Robert - massive success

Robson has made his mark throughout a career that has brought success at Ipswich Town, PSV Eindhoven, Porto and Barcelona.

And he guided England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 1986 and the semi-final four years later.

But this proud son of Newcastle will take huge personal pleasure in taking his boyhood heroes and home town club back into the English elite after an unfulfilling recent period in their history.

He enjoyed his first major silverware at Ipswich Town, where he brought the FA Cup and the Uefa Cup to the so-called unfashionable Suffolk club.

After England, he won the Dutch title twice at PSV Eindhoven and nurtured the talent of a brilliant young Brazilian called Ronaldo.

He also won the European Cup Winners Cup at Barcelona and is still revered and respected at the Nou Camp.

Robson took over at St James's Park in September 1999, succeeding Ruud Gullit and inheriting a side lying second bottom of the Premiership.

He turned their fortunes around, and led Newcastle to the FA Cup semi-final, where they lost to Chelsea.

Newcastle suffered a period of slight stagnation last season, but Robson was busy laying the foundations which have been built upon this term.

And such is Robson's high standing within football, he was even approached about a part-time return to the England manager's job after Kevin Keegan quit.

Newcastle's board stepped in to stop the move, which upset Robson, but this most modest of professionals simply set his sights on rebuilding Newcastles United.

It has not been an easy task, and in the summer there was a certain amount of unease about Newcastle's transfer policy.

But Robson's experience came to the fore, keeping a calm head to land the his targets.

Shearer is influential

Robson failed to clinch a deal for Francis Jeffers when he moved from Everton to Arsenal, and was also snubbed by Boudewijn Zenden when he moved from Barcelona to Chelsea.

Instead, Newcastle signed Craig Bellamy from Coventry and gifted Frenchman Laurent Robert from Paris St Germain - and have so far got the better of those deals.

Robson has also been helped by the outstanding goalkeeping of Shay Given and the return of talismanic captain Alan Shearer.

But most of all, Newcastle's revival is testimony to the enduring quality of one of the finest managers of his - and several other - generations.

Robson will revel in Newcastle's current success, but has been around long enough to know that the hard work at St James's Park may just be starting.