"There's only one Bobby Robson"

Sir Bobby Robson died today after a mammoth 18 year battle with 5 types of Cancer. First diagnosed in 1991, he beat bowel cancer in 1992, a malignant melanoma in 1995 and a tumour in his right lung and a brain tumour, both in 2006.

It's not often that England has a truly good English England Manager; in fact with possible exception of Terry Venables, they've pretty much all sucked since 1990 when Bobby Robson left the job to join PSV Eindhoven.

The defining moment of Sir Bobby's 8 year tenure as England manager came on July 4th 1990, that World Cup Semi Final, when those of my generation got as close as we've ever come to seeing England in a World Cup Final...when we lost agonizingly on penalties to Germany.

He was also manager at the 1986 World Cup when England lost 2-1 to Argentina with the infamous 'Hand of God' goal making the difference; after which he was quoted as saying - "It wasn't the hand of God," ... "It was the hand of a rascal. God had nothing to do with it".

You could claim that England had little luck under his management - when both of those games could be described with an "if only..." His legend would have been far greater if the ref had spotted that handball in 1986, or if his players had been able to score penalties in 1990...

Fittingly, Sir Bobby was honored in his final days; nice to see someone honored in life, not just in death. Just last Sunday he made his final public appearance at a charity match at his beloved St James' Park in Newcastle on Sunday. 30,000 people showed up...

An England side, featuring Alan Shearer and several members of the 1990 World Cup squad including Paul Gascoigne and Peter Shilton, played a repeat of the 1990 World Cup semi-final, but this time beat a Germany team 3-2. FYI - Shearer scored the winner in Sunday's friendly, from the penalty spot. If only that had been the result 19 years ago...

Close your eyes, listen to Nessun Dorma on this video, and it'll take you back to that summer of what might have been...