Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sir Bobby Robson honoured

Sir Bobby Robson
Sir Bobby Robson led England to the World Cup semi-finals

Some of the biggest names in football are to attend a service of thanksgiving at Durham Cathedral for the former England manager Sir Bobby Robson.

County Durham-born Sir Bobby died on 31 July at the age of 76 following a long battle against cancer.

The event will be shown live on TV and beamed to Ipswich Town's Portman Road ground and St James' Park in Newcastle.

Among the guests will be Gary Lineker, Sir Alex Ferguson and current England boss Fabio Capello.

Former England striker Lineker, who will lead the tributes to Sir Bobby, said: "I will be nervous because I won't want to let him or his family down.

"I could probably do with one of his famous pep talks beforehand."

Sir Alex Ferguson will speak at the event, as will cancer specialist Dr Ruth Plummer who will talk about the foundation set up in Sir Bobby's name which has so far raised £1.8m.

Sir Bobby Robson with the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1997
Sir Bobby enjoyed European success with Barcelona in 1997

Sir Bobby managed England from 1982 to 1990, taking the national side to the quarter finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and reaching the semi-finals four years later.

Prior to that he had led Ipswich Town to FA Cup and Uefa Cup success.

Following his time with England he had spells in charge of PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona, before returning to manage Newcastle United.

He won the Dutch and Portuguese league titles and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

The current Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola, will also attend the Durham Cathedral service which will see performances by the Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins and Tenors Unlimited.

The invitation-only event is due to begin at 1400 BST.

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