Robson ready to support Stan

IT was just before 2pm yesterday afternoon when Bobby Robson finally escaped the media scrum that was the Round Room in Dublin’s Mansion House.

For the previous three hours, the Englishman had rarely left Steve Staunton’s side, his first official function as mentor to the newly unveiled Republic of Ireland manager.

Robson, despite his age, still boasts the bubbly enthusiasm of a teenager who can spit out a hundred words a second when he talks about a sport that has enraptured him for decades.

When the show was over, few were left any the wiser as to where exactly the International Football Consultant would fit in the new managerial jigsaw.

“I know my role,” said Robson in his initial speech. “I’m here to, ah... support him in every aspect of his job.”

Staunton himself was just as vague in describing his elderly wing man’s portfolio.

Will Bobby be in the dugout for matches Steve? “We’ll have to wait and see.”

Will he be involved with training? “Who knows?”

Both men were quick to point out that, though they were relative strangers to each other until recently, it wasn’t long before they were tuned into each other’s frequency.

The new manager’s insistence that Robson was included on the ticket at his own insistence will also eradicate some of the misgivings over the set-up, but if the team’s fortunes don’t improve, the confusion over Robson’s presence will be used as a stick to beat both Staunton and the FAI with.

“We just haven’t had time to sit down together, which we will do in the very near future, and plan the whole campaign,” said the 72-year-old. “Responsibilities, desires, wishes, the way he sees my role, I’ll give him my opinion on how to prepare a team at international level.

“It’s our first day together, but it’s been a press day. We need time to get away together, plan our campaign and come up with the right formula. We’re not saying Stan is incredibly experienced. We know he’s not. It’s his first job. I think he’s done brilliantly today in dealing with his first press conference.

“We’ve got some doubting Thomases. We know that. We’ve got some sceptics. We know that too. We’re going to represent your country and do the best job we can. Give us a chance.”

Staunton did intimate that Robson’s bulging filofax, amassed through 35 years of football management in England, Holland, Portugal and Spain, would come in particularly handy in the Republic’s bid to relaunch a major recruitment drive through the ‘granny’ rule.

After the meltdown in relations between Brian Kerr and the media towards the end of the last World Cup qualifying campaign, Robson’s experience with the fourth estate will also be particularly welcome, especially in view of Staunton’s reticence in front of microphones in the past.

During the 1986 World Cup and European Championships two years later, Robson was vilified daily by Fleet Street before emerging as a national hero in 1990 having guided England to within a penalty shoot-out of the World Cup final.

“We need to develop a good relationship with the press,” Robson accepted. “We know how important you are. You are, in many ways, our spokesman to the fans. We’ll bring you into it and I hope I’ll be able to advise Stan on that.”

This is very much a new departure for him. Ever since being offered the manager’s job at Vancouver Royals back in 1967 and taking over the reigns at Fulham a year later, the Durham native has always been the one to call the shots.

Not so long ago, he bumped into Jack Charlton at a fund raiser for a cricket club in England’s north-east and Charlton was quick to point him in the direction of Merrion Square too.

“I know just the job for you, that Irish job,” Charlton said at the time. Robson claims he was never interested in the pilot’s seat but it remains to be seen how he enjoys serving in what is effectively a liaison role.

He insists he is happy to combine the job alongside that of president of the Nobok Sports company with which he has been involved since his departure from Newcastle United in 2004.

“This is the role I saw myself in. I didn’t apply for the [manager’s] job. There is no file with my name in John [Delaney’s] office. If you find one I’ll give you a million pounds. I never applied for this job. It’s right that the Irish team is managed by an Irishman.

“I won’t be jealous of him. I don’t want his job. We’re here to bring success to the Irish team and the FAI. I’ll suggest things. I’ll look at the situation. If there’s anything I think is needed, or needs doing, I’ll tell him. If he decides not to take my advice, that’s fine. I’ll support him on his decision.

“It’s a great role. I always knew there was another job in me. I’ve turned down jobs in the last year-and-a-half. The jobs that I turned down were not quite the right jobs for me. I’m working with Stan now at the highest standard of football, international football.”