The former England football coach, Bobby Robson, has been appointed the new manager of the northern English team, Newcastle United.

Mr Robson is replacing the Dutch international, Ruud Gullit, who resigned last Saturday after a string of defeats at the start of the new English football season.

Newcastle, which was a finalist in last season's Football Association cup, is now second from the bottom in the English premier league. As well as the English national team, Mr Robson has managed the Spanish team Barcelona, the Portuguese teams Porto and Sporting de Lisboa, and the Dutch team P-S-V Eindhoven.