are you sure about Bilbao and an all Basque side, seems i heard that those Basque clubs have all resigned themselves to playing, non Basques, no ?

    Clinton
    You still repeating that old nonsense about acclimatising to the EPL.
    It’s perhaps a bit more physical and sometimes more perspiration than inspiration, but nothing so different, from football in general.
    Either you can play or not and Santon has proven to be a decent attacking wingback, who has’nt looked out of place yet!
    I recall The same rap, with Enrique.

  92. chuck says:
    April 27, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    “WORKEY
    Are you sure about Bilbao and an all Basque side, seems i heard that those Basque clubs have all resigned themselves to playing, non Basques, no ?”

    Yes, I’m sure, Chuck, but I looked it up and it has been relaxed slightly, a bit like the Ireland team. You still have to have direct Basque ancestry to play for them though. Did you watch them getting into the Europa League final? 3-1 against Sporting Club, they were great!

    chuck says:
    April 27, 2012 at 2:51 pm )

    “WORKEY
    If we were to keep a dignified silence, what would happen to your blog ?”

    Aye, there could be something in that! :-)