Opinion

I can remember Sir Bobby Robson taking over Newcastle United back in September 1999.

Before his arrival that season, United had picked up only one point from the opening six Premier League games, sitting in the bottom two alongside Sheffield Wednesday.

After an unlucky 1-0 defeat at Chelsea, Sir Bobby’s his first game at St James’ Park was of course the memorable 8-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday.

First home game for a local boy coming home, hammering the opposition, the first thing Bobby did at the end of the match was walk over and hug the young up and coming opposition manager, that act of kindness was the moment I fell in love with Sir Bobby Robson.

I also remember Eddie Howe taking over a Newcastle side that was winless and almost guaranteed to go down without a much-needed change. Our team was much weaker than the one Bobby inherited, yet Eddie guided the club to an 11th-place finish after a run of 12 wins in the final 18 games. Newcastle became the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation after failing to win any of their opening 14 games.

Both men turned...