Bobby Robson remains a popular and respected figure here in Holland. Last Saturdays 'Volkskrant' featured an interview with him written by Paul Onkenhout and Willem Vissers (thus not Alan Oliver in case he nicks it). I thought some of it worth sharing. Bear in mind though that Robsons comments have been transcribed, translated into Dutch by the journalists, and then translated back, no exact science thus...

"... and then the football season began and I still hadn't had any contact with a club (Robson imagined he'd end up in a consultancy position). I turned to my wife and said: I don't know how long I can keep going like this. She said: you must keep going, because it's about time we had a life together. I said 'yes love'.'

-And what did your wife say when you took on the Newcastle job?

"She also comes out this area. She's very happy."

-She thinks its fine that you're happy with your work?

"Yes, although she thought I was mad to become once again involved in this buisness, in this exasperation, all this frustration."

-Did the club fullfill your expectations?

"Completely. I didn't know though how difficult it would be, how much work it would cost to get the club back on the rails. You never know what a hotel is like untill you stay there. Its the same with a football club. To be honest it has taken a lot of thought and worry. A headache. The chairman told me two things. Firstly, we don't have any money, so don't ask for any. All the money has been spent on the stadium and new players. Secondly, a lot of the players are injured."

-Where a lot of the problems caused by Gullit?

"Its difficult to talk about it. I don't like criticising colleagues. I'll only say that I took the club over in a very difficult situation. A lot of players were injured. Other players were pushed to the side by Ruud, and then selected again for the team by myself. He had used a lot of money for new players, Goma, Marcelino, Maric, Dyer, Ferguson, Dumas. There was no money left for me to use."

More to follow...

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

Answers

-Its become continually more difficult for a manager to build a succesfull team. Take transfer-fees for example.

"Yes, yes. Where is it going to end. The sums paid for players are getting higher, and higher, and higher. Its getting ridiculous. The problem is that the prices are continually being driven upwards. You buy a player for 38 million, whilst another is worth 2 million. But suddenly, because the one player cost 38 million the other says, I'm worth 10 million. But often he's not worth more than 2 million. I know that we play in a big competition with big sponsors, but I don't think buying and selling players for 25, 30 million pounds is, financially, in the best interests of football."

"Everyone is pushing each other too ever higher amounts. You can't buy a player anymore for one million pounds! I get Italian agents ringing me up. I always ask how much a player is going to cost. They say, '8 million pounds', I reply '8 million pounds? I don't have it. For some Italian or other who is often left on the bench. Then I say 'sorry, and then you get some agents..."

-The role of agents has become crucial.

"Some are good. You trust them, and you get your moneys worth. They get their five percent, seven percent, or ten percent. But some of the others! They ring you up and offer a player for, say, five million pounds. But the agent takes two million for himself. We experienced something similar here ourselves with a player that we bought. We discovered that an agent was going to pocket two million pounds from a total of three million. So what did we do? We entered into an agreement directly with the club and by-passed the agent."

-Why don't you do that all the time?

"We try to, but sometimes you have no choice. Sometimes the agent has complete control over the transfer. In the 70's when I worked with Ipswich Town this wasn't the case. The manager was the manager, the chairman the chairman and the club was the club. Then you could build up a team. That isn't possible any longer. The agent is sometimes diametrically oppossed to you. I can get angry about it. At times they have complete authority to sell a player but earn too much from the transfer. That money disappears away from football."

-And the high salaries?

"I don't have a problem with the high salary of Beckham. He and Giggs, and Shearer, they're worth it. But say that they earn 1.5 million per year, then an average player, a squad player thinks, well now I've the right to earn 500 thousand, when that really isn't the case. Perhaps he's worth 300 thousand. Thus the curve gets ever steeper. Clubs should introduce to limit. They should say 'this is our budget, and we can pay this amount', but in fact they do everything that they can to please the players. The players think its great and that its completely normal.'

-In the past...

"In the past managers and players didn't earn so much. When I stopped playing after 18 years I didn't have any money. Now managers and players become financially independent after a few years. That can lead to excesses. Take Domi, one of our players. He's just left for France without us knowing where he is. Domi can easily stay away for a month, 6 weeks, two months. It won't hurt him a bit. If I didn't play for a month in my time you became bankrupt. Who paid for the house and living expenses? Nowadays if players don't turn up for 4 weeks they still get paid as normal for the other 48."

part 3 to follow

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

-That must be difficult for you to accept. You come from a simple background, your father was a miner?

"Yes, and I love those people, love our supporters, the ordinary man and woman. I don't understand how players can react like Domi. Perhaps he'll wake up one day and realise that he needs football. How can you leave your club in the lurch like that, and your teammates. I don't know, I couldn't do it"

-Last year you were asked to become England manager again?

"Yes, and I was extremely flattered, but the chairman held me back."

-What has changed you the most in the ten years you worked abroad as a coach?

"The different mentality, different cultures, different life-styles, different languages, different weather. Its all made me wiser and I enjoyed every year. PSV, Portugal where I'd never been, and where I lost my job. Afterwards I had two fantastic years with Barcelona. Even then Newcastle wanted me to as coach. I said, listen, its cost me eighteen years to get to Barcelona, I'm not just going to leave it."

-In your first season you won the cup and the European Cup Winners Cup. But then Van Gaal came.

"And we won the Spanish Super-Cup. We finished second, two points behind Real Madrid. It wasn't at all Louis' fault, the club had two coaches under contract. Myself for two years, and Louis who would begin in my second year. I didn't know anything about it."

-You weren't treated honestly.

"No. After I had achieved all those successes in my first year the chairman said Lous was coming. You know, I like Louis, he likes me, we respect each other."....

...-How long do you think you can keep going?

"As long as I want to. This week I begun a new contract for 12 months. I don't need a contract for five years, I'm not 38 any more. I don't have a wife, three children and a house that isn't paid for. I'm independent in every respect. Of course I'm concerned about the club every day, but my heart doesn't have to bleed anymore"

-Where do you get your motivation from?

"I need football. I still need the drug. If I should lose my enthusiasm, if I lost my love for football and not need it any more in my life, then that will be the day that I leave here."

(Volkskrant Saturday 13-01-01)

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

Excellent Stevo. Cheers. The boy done good [again]. I look forward to reading this in the Ronnie in a day or so...

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

Brilliant, confirms my belief in him. My only anxiety is the last time you translated a flattering interview form our manager things turned out horrible - I don't hold you fully responsible (c;

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2001

Great interview. Thanks for posting it Stevo!

The man really is a marval. Did anyone else around Tyneside hear Bobby on Century FM this morning? Hysterical. For those outside the area, or who don't listen to Century, last week Phil Stamp's mother phoned in to ask for help locating their lost dog. So today Bobby rings up to ask for help looking for one of his footballer's that's gone missing. He then started stumbling over the name as though he couldn't remember and wound up singing some song(can't remember what it was now...something from the 60's), 'Do-do do do' etc. Then he rambled on about the 60's being his era and said the lost footballer reminded him of another song and started singing about being 'lost in France'. Priceless!!

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001