Bobby Robson: hypocrisy behind the headlines

Yesterday's memorial service at Durham Cathedral for former England manager Bobby Robson commemorated the man and allow the football fraternity to pay their respects. It also acted as a memorial to the hypocrisy of football.

Since his death, Robson has been eulogised as a 'true gentleman' of the game and praised to the rafters by fans of Newcastle United, the club he supported and later managed, and Ipswich, the club where he earned his spurs.

He was indeed a gentleman, but football and its followers have their own way of rewriting history.

Back in 1982, Geordie fans hurled abuse and spat at Robson for having the temerity to drop their hero Kevin Keegan from his first squad after being appointed England manager. It was a rude introduction to the job, but set the tone for his eight years in charge.

Robson's reign is now forever associated with its denoument: plucky England's brave defeat by West Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final in Turin, Gazza's tears and all.

But in the eight years leading up to that moment Robson ran the gauntlet as press and public revelled in a new pastime - vilifying the England manager. Many of the sports writers who have penned gushing pieces about the man since his death were party to the breaking of new ground in vindictive reporting.

Nigel Clarke of the Daily Express remembers dishing out the abuse and observing his reaction. When Robson finally left the England job, Clarke sought him out in a hotel laundry room to tell him: "I want you to know what I have said and written has never been personal. But I had to do my job. I hope you understand." Robson responded by inviting him round to dinner.

Much of what was written was personal. Robson endured headlines ranging from the blunt ('Plonker' in the Sun) to the pleading ('In The Name Of God, Go' in the Mirror) to the threatening ('Beat 'Em Or Beat It, Bobby').

When England managed only a draw with Saudi Arabia in a friendly match in late 1988 – after losing all three games in the 1988 European championships  - the media pack let rip. The Mirror followed up it's earlier headline with 'Go, In The Name Of Allah, Go' while the Sun suggested 'England Mustafa New Boss'.

By the time Robson left the job the following year it was accepted that he had been subjected to what Guardian writer Dave Hill called at the time "the most sustained campaign of press humiliation the national game has ever seen".

Robson himself realised what was happening. He told a press conference in 1989: "I don't have to discuss my future with the media, I'll only discuss it with my employers - full stop. I have to rise above all criticism, some of it not worthy of an England team manager."

He later recalled his transition from manager of Ipswich town to England. He told author Niall Edworthy: "I had 14 years of tranquillity and happiness working with lovely people and then - well, then the England job... Nothing, nothing, can prepare you for the England job." ·