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burghhibs
06-10-2009, 06:21 PM
Revealed: the secret history between Kieron Dyer and Sir Bobby Robson that reveals so much - about both men - Oliver Holt, The Mirror


Kieron Dyer could not go to Sir Bobby Robson's memorial service at Durham Cathedral last week.
West Ham had a Carling Cup game at Bolton the next day and, because Dyer is still recovering from a long-term injury, his coaches wanted him to train instead.

Maybe you think Dyer wouldn't have been interested in making the journey to the north-east anyway.

He has been singled out, after all, as the player who brought Sir Bobby down in his last big job at Newcastle by refusing to play on the right side of midfield against Middlesbrough in August 2004.

He has been characterised as the anti-Robson, the spoilt bling king and Ferrari crasher who undermined the authority of his ageing manager with his wild ways.

Well, how about this: it turns out that the old man and the dizzy kid had a secret history.

A secret history more moving than any of the tributes paid to Sir Bobby in Durham. A history that drilled right to the core of Robson's humanity.

And a history that exposes the lazy lie of characterising Dyer and many of the rest of today's millionaire players as hollow men without consciences.

Dyer told it to me a couple of days ago, red-eyed and candid, in a quiet room at the West Ham training ground at Chadwell Heath.

It's the Middlesbrough game that dominates it. It haunts Dyer now more than it has ever haunted him.

He apologised a hundred times to Robson about what he did but now he knows he cannot apologise any more.

And because Dyer, 30, is actually one of football's good guys, an open, decent man with a generous spirit, he is tormented by the fact he made the wrong decision.

"I was in China on a pre-season tour with West Ham when Warren Barton broke the news to me that Sir Bobby had died," Dyer said.

"We were at a stadium about to play a friendly and they organised a minute's silence for him.

"I broke down during that silence because I couldn't stop thinking about that Middlesbrough game.

"I couldn't stop thinking about what I cost him, about how I had some of the responsibility for him losing his job at Newcastle.

"If there was one thing I could go back to and erase in my life, it would be that. Just to have played that game.

"He never let me down in any way. He was always there for me. We had such a great rapport and I strained it just to make a point.

"I should not have done that. I should have played and then gone in to see him on the Monday but...

"What was so horrible about Middlesbrough was that he got sacked a couple of games after. I took that on my shoulders.

"He understood my reasons and there's a lot more to that story. I'm protecting a friend of mine so I can't tell it all.

"But it doesn't matter. I still should have started the game where he wanted me to start it. I can't believe now that I acted the way I did.

"Afterwards, the press got stuck into me for letting Sir Bobby down. But he would not hang me out to dry.

"Instead, he came straight out of his press conference and said to me 'they've got a story brewing but I've just told them you didn't play because of your tight hamstring'.

"I was thinking 'I've just let you down and here you are still protecting me'. It was unbelievable.

"Soon after that, we had Norwich at St James's Park in a night game. I started. I had 52,000 people booing me every time I touched the ball because of what I'd done to the manager.

"The gaffer put me out of my misery after 60 minutes and I ran straight down the tunnel and jumped in the bath.

"I think I stayed in the bath until midnight. I was thinking 'I've let the manager down, my career's gone, what am I going to do'.

"And Sir Bobby came into the bathroom after all the lads had gone. He sat down and he was upset because he thought he had let me down because of all the stick I was getting and he couldn't protect me.

"I had let him down and people were making fun of him because of me and yet here he was feeling all my hurt and pain.

"Even in his last game, away at Aston Villa, I probably contributed even more to his dismissal.

"He came to me before the game and said 'I want you in my team but I want to protect you and keep you out of the firing line'.

"I told him we were away and there were only 3,000 Newcastle fans there and I was big enough to deal with it.

"But he said he was worried about me and also how it could affect the team.
He ended up losing that game 4-2 and it was the last game he had."

There are happier memories for Dyer, too, though. Lots of them.

The idea that Robson had lost the respect of the last generation of players he taught is something that has troubled those of us who admired him but Dyer says those fears are groundless.

"There was a lot of talk about the brats, the likes of me and Craig Bellamy, but he knew how to put us in our place," Dyer said. "He never lost the dressing room.

"We played Leeds at Elland Road once and Bellers was having a great game.
We were 1-0 up at half time and after about 60 minutes the manager put Craig's number up and Craig came off.

"We won the game 3-0 but when we got back to the changing room, Bellers was cursing and raving about how he did all the running, how everyone else profited from his efforts, how he needed goals, how he was judged on goals and so on and so on.

"The gaffer said 'will you shut up' but Bellers kept jabbering on. And then Sir Bobby went: 'I'll squash you, son, like an ant'.

"Bellers was a bit taken aback but he mumbled something else and this time the gaffer let him have it.

"Who are you?'" he said. "Ronaldo, Romario, Stoichkov, Hagi, Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Gascoigne. These are the people I deal with. Who are you?'

"The changing room went quiet and Bellers went quiet. And then Bellers looked over at me and said: 'He's got a point, hasn't he'."

Part of the joy of this secret history is that Dyer is the committed, dedicated, responsible player he is today because of Robson.

"You look at yourself as a 23-year-old thinking you can't be bothered to train today," Dyer said, "then you look at Sir Bobby doing press ups in the snow at 70.

"It brings it home to you that you have to give it all you can while you have got the opportunity.

"He never held the Middlesbrough thing against me. In fact, he rang me up a few days after he had been sacked and told me to keep my head up.

"We kept in touch after that, too. When I broke my leg for West Ham in August 2007, I woke up the next morning and turned my phone on and listened to my messages.

"It's Bobby, son," one of them said. "Just seen the news about the leg break. Keep your head up, son."

Dyer recounted the message imitating Robson's accent and with the same dramatic delivery his manager always used.

Some of the old man has rubbed off on him. He's become the person Sir Bobby always hoped he would be.

StevieC
06-10-2009, 06:31 PM
What's also an excellent read is Bobby's autobiography. From a mining village in Durham to the International football stage.

Wembley67
06-10-2009, 07:14 PM
What a touching story :cool2:

bruno
06-10-2009, 07:50 PM
Revealed: the secret history between Kieron Dyer and Sir Bobby Robson that reveals so much - about both men - Oliver Holt, The Mirror


Kieron Dyer could not go to Sir Bobby Robson's memorial service at Durham Cathedral last week.
West Ham had a Carling Cup game at Bolton the next day and, because Dyer is still recovering from a long-term injury, his coaches wanted him to train instead.

Maybe you think Dyer wouldn't have been interested in making the journey to the north-east anyway.

He has been singled out, after all, as the player who brought Sir Bobby down in his last big job at Newcastle by refusing to play on the right side of midfield against Middlesbrough in August 2004.

He has been characterised as the anti-Robson, the spoilt bling king and Ferrari crasher who undermined the authority of his ageing manager with his wild ways.

Well, how about this: it turns out that the old man and the dizzy kid had a secret history.

A secret history more moving than any of the tributes paid to Sir Bobby in Durham. A history that drilled right to the core of Robson's humanity.

And a history that exposes the lazy lie of characterising Dyer and many of the rest of today's millionaire players as hollow men without consciences.

Dyer told it to me a couple of days ago, red-eyed and candid, in a quiet room at the West Ham training ground at Chadwell Heath.

It's the Middlesbrough game that dominates it. It haunts Dyer now more than it has ever haunted him.

He apologised a hundred times to Robson about what he did but now he knows he cannot apologise any more.

And because Dyer, 30, is actually one of football's good guys, an open, decent man with a generous spirit, he is tormented by the fact he made the wrong decision.

"I was in China on a pre-season tour with West Ham when Warren Barton broke the news to me that Sir Bobby had died," Dyer said.

"We were at a stadium about to play a friendly and they organised a minute's silence for him.

"I broke down during that silence because I couldn't stop thinking about that Middlesbrough game.

"I couldn't stop thinking about what I cost him, about how I had some of the responsibility for him losing his job at Newcastle.

"If there was one thing I could go back to and erase in my life, it would be that. Just to have played that game.

"He never let me down in any way. He was always there for me. We had such a great rapport and I strained it just to make a point.

"I should not have done that. I should have played and then gone in to see him on the Monday but...

"What was so horrible about Middlesbrough was that he got sacked a couple of games after. I took that on my shoulders.

"He understood my reasons and there's a lot more to that story. I'm protecting a friend of mine so I can't tell it all.

"But it doesn't matter. I still should have started the game where he wanted me to start it. I can't believe now that I acted the way I did.

"Afterwards, the press got stuck into me for letting Sir Bobby down. But he would not hang me out to dry.

"Instead, he came straight out of his press conference and said to me 'they've got a story brewing but I've just told them you didn't play because of your tight hamstring'.

"I was thinking 'I've just let you down and here you are still protecting me'. It was unbelievable.

"Soon after that, we had Norwich at St James's Park in a night game. I started. I had 52,000 people booing me every time I touched the ball because of what I'd done to the manager.

"The gaffer put me out of my misery after 60 minutes and I ran straight down the tunnel and jumped in the bath.

"I think I stayed in the bath until midnight. I was thinking 'I've let the manager down, my career's gone, what am I going to do'.

"And Sir Bobby came into the bathroom after all the lads had gone. He sat down and he was upset because he thought he had let me down because of all the stick I was getting and he couldn't protect me.

"I had let him down and people were making fun of him because of me and yet here he was feeling all my hurt and pain.

"Even in his last game, away at Aston Villa, I probably contributed even more to his dismissal.

"He came to me before the game and said 'I want you in my team but I want to protect you and keep you out of the firing line'.

"I told him we were away and there were only 3,000 Newcastle fans there and I was big enough to deal with it.

"But he said he was worried about me and also how it could affect the team.
He ended up losing that game 4-2 and it was the last game he had."

There are happier memories for Dyer, too, though. Lots of them.

The idea that Robson had lost the respect of the last generation of players he taught is something that has troubled those of us who admired him but Dyer says those fears are groundless.

"There was a lot of talk about the brats, the likes of me and Craig Bellamy, but he knew how to put us in our place," Dyer said. "He never lost the dressing room.

"We played Leeds at Elland Road once and Bellers was having a great game.
We were 1-0 up at half time and after about 60 minutes the manager put Craig's number up and Craig came off.

"We won the game 3-0 but when we got back to the changing room, Bellers was cursing and raving about how he did all the running, how everyone else profited from his efforts, how he needed goals, how he was judged on goals and so on and so on.

"The gaffer said 'will you shut up' but Bellers kept jabbering on. And then Sir Bobby went: 'I'll squash you, son, like an ant'.

"Bellers was a bit taken aback but he mumbled something else and this time the gaffer let him have it.

"Who are you?'" he said. "Ronaldo, Romario, Stoichkov, Hagi, Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Gascoigne. These are the people I deal with. Who are you?'

"The changing room went quiet and Bellers went quiet. And then Bellers looked over at me and said: 'He's got a point, hasn't he'."

Part of the joy of this secret history is that Dyer is the committed, dedicated, responsible player he is today because of Robson.

"You look at yourself as a 23-year-old thinking you can't be bothered to train today," Dyer said, "then you look at Sir Bobby doing press ups in the snow at 70.

"It brings it home to you that you have to give it all you can while you have got the opportunity.

"He never held the Middlesbrough thing against me. In fact, he rang me up a few days after he had been sacked and told me to keep my head up.

"We kept in touch after that, too. When I broke my leg for West Ham in August 2007, I woke up the next morning and turned my phone on and listened to my messages.

"It's Bobby, son," one of them said. "Just seen the news about the leg break. Keep your head up, son."

Dyer recounted the message imitating Robson's accent and with the same dramatic delivery his manager always used.

Some of the old man has rubbed off on him. He's become the person Sir Bobby always hoped he would be.


What an amazing, compassionate dedicated and generous man Sir Bobby was.I cannot put into words the respect I have for that man.

Dyer has also matured and learnt the things that are important in life.

You know what strikes me most is the pleasure to read a well written non glorifying article. Something Scottish Redtop journalists are incapable of producing.

McD
06-10-2009, 09:54 PM
I think this is one of many examples which illustrate that, no matter how massively successful Sir Bobby Robson was within the sporting arena, those acheivements pale in comparison when you consider just how gracious, humble, positive, and amazing human being he was.

IMHO, Sir Bobby Robson the man, is what I will remember most, as opposed to the football manager.

A true great

wazoo1875
06-10-2009, 10:15 PM
I think this is one of many examples which illustrate that, no matter how massively successful Sir Bobby Robson was within the sporting arena, those acheivements pale in comparison when you consider just how gracious, humble, positive, and amazing human being he was.

IMHO, Sir Bobby Robson the man, is what I will remember most, as opposed to the football manager.

A true great
:agree:
Always had a lot of respect for Sir Bobby when i was growing up and even more now . He achieved so much in the game , but never once did he act like berty big baws . He had time for everyone he spoke to and he was dedicated to his family . Sometimes i think i could even have dealt with them winning that world cup just for him .

Winston Ingram
06-10-2009, 10:25 PM
Leaves a lump in yer throat

iwasthere1972
07-10-2009, 12:04 AM
The article doesn't surprise me.

He was a man of integrity and deeply passionate about the sport that he obviously loved. Can't remember him bad mouthing anyone in his interviews in an aim to deflect any blame from himself after a bad performance or defeat. Some managers would be wise to take a leaf out of his book.

Even during his last public appearance at St James' Park he managed to put on a brave face and a big smile despite probably knowing that his days were numbered. That takes courage - something Sir Bobby had in abundance.

Sir Bobby Robson gone but not forgotten.

A true legend.