Sir Bobby Robson and Ipswich Town

Sir Bobby and his statue via ipswichstar.co.uk

The name of Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly so familiar in your eye in the last decade, both for achievement or any controversy that enveloped him. Like it or not, you are claiming football lovers should recognize if the track record of the man from Portugal is really shiny.

The coach who familiarly called Mou at least have 22 titles throughout his coaching career with four different clubs, namely FC Porto, Chelsea, Internazionale Milano and Real Madrid. Things are not all the coaches on the planet capable of grasping.

For Mou itself, there is one figure that is very, very meritorious on his career as a football coach. In an interview with talkSPORT radio in the middle of 2015 ago, the name of Sir Bobby Robson was the first to mention the man who is now 53 years old.

The meetings between them occurred first in Lisbon when Robson began coached local clubs, Sporting CP in the summer of 1992. The limitation of language was a constraint that made the trainer felt need an interpreter to explain the tactics carried. That was then made Robson pointed Mou as an interpreter.

Togetherness between them even extended to Barcelona with Mou no longer existed as a translator, but a coaching assistant. Until finally, the breakup came in mid-1997 after Robson back again to the Netherlands for PSV Eindhoven who he had coached in the early 90s.

Mou himself was retained by Barca as an assistant coach to Louis van Gaal, their new manager.

"He is the exceptional figure. Working with tremendous passion in football. His career was very brilliant, "enthused Mourinho in the interview.

Mou felt that there is a lot of knowledge that he got for approximately five years of working together with the husband of Elsie Gray. The Englishman was a teacher for Mou who was hacking his career.

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Long before embracing several trophies with PSV, Porto, and Barcelona, ​​Robson first name skyrocketed along a club from East Anglia nicknamed The Tractor Boys, Ipswich Town. He began coached team based at Portman Road stadium since January 1969, replacing Bill McGary who moved to Wolverhampton.

There was a bit of gambling conducted at the time by Ipswich management because Robson's experience was still fairly minimal. His track record with Fulham, the first team he coached with the job as manager, was not too dazzling.

Ipswich chairman at the time, John Cobbold, insisted that their choice at birth Sacriston figure is not wrong.

In fact, the first four seasons Robson at Portman Road Ipswich ran unsatisfying because Ipswich never brought to finish in the top ten of Division One, the top division in the English Premier League at the time. However, the management was still defending him as a coach.

Until finally, their luck changed completely in the 1972/1973 season, not being a champion indeed. However, the Tractor Boys ended the league at four ranks in the final standings.

This sweet achievement coupled with the successful stole the Texaco Cup, the championship followed by English clubs, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, and Scotland who do not appear in European competition.

Since that time The Tractor Boys were consistently a gadfly for the superiority of Liverpool in the 70s and 80s when dominating the Premier League. Ipswich itself recorded in always finishing in the top six for a decade since perched in the fourth position in 1972/1973 season while never able to come out as a champion.

Exceptions occurred in the 1977/1978 season when Robson's protege was only able to finish in the final standings to 18th.

In the following season, Ipswich managed to carve a sweet achievement to win the FA Cup for the first time in club history after defeating Arsenal in the final.

Competed at Wembley Stadium and witnessed more than one hundred thousand pairs of eyes, Roger Osbourne's only goal in the 77th minute was enough to win the game.

SIr Bobby (left) celebrated with Ipswich players after winning the FA cup trophy via bbc.co.uk

In fact, Ipswich glories made by Robson were not only up there because one proud achievement also has managed to grasp in the 1980/1981 season. Unexpectedly, Terry Butcher et al. stole the attention of the broad audience by bringing home the UEFA Cup trophy to East Anglia after frustrate Netherlands club, AZ Alkmaar, in the final round.

UEFA Cup final match itself was held over two legs, with the first leg played at Portman Road while the second match was held at the headquarters of AZ.

When playing in front of its fans at the first meeting, Ipswich appeared violent and won three goals without conceded. John Wark, Frans Thijssen, and Paul Mariner to be an actor who listed his name on the scoreboard that night.

The hope that carried by AZ to turn things around when they host Robson's men two weeks later in Holland vanished, after four goals that they made in Ipswich goalkeeper to be rewarded twice by The Tractor Boys. In total, AZ defeated by 4-5 on the aggregate of the British envoy.

The homecoming of Robson's protege at Ipswich was greeted very, very lively by loyal fans. Champion Parade was held, the whole squad and of course the UEFA Cup trophy was paraded around the city using a roofless double-decker bus.

Today, the town of Ipswich in late 2006 been shocked by the murder case of Steven Wright looked lively and more jammed than usual.

Sir Bobby with UEFA cup

The resplendent stories achieved by Ipswich and Robson was certainly difficult to remove from the presence of quality players who owned the team. Butcher, Mariner, Thijssen, and Wark are four friends who become the backbone of the team with Kevin Beattie, Alan Brazil, George Burley, Paul Cooper, Arnold Mühren and skipper Mick Mills.

Remarkably, of the names above, practically only the Dutch duo, Mühren and Thijssen, and Mariner were not a product of the academy Ipswich. Noted, for fourteen years coaching Tractor Boys, Robson was only brought only fourteen players from other teams. It's fair enough if calling Ipswich Academy was one of the best in the UK at that time.

At the end of the 1981/1982 season, the strategist refused to renew the contract for a decade despite offered increasing the salary by the Ipswich. This made his name was linked with Manchester United, who was famine title.

However, he dismissed the news and accepted the proposal from Football Association (FA) for the England national team manager that just left by Rob Greenwood due to unsatisfactory performance at the 1982 World Cup.

Despite the mess in the European Cup, failed to qualify for Euro 1984, and a fall in the group stage of Euro 1988, but the achievement of the England was little better at the World Cup. They qualified to the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup before returning tasted semi-final in the 1990 World Cup even though later defeated in the round of penalties against West Germany.

England itself eventually finished in fourth place at the World Cup held in Italy.

The gait and various achievements in football, in the end, made the United Kingdom reward him knighted title "Sir". Until now, there are only four-figure football coach who has that title, namely: Sir Matt Busby, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Alf Ramsey and Robson himself.

At the end of his coaching career, Robson was often fighting with health problems that undermined his body. Until finally her last breath due to lung cancer exactly seven years ago, July 31, 2009.

Ipswich themselves have made a statue of the legendary managers in their stadium, Portman Road. Did not stop there because the Northern Tribune stadium with a capacity of 30,000 spectators was also named after Sir Bobby Robson Stand in honor.

Good-bye, Sir Bobby!

Coach In Peace.