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"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC)
The Bobby Robson Challenge - by Bobbev
My earlier Brian Clough challenge proved to be quite popular initially but many people lost interest because of its inherently linear nature. In constructing this challenge I have tried to keep the elements that worked well in the original but also introduce a lot more flexibility.
Your basic objective is to try to emulate the achievements of the great Sir Bobby Robson, perhaps the most successful manager of his generation. He started his coaching career in Canada with the Vancouver Whitecaps before returning to England to manage Fulham. After being sacked by the London club he took over at Ipswich, making them one of the most successful clubs in the country. In 1982 he took over as England manager and after two successful World Cup campaigns he went back into club management in Europe. He found great success in Holland, Portugal and Spain before returning to take charge at Newcastle, the club of his dreams.
In summary, Sir Bobby achieved the following.
Ipswich Town
FA Cup winners
UEFA Cup winners
Twice runners-up in Division One (now the Premiership)
England
World Cup Semi Finals
PSV Eindhoven
Twice Dutch champions
FC Porto
Twice Portuguese champions
Portuguese Cup winners
Barcelona
Spanish Cup winners
European Cup Winners Cup winners
Primera Liga runners-up
Newcastle
UEFA Cup Semi Finals
Three top-5 Premiership finishes
In order to eclipse the man himself your challenge is to achieve the following.
Stage 1 – Domestic Success
Win the Premiership, a domestic cup and a European trophy with any club from the Championship.
Stage 2 – Travelling The World
Win two Dutch league titles with any club from Holland.
Win two Portuguese titles and the domestic Cup with any team from Portugal.
Win the Spanish League and Cup and a European trophy with any Spanish team.
Take England to the Final of a major international tournament.
The elements of Stage 2 may be completed in any order that you wish.
Stage 3 – Coming Home
Win the Premiership with Newcastle (or optionally any club from the North East – Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Darlington etc.)
--
So, who to take on this mammoth task with. It seemed pretty obvious, as we’re talking about a Championship club in 2004. West Ham might have the pedigree, but it’s Wigan who have the cash, so my path was set to the JJB. The cash available to me was just over £5M, to add to a squad which already had some quality in it, but was overall a bit on the ageing side.
Our pre-season took in trips to Halifax, Portsmouth and Rhyl, with our most impressive performance being claiming a draw at Fratton Park. Two goal wins were claimed in both the other ties, and with a decent amount of wheeling and dealing already done, I was pretty optimistic about the season ahead.
08-17-2007, 01:37 AM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #2
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | John Filan | GK | AUS | 34 | £1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Nicky Eaden | D R | ENG | 31 | £90K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | David Wright | D RC | ENG | 24 | £475K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ian Breckin | D C | ENG | 29 | £210K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Matt Jackson | D C | ENG | 32 | £110K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Emerson Thome | D C | BRA | 32 | £300K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Leighton Baines | D/DM L | ENG | 19 | £575K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gareth Whalley | M C | IRL | 30 | £210K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gary Teale | AM R | SCO | 26 | £1.2M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jonathan Thompson | AM RL | ENG | 19 | £4K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Andreas Johansson | AM RC | SWE | 26 | £1.1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alan Mahon | AM L | IRL | 26 | £1.8M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Per Frandsen | AM C | DEN | 34 | £85K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Lee McCulloch | F LC | SCO | 26 | £230K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Nathan Ellington | S C | ENG | 23 | £2.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Jason Roberts | S C | GRN | 26 | £1.7M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Players In:
Aaron Lennon [17, English, AMRLC] (Season long loan from Leeds Utd) Kenneth Perez (29, Danish, AMLC] (£400,000 from AZ) Magnus Hedman (31, Swedish, GK) (£230,000 from Celtic) Arnau (21, Spanish, DMC) (£140,000 from Barcelona) Neil Mellor (21, English, SC) (Season long loan from Liverpool) Jacob Lekgetho (30, South African, D/DML) (free transfer)
Players Out:
Jimmy Bullard(£3,500,000 to Aston Villa).
08-17-2007, 04:12 PM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #3
Our season began with a trip to one of the promotion favourites, Reading. We were made fully aware of the scale of the task facing us if we were to claim a place in the Premiership, Ivar Ingimarsson giving the home side a sixth minute lead. Nothing we did even came close to troubling Reading, and Lloyd Owusu’s doubling of their lead in the second half was merely an inevitability.
We had the chance to quickly get the Reading game out of our system when, just three days later, we faced Stoke at the JJB Stadium. A surprisingly good crowd of just under 20,000 turned up, but Lewis Neal silenced them in the seventh minute when he gave the visitors the lead. We were soon level, however, Neil Mellor grabbing his first goal for the club.
Sitting 21st after just one point from our first two games, we travelled to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Once again we fell behind in the first ten minutes, this time David Johnson grabbing the goal. Losing Kenneth Perez to injury hurt us further, and Johnson doubled the home side’s lead before the break. Alan Mahon struck just after the hour to give us a little hope, but again we fell to defeat.
Our fourth game of the season came just ten days after the opening defeat to Reading, and with Rotherham being the visitors to the JJB, I was determined that we would at last claim our first win. New signing Fabián Estoyanoff sat on the bench as Per Frandsen gave us a third minute lead, and when Nathan Ellington doubled that lead on the quarter hour, we were finally on our way to three points.
The visit to Gillingham started in much the same way as most of our matches had, we conceded an early goal, this time Iwan Roberts sliding the ball beyond Hedman. Things got harder when Nicky Eaden was sent off for a second bookable offence, but Gareth Whalley looked to have salvaged us a point with quarter of an hour left. We managed even better though, Estoyanoff stealing in at the near post for his first goal for the club.
League duty took a rest mid-week as we faced our first cup enounter, a trip to Chester’s Deva Stadium. Lee McCulloch, who had been desperately poor in his previous appearances, grabbed an early double and new midfielder Kevin Thomson added a third before the break. Kevin Rapley pulled one back for the home side in the second half, but our passage to the second round was never in doubt.
Our quest to make it three league wins (and four overall victories) on the run meant we needed a win over Cardiff at the JJB. The first half saw little goal mouth action, but plenty of nasty challenges as both Kenneth Perez and Jobi McAnuff were sent off for two bookable offences. We managed to stay calm in the storm, however, and Matt Jackson headed home from a corner to secure us a single goal win and push us up to seventh in the table.
August ended with another away trip, this time Pride Park in Derby was the destination. The Rams were another of the sides tipped for promotion, and they showed just why as they tore us apart in a ruthless opening period. After just eight minutes, Adam Bolder had them in front and his effort was added to after sixty seconds by Ian Taylor. Grzegorz Rasiak made it three after twenty-two minutes, and the rout should have continued on the half hour, but the Polish striker’s penalty was pushed round the post by Hedman. We managed one back in the second half, McCulloch netting in what would be his final game for the club, but it was a horribly disappointing way to end the month.
League Position9th
Players In:
Fabián Estoyanoff [21, FC, Uruguayan, 10 caps, 2 goals] £1,400,000 from Fénix
Beating Valencia and Deportivo to Fabián’s signature took a mighty weekly salary, but given his apparent class on the ball, it looked like it would be money well spent. He opened his account at Gillingham, and though he looked unlikely to be a 20-a-season man, I was sure he’d further our cause.
Kevin Thomson [18, AMLC, Scottish] £400,000 from Hibernian
Another player we had to convince to join us in the face of offers from bigger clubs, Kevin accepted a contract of a ‘mere’ £4,000 per week. With plenty of midfielders needed to rotate in our 4-5-1, he would get his fair share of games, and I also hoped he would learn from Kenneth Perez as the two seemed very similar players.
Miel Mans [26, DMRC, Dutch] £325,000 from AZ
Recommended by one of my scouts, I hadn’t had time to see Miel in action before getting out the chequebook to sign him. However, with Arnau as the only defensive midfielder in the squad, getting him some backup had been a priority, and Miel certainly looked like he’d do a decent job as a stop gap.
Hayden Mullins [25, SW/DC, English, 3 U-21 caps] £610,000 from West Ham
I wasn’t sure the ageing legs of Jackson and Thome could get through the season, so another central defender become something of a must have for the squad. Hayden wasn’t my first choice – to be honest he was fifth on the list – but other clubs seemed reluctant to part with their players, and West Ham were just happy to get Hayden off the pay roll. Still, he was a decent player, and good enough for now.
Mart*n Ligüera [23, AMC, Uruguayan, 13 caps, 7 goals] £1,000,000 from Fénix
A touch of class. Mart*n was another player who turned down La Liga sides to join us, and I was expecting him to be the star of our promotion push. With his fantastic touch and vision, we could expect plenty of chances to be created for Estoyanoff, and he appeared to have quite an eye for goal as well.
Players Out:
Lee McCulloch(£1,000,000 to Cardiff)
The Welsh side’s only summer signing, I’d decided to sell Lee after his woeful early performances, before he managed to bag himself three goals towards the end of the month. But with plenty of others brought in, I wasn’t too sad to lose him, and the cash would come in handy to further enhance the squad.
08-18-2007, 10:24 PM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #4
The month began with a nice lay-off for international games. It wasn’t until the 11th that we returned to action, facing Plymouth at the JJB. I had hoped we would have recovered from the Derby defeat, but Keith Lasley’s opener and our lacklustre first half performance suggested otherwise. We did get back into it in the second period, and Estoyanoff grabbed and equaliser, though it couldn’t stop us dropping three places in the table.
With two new faces (Ashley Young and Kevin Cooper) joining the squad before we faced Yeovil in the League Cup second round, I was confident of claiming victory. Kenneth Perez set us on our way with a first half double before James Ansell was sent off for the visitors. The win was sealed in the second half as we added a further two goals, Aaron Lennon drilling a volley home before Ligüera shot home from the penalty spot.
Leeds came to visit in only our third outing of the month, and one which happened to be our last of a very quiet September. Again we failed to perform in the first half and went into the break behind, David Healy grabbing the goal. Really, the Elland Road outfit should have buried us in that first period, but I was more than glad that they hadn’t as it meant Ligüera’s penalty just after the hour ensured a share of the spoils.
League Position:12th
Players In:
Ashley Young [19, AMRL, English] £450,000 + player exchange with Watford
Although he would spend the first month of his time at the JJB in the treatment room with a broken collarbone, Ashley looked a very promising player, and his ability to play equally well on either wing impressed me.
Kevin Cooper [29, AMLC, English] £400,000 from Wolves
With Gary Teale off to Watford as part of the deal that brought Young to the club, I felt it necessary to bring in another wide man, and Cooper looked like someone who, whilst a capable footballer, wouldn’t complain hugely about spending much of his time sat alongside me on the bench.
Darren Bent [20, SC, English, 5 U-21 caps, 2 goals] £4,000,000 from Ipswich
Brought in on the final day of the month, Darren was the striker I’d had my eye on from the very start. He arrived as definite first choice and in doing so made sure than Jason Roberts was put up for sale. With his lethal finishing added to the creativity of the midfield, I was finally happy with the squad at my disposal.
Players Out:
Gary Teale(Player exchange to Watford)
08-18-2007, 10:25 PM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #5
October began with the termination of Neil Mellor’s loan deal from Liverpool. The season-long deal for the striker has a clause that allowed us to send him back to Anfield, and though he had netted one goal, his all round play had far from impressed me, and with the arrival of Darren Bent, he was unlikely to get much more game time anyway.
Our first game came as Leicester’s Walkers Stadium, where Bent would start on the bench with Estoyanoff filling the lone striker role. We got off to the best of starts when Lennon netted inside the first minute. The game was an edgy one, and there was little more goalmouth action until, on as a substitute just after the hour, Bent marked his debut with a typical poacher’s strike from eight yards. Kevin Cooper put us three in front, and though Joey Gudjonsson pulled one back for the home side, it was a comfortable win.
Four days later we were on the road again, this time with a trip to face Millwall at the New Den. Estoyanoff again started up front, and this time marked his appearance with a goal, striking from distance on the stroke of half-time. It was a lead we barely deserved, and Millwall could have had cause for being apoplectic by the end as we claimed a further three goals in the last ten minutes. Perez netted the first of those, followed in the 82nd minute by substitue Bent and a very late Matt Lawrence own goal sealed the most undeserved four-nil win ever seen.
Bent had to wait a further ten days for his first start for the club, the break for international games saw us lose two players to training injuries, both Emerson Thome and Kevin Cooper being ruled out of the Crewe game with groin strains. It turned out not to matter, however, as without them we ran riot over Dario Gradi’s side. Mart*n Ligüera got us underway with a sixth minute penalty and Alan Mahon doubled our lead on the quarter hour. We hit another two before the break, Bent heading home from a corner before Jackson did exactly the same. We had to wait until after the hour before our fifth, Gareth Whalley curling in a free kick and Perez rounded the day off with a scuffed shot from the edge of the six yard box.
We had a full week to prepare for our trip down to Loftus Road, but I soon wished I was back in Wigan as Paul Furlong put Q.P.R. ahead after just four minutes. Bent equalised quickly, but by half time we were three-one behind as Furlong and Marcus Bean gave the home side a firm advantage. We fought hard in the second half, and Lennon pulled one back for us with quarter of an hour left, but the equaliser was beyond us and we dropped back to 7th.
A largely reserve side was sent out to face Hartlepool in the third round of the league cup and we were made to pay in the heaviest way. Eifion Williams drilled home a first after eight minutes, and though we came close on a number of occasions, we were unable to break through and Williams ensured Hartlepool’s progression with just five minutes remaining.
Our final action of the month saw Sunderland visit the JJB on league duty, and it was perhaps my most frustrating ninety minutes since taking over. Time after time we carved the Sunderland defence wide open only to be thwarted by Mart Poom. Twice the Estonian pulled off world class saves to deny Darren Bent, and when Fabián Estoyanoff, he was also unable to beat the giant ‘keeper.
League Position:8th
Players Out:
Neil Mellor(Loan terminated)
08-20-2007, 10:49 PM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #7
After three disappointing results – including our elimination from the League Cup – we had the visit of West Ham to contend with. For the first time since his move from Watford, I was able to call on Ashley Young, though the winger had to make do with a place on the bench. He was called upon with just less than half an hour to go; neither side had been able to break the stalemate and I thought his injection of pace might help, but it didn’t get us anywhere and 16,000 fans went home having been nearly bored to tears for ninety minutes.
A training accident the following morning saw Arnau suffer a fractured wrist which would keep the Spaniard out of action for a month, allowing Miel Mans to stake his claim for the defensive midfield spot. His first chance to do that was against Coventry at Highfield Road, a game that was made a whole lot easier for us after Michael Doyle’s seventh minute red card for a reckless challenge on David Wright.
We took full advantage of our numerical superiority in the remainder of the match, Andreas Johansson put us in front and Bent and Cooper added to the lead before half time. The rout was completed in the second half with Estoyanoff’s strike, though in truth we could have had two or three more had was not eased off towards the end.
Another break for international games let us rest some players up before we travelled to face promotion contenders Wolves at Molineux. The home crowd were in good voice throughout, and the rest didn’t seem to have done our players too much good as we gave Dave Jones’ side chance after chance, two of which they put away through Paul Ince and Carl Cort. We pulled one back in the second half, Perez latching onto Lennon’s through ball and rounding the ‘keeper, but we never looked like a second and had to settle with staying eighth in the table.
It was perhaps beneficial that we only had three days between the Wolves defeat and our next game, a home fixture against the side that made Bobby Robson famous, Ipswich. It meant that we didn’t have time to dwell on our inadequacies, instead taking the chance to straight away work them out of our system. Lennon had given us a first half lead before Scott Mitchell equalised, but the three points were not to be denied us, and goals in the final minutes from Estoyanoff and Kevin Thomson made sure of that.
Our month was rounded off with a trip to Turf Moor and a game against Burnley. It was the sort of game I almost expected us to trip up on, so was mightily relieved when Lennon scored his second in as many games to give us the lead. We should have added to it, certainly the work that Ligüera had done in midfield deserved an end product, but Bent was having an off day and we had to settle for the single goal victory that nudged to just outside the play-off positions.
Leauge Position:7th
08-20-2007, 10:49 PM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #8
Whilst we seemed to have moved past our tendancy to concede early goals, we were still a little inconsistent for my liking, and having claimed back to back wins after the defeat at Molineux, we dropped points again when Watford came north. A stalemate first half had come and gone before Ligüera put us in front, and it looked like we had claimed all three points, but the curse of the former player struck in injury time, Gary Teale arriving late at the back post to score the equaliser.
Our frustrations at Teale’s late equaliser were taken out a week later when Preston came to visit the JJB. Kevin Thomson and Aaron Lennon gave us a good first half lead – during which time Darren Bent had also missed a penalty – and the visitors never had a chance of stopping us. Bent made up for his spot kick error with a poacher’s effort in the second half, and though we lost Leighton Baines for a month with a fractured wrist, Ligüera made sure we went home happy with a late double to complete our five goal romp.
Arnau returned to the side for our trip to the Withdean, and once again we began well, Cooper hammering a free kick beyond Michel Kuipers and into the top corner. Brighton were quick to strike back though, and they did through perhaps the most unlikely hat-trick source. Andy Tod may have been employed as a striker by the struggling side but he had yet to score in the campaign. We, however, were unable to stop him as he netted three times past Hedman and knocked us down to 8th in the table.
With top of the table Reading next up, there was a distinct danger that we would suffer back to back defeats for the first time in the league. Glen Little put the visitors in front, but that lead lasted less than five minutes, Ligüera cotinuing his excellent start to life in Wigan with another goal. The score remained level until half-time, and early in the second period Bent broke clear and put us ahead. We never looked likely to hold onto the advantage, and Ivar Ingimarsson made sure of that, but some excellent defending late on meant that we held onto a point.
Our boxing day game saw us travel to face Stoke at the Britannia Stadium and I was ready to scream when, just as he had earlier in the season at the JJB, Lewis Neal put Stoke in front early on. Thankfully, this time we were better prepared to retaliate and Thomson pulled us level, after which Ligüera bagged a second half double to ensure we claimed all three points.
2004 came to an end for us back at the JJB with a visit from Sheffield United, just forty-eight hours after we had won well at Stoke. I was a little concerned over the condition of the players, all certainly seemed a bit too tired for me to expect anything from the game, but goals from Johansson and Ellington – in what would prove to be his final game for the club – saw us go into the new year with a little bit of momentum in our favour.
League Position:7th
08-22-2007, 05:01 PM
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) Post #10
"I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence" (BRC) 
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