The League Of Gentleman (Farewell But Not Goodbye - Sir Bobby Robson)

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Product:	Farewell But Not Goodbye - Sir Bobby Robson
Date:	05/10/06 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Offers good stories about the game

Disadvantages: Lacks some of the more crazy football stories I enjoy

There would be very few people associated with Ipswich Town FC who would get a good reception at local rivals Norwich City. However Bobby Robson is one gentleman of the game who goes beyond football rivalry.

Farewell But Not Goodbye is the autobiography of the man, telling his story from his upbringing, through his various coaching jaunts in Europe and culminating in his last managerial position at Newcastle United.

Now in the current climate of the game it seems that if you’ve been in football for all of five minutes then it means your story is full of anecdotes, amusing stories and what not. Step forward the likes of Beckham, Rio, Lampard, Rooney, Cole. Sorry guys, but perhaps when you’ve retired and actually had a full career then and maybe then you can bring out a book. Having someone write one for you when you’re still in your twenties does nothing more than add to the coffers. In recent weeks I’ve been reading books from some of the old characters of the game and it only makes me wish we could go back to simpler times when clubs could compete on a level playing field and everything wasn’t dissected by constant media attention.

You may have read one about one of Ashley Coles revelations in this book recently that he had to pull over distraught at the fact that he was only being offered £55,000 a week instead of £60,000. Well sadly there’s no heartbreaking stories on that level in Robson’s book but then Cole’s tale of woe is hard to beat. Instead this book starts with a young boy in a working class family up north where times were hard and people worked hard to earn a living. Reading about Robson’s first foray into professional football is worlds apart from what it is now. He recounts how players took jobs in the close season to make ends meet; there were no lucrative contracts and most of the time Robson would make his way home from games injured on public transport. I think you’ll agree it’s a far cry from todays world.

Robson’s book isn’t really full of incredibly funny stories as his coaching career didn’t plumb the depths of the lower divisions or take in the champagne lifestyles of the seventies. Instead it recounts stories of how Robson achieved great things with Ipswich and took on jobs in some top clubs, along the way shaping many a career. One such man he talks about is ‘the special one’ at Chelsea, really Sir Bobby can take a great deal of credit for allowing a man who acted initially as an interpreter to learn the ways of coaching the game.

Of course some of the more juicy chapters in the book concern Robson’s time in charge of England and then his tribulations at Newcastle. The passages that deal with England show up some of the narrow minded thinking on the part of the Football Association but also recount the antics of Gazza in Italia 90. Robson also tells it like it is when talking about the hand of god incident in 86, exclaiming that Maradona couldn’t be considered a great as he blatantly cheated.

The Newcastle section shows how poorly Robson was eventually treated by the club. After going in and performing major surgery to stave off relegation. Robson recounts how he moulded a team that challenged for the higher places of the top flight rather than duking it out for mid table. He offers his opinion on the so called disruptive element that led to his downfall and tells the reader that Lee Bowyer is actually a very reserved and quiet person.

Throughout the book I just got a sense that Robson is a man who has seen and done it all in the game and commands respect from his peers as a result. At the books heart are the principles of a man who comes from a working class background and hasn’t moved on from it. Still keeping a great life ethic and sense of tradition for sportsmanship. In a football world where cheating, diving, lack of respect and moneygrabbers looks to ruin the game, it sad to realize that football men like Bobby Robson are a dying breed.

Whilst not the greatest football autobiography I've read, I still found this a quick, easy and relaxing read.

Summary: The Man, The Legend, The Respect