Sir Bobby Robson was born in a village called Sacriston in County Durham. When he was a few months old, the Robson's family moved to the nearby village of Langley Park where his father was a coal miner. As a boy, he was often taken by his father to watch Newcastle United.
Robson attended Waterhouses Secondary Modern School but the headmaster did not allow the school football team to join a league. Instead, he began to play for Langley Park Juniors on Saturday mornings at the age of eleven, and by the time he was 15, he was representing the club at Under-18 level.
In May 1950, Bill Dodgin, the Fulham manager made a personal visit to the Robson household to offer Bobby a professional contract. Despite being offered a contract by nearby Middlesbrough, the offer made by Dodgin was too attractive to turn down, so he signed for Fulham and moved to London playing as a wing-half and inside-forward. Robson had also interested his beloved Newcastle, but he opted to join Fulham as, in his opinion, "Newcastle made no appreciable effort to secure [my] signature".
The rest as they say is history with a colorful and varied career as Manager and player.
In March 2008 Sir Bobby set up The Bobby Robson foundation to fight this deadly disease in which he had been diagnosed so many times.
He died at his home on Friday 31st July 2009 from lung cancer.
Newcastle United football club became a shrine to Sir Bobby at the weekend with 50,000 local people paying homage to a local hero. Flowers were laid, shirts signed and a book of remembrance opened for tributes.
