McCarthy: Sir Bobby Was a Great Football Man and a Kind, Humble Human Being - Ipswich Town News

Blues boss Mick McCarthy has paid tribute to his legendary predecessor Sir Bobby Robson, hailing him as a “great football man” and a “kind, humble human being”. Town have designated today Sir Bobby Robson Day with the Blues facing Newcastle United, the club he supported and his last club as a manager, at Portman Road this afternoon.

"He was such a great football man,” said McCarthy, pictured above receiving the 2005 Championship Manager of the Year award from Robson.

"I knew him, I managed against him, I actually played against his teams, I played against his team in the 1988 European Championship and the 1990 World Cup.

"I got to know him really well when I was playing golf in his charity golf day in Portugal for the Refugio Aboim Ascensão and he was so selfless at that.

"Even when he was struggling with his cancer, he was still there, still there in the morning, still there in the evening, went to the dinner, did all the stuff.

"A great character and I just saw what a kind, humble human being he was there and a real force of nature really. He kept doing it and raising money for a charity when he was struggling himself.”

He added: "He was such a great character. I think about Bobby and you’re asking me about me [getting flak from fans] here now, well he got vilified at times as well.

"If Sir Bobby Robson gets vilified and abused and Arsene Wenger can, why the hell should I worry about me getting a few saucy comments made to me?

"It’s just incredible. And now there’s not a bad word would ever be said about him. Maybe we should all say the good things about them when they’re alive and not wait until they’re sadly gone."

Would Robson be a success in management in this day and age? "Managers adapt over a period of time because they have to adapt, we all have to adapt to different things, and he did, he evolved.

McCarthy v Robson with Sunderland and Newcastle in 2003 at the Stadium of Light, the Magpies won 1-0

"He innovated how his teams played, so do you not think he’d be more than bright enough to pick up anything that’s new?

"And it hasn’t changed that much. All this about this ‘gegenpressing’, that’s getting the ball back, like they’ve always done.

"This passing that they’re all doing, I remember talking to Kenny Dalglish once and he said ‘What’s all this about possession football? We used to pass it to each other 30 years ago’.

"It hasn’t changed that much, some of the terminology’s changed and probably the fitness has changed and the routines and the health and strength and conditioning’s changed without a doubt, and maybe the way it’s played here because it’s not 4-4-2 all the time, there are different shapes and different systems, I get that.

"But the principle is still the same and Bobby Robson was a helluva bright man, a great football man and I think he’d be more than able to hold his own in terms of managing teams now.

"He was a great coach and that’s what he’s known as but he was also a great manager, he got the best out of people. That’s the other skill. Coaching’s one thing, managing’s another thing altogether.”

Has Robson’s remarkable success at Town made it tougher for his successors at Portman Road? "It always does. I remember Howard Wilkinson going into Leeds and he was following Don Revie and his great Leeds team after a lot of other managers.

"I was told a story that he took all the pictures down of Bremner, Charlton, Clarke, Hunter and Reaney and put pictures up that were relevant to his team because you can’t keep living in the past.

"And, of course, he ended up winning the league. They haven’t won it since, of course, they might have to take those down now.

"But I don’t think about it, it’s not making it harder for me. And, do you know what, most of the fans that come and chant his name, I wonder how many people watched him, watched his team.

"But it’s history and it’s a great history to have and it’s one that we should never forget. I remember it, I remember Ipswich with Bobby Robson, I remember playing here and he had some great teams.”

What to read next: