The statue of Sir Bobby Robson stands proudly outside the south-west corner of St James’ Park, the bronze figure of a man gazing out over the city he adored.
‘It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city,’ Robson famously wrote of what it meant to support a club like Newcastle. ‘It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.’
For Robson fell in love with Newcastle, and Newcastle fell in love with him.
So, when 50,000 supporters shuffle past Robson’s statue on Monday night, many will look up at the last manager before Eddie Howe to take Newcastle into the Champions League and remember the man and the memories.
This time, though, it won’t just be those in black and white remembering him. So, too, will the man perched in the dugout across from the one Robson once filled with passion and hope.
Few influenced West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui like Robson. The former goalkeeper played under Robson at Barcelona, starting the second leg of their Spanish Super Cup triumph over Atletico Madrid.
Bobby Robson’s statue was unveiled at St. James Park in May 2012, three years after his death
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui played under Robson at Barcelona between 1996 and 1997
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle side are seeking their fourth consecutive Premier League victory
‘Bobby was a gentleman,’ says Lopetegui. ‘One kind of person that you love. All of us loved him. In this time, Jose Mourinho was his second coach. I remember Bobby with a lot of love. A kind person who was always polite and always helped us. For me, he was important. He was a key for me. He helped me a lot.
‘He was special because he was very, very smart in the way that he managed problems. He was very firm. Very firm. But also in the same way, he took care with the way that he managed all the players. For me, he was very intelligent, a psychologist, about the way he managed all the pressure.
‘I knew how much he loved Newcastle. I knew all this. I have played in Newcastle after this, I have seen the statue. He deserved this.’
That second leg was the only match Lopetegui started for Robson. One of the braver reporters in the room at West Ham’s training ground suggests that, perhaps, Lopetegui didn’t have the best of games either as Barcelona lost 3-1 but still won 6-5 on aggregate.
‘Who won,’ asks Lopetegui in reply. ‘We won the cup, no?’
Lopetegui’s lack of games under Robson, however, gave him the best seat to observe one of the game’s legendary managers in action.
‘I was a lot of time on the bench, very close to him, so I started to think a little bit as a coach in this moment maybe.’
It was not just Lopetegui who felt it. A reporter pulls up the teams from the second leg on his laptop and Lopetegui hauls it towards him. Hunched over the screen, the now animated Spaniard jabs his finger down the Barcelona line-up: ‘Coach! Coach! Coach!’
Lopetegui won the Supercopa de Espana with Barcelona in 1996 while Robson was manager
All but one of the starting players, and both substitutes, went into management. The other, Gheorge Popescu, opened a football school. Among the list of names: Laurent Blanc, Luis Enrique and Pep Guardiola. Mourinho was his right-hand man.
Such was the impact of Sir Bobby Robson.
‘I always say that each coach takes experience about all your life,’ says Lopetegui. ‘Always you have a lot of experience from coaches that you have had in your past. After each one, you make your own style. For sure, I was very proud to be managed by Bobby.’
Robson, while also winning the European Cup Winner’s Cup and the Copa del Rey in his season at Barcelona, never quite earned the respect he deserved, hamstrung by the impossible task of receiving the baton from Johan Cruyff. As such, there was criticism of Robson’s style of play.
‘Robson was more heart,’ said his Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoichkov. ‘Johan wanted to play more soccer. Robson wanted to play football but to play hard, with heart.’
Lopetegui knows what it feels like to face criticism of your style. While he’s hardly succeeded a manager in David Moyes wedded to the principles of Total Football at West Ham, he has followed a man who delivered a European trophy and, so far, is struggling to bring either style or substance. Fourteenth in the table with just three wins in 11 games with little by way of identity or philosophy. The pressure continues to mount.
Speculation during the international break suggested the Spaniard had just two games to save his job, starting at Newcastle on Monday night and then home to Arsenal on Saturday, a suggested he laughed off in his pre-match press conference, with reports claiming the West Ham hierarchy have begun to look at replacements.
Things need to change, then, and fast.
He is under heavy pressure, as West Ham lie 14th in the Premier League table after 11 games
Before the Hammers’ defeat at Nottingham Forest at the start of November, West Ham had not played a Premier League game outside of London.
Now, they face the daunting prospect of a Monday night under the lights at St James’ Park against a Newcastle side who’ve just beaten Arsenal and Forest.
‘We have to adapt, we have to adapt,’ says Lopetegui. ‘It’s a good opportunity to show how competitive we want to be.
‘This is the more important thing. We are approaching a very busy and key month. We will play a lot of matches. We have to be ready.’
