He subsequently led Porto to two championships, before moving on to Barcelona, with whom he won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1997.

Then it was back to PSV for a season before, as he saw it, returning home to Newcastle United, the club he had supported as a boy.

When he arrived in 1999, Newcastle were bottom of the table, but they put eight past Sheffield Wednesday in his first game, and went on to finish fourth in 2001-02 and third the following season to earn two qualifications for the Champions League.

Dismissed near the beginning of the 2004-05 season, Robson remained in the club's affections, and was their honorary president until his death.

A crowd of 33,000 turned out at St James' Park Sunday to honour a wheelchair-bound Robson at a charity match between an England XI and a Germany XI, recalling their World Cup semi-final meeting in 1990.

'Sir Bobby is a legend over the world,' said the former midfielder Paul Gascoigne who played in the game. 'He was the one who gave me my first run-out for the England team. When I saw him it was quite heartbreaking to see him that way.'