Bobby Robson

As a player, Robson appeared for Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and the English national side, scoring four goals in twenty England games. His real success, his managerial career, started in Canada with Vancouver Whitecaps in 1967. He returned to Fulham as manager the following year but was sacked in November and was appointed manager of Ipswich Town in 1969. His first few years there were undistinguished, but between 1972 and 1982 he guided the club through their greatest ever period of success. They finished outside the top six in the old First Division only once during this period and won two major trophies - the FA Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1981.

In 1982, his reputation established, he left Ipswich to take over as the England manager. He was able to achieve qualification to the 1986 and 1990 World Cups but England were knocked out of both in circumstances that are still fresh in the memory for many England supporters. Their 1986 campaign ended in quarter-final defeat by Argentina, the game in which Diego Maradona scored his legendary "Hand of God" goal. In 1990 they reached the semi-final but were knocked out on penalties by Germany in a game that saw Paul Gascoigne's famous tears as well as agonising penalty misses from Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce.

Robson's spell as England manager was over and he took charge at PSV Eindhoven of Holland. To many people's surprise he not only won the Dutch league in his first two seasons but then quickly left to manage Sporting Lisbon of Portugal. He was sacked after a year but moved to FC Porto, where he won the Portuguese cup and two league titles.

He then took charge at Barcelona where he won the 1997 European Cup Winners' Cup, but was replaced by Johan Cryuff and moved upstairs to become General Manager. In 1998 he returned to PSV but the following year he accepted the opportunity to take over at Newcastle United of the English Premier League.

He has not so far won anything there, the club's greatest performance being third horse in the annual Arsenal-Man Utd title race. But he remains a popular figure at the club, and his job is probably more secure than that of many Premiership managers.

Managerial career:

1967-68: Vancouver Whitecaps, Canada
1968: Fulham, England
1969-82: Ipswich Town, England
1982-90: England
1990-92: PSV Eindhoven, Holland
1992-93: Sporting Lisbon, Portugal
1993-95: FC Porto, Portugal
1995-98: Barcelona, Spain
1998-99: PSV Eindhoven, Holland
1999-present: Newcastle United, England

Managerial honours:

1978: FA Cup, Ipswich Town
1981: UEFA Cup, Ipswich Town
1991: Dutch championship, PSV Eindhoven
1992: Dutch championship, PSV Eindhoven
1994: Portuguese championship, FC Porto
1995: Portuguese championship, FC Porto
1997: European Cup Winners' Cup, Barcelona