Sir Bobby Robson is a huge part of Newcastle United’s history.
The former Toon boss oversaw five fantastic years on Tyneside after stints in Spain, Holland and Portugal before becoming Newcastle United boss in 1999, taking over from Ruud Gullit.
Sir Bobby took Newcastle from probable relegation to the Champions League in just over a season. In the 2003/04 season, he guided the Magpies to the UEFA Cup semi-final before being knocked out by runners-up Marseille.
His presence is now felt on every matchday at St James’ Park after a statue was erected in his honour in 2012. The lifelong Toon fan managed Newcastle legend Alan Shearer during his time at the helm. But things could have been a lot different if Bobby got his way.
Robson wanted Barcelona to sign Shearer in 1996 while he was in charge of the Spanish giants – a move which would have completely changed the landscape of the football club.
Some fans may not know that he was also the mentor for one of the best managers in football history. That same manager is keen to follow in Robson’s footsteps one day but must overcome a fear of playing at the Magpies’ home ground before doing so.
Jose Mourinho’s hatred for St James’ Park
Jose Mourinho is widely regarded as one of the best managers in football history. He’s a serial winner and has won trophies at almost every club he has managed.
In the early days of his managerial career, Mourinho was an assistant to Robson at Porto and Barcelona, becoming a more prominent figure at the latter. Mourinho then embarked on his own managerial journey, starting at Benfica before joining Porto in 2002 where his career truly kicked off.
What followed was an unprecedented run of league titles and European honours at the likes of Chelsea and Inter Milan.
However, Mourinho always struggled when his teams came to Tyneside, for one reason or another. The Portugal native only won three of his 12 games at St James’ Park in all competitions for three different teams – he even failed to win a single game away to Newcastle as Manchester United boss.
Talking to FIVE about his record at St James’, Mourinho said: “I didn’t enjoy to play in Newcastle because I never win.
“Every time I went to Newcastle it was lose or draw, lose or draw. I think I won there once probably with Chelsea, with Man United or Tottenham. Out of 10 I would win once or twice.
“There was no rivalry with [Alan] Pardew or with [Sam] Allardyce or anyone there, I just knew that going to play St James’ was really, really hard.”
Jose Mourinho still wants the Newcastle job
Mourinho is currently the head coach of Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce, who sit second place behind Turkish giants Galatasaray.
However, reports in November 2024 claimed that Mourinho wanted the Newcastle job and asked to be kept in the loop for any openings within the club. PIF were baffled by Mourinho’s comments, claiming that they had ‘complete faith’ in Eddie Howe.
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Things were not going well for the Toon boss at the time, Newcastle were in the bottom half, just before their fantastic run of form which saw them move into the top four and reach the Carabao Cup final.
Mourinho has expressed his love for St James’ Park, despite the poor record. In a 2018 interview, he said that the ground always held ‘beautiful matches’ and loves going back to ‘Mr Robson’s home’.
Newcastle fans are still happy with Howe despite a recent drop-off in form. Some would like to keep Mourinho away from the club whereas others would love to see his fascination for Robson move to another level.
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