Football: Robson's glow palls
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.BY SIMON TURNBULL
UP THE road on Tyneside, Kenny Dalglish survived just two matches of the Premiership season, both undefeated. On Teesside, a mere three games into the 1998-99 campaign, Bryan Robson is facing a make-or-break fixture.
The Middlesbrough manager is due to tackle the Pauls, Merson and Gascoigne, at the club's training complex tomorrow. He desperately needs a result - a positive one, that is. Otherwise, Middlesbrough's season among the big boys will be in serious danger of going exactly the same way as the last one.
Deja vu is already settling on Teesside in the wake of Friday's reports that one of Robson's expensively acquired hands is seeking to jump ship down at the Riverside. Like Fabrizio Ravanelli, Emerson, and Branco before him (and ultimately, of course, Juninho, too), Merson, it would seem, wants to bail out from Boro.
Robson was quick to dismiss the tabloid claims as "rubbish", adding: "If you buy comics you get a comic book story."
However, he read from a similar script when Ravanelli, Emerson and Branco were rocking the boat. And the stories of their time at Middlesbrough did not have happy endings.
Ravanelli made for Marseilles muttering, among other things: "Bryan Robson had this big reputation as a tough player but as a manager he is too soft." Now, clearly, it is time for the former Captain Marvel to show his managerial mettle.
Merson, significantly perhaps, has not taken the opportunity of the last 48 hours to deny either that he wants to leave or that his relationship with Gascoigne has deteriorated because of his team-mate's alleged drink problem. The bottom line for Robson is that he can ill afford to lose Merson, both for the sake of his team and for the sake of his own managerial credibility. Losing his best player would be a severe blow to Middlesbrough's Premiership survival prospects and losing another big-name buy would be equally damaging to his professional reputation.
In his four years and four months at Middlesbrough, Robson has lavished pounds 51m on new players. Kevin Keegan spent pounds 60m at Newcastle and built a team that at least threatened to win the title. Robson has spent just pounds 9m less and has assembled nothing more than a jigsaw of a side. In the big picture of the Premiership, it looks like it might fall to pieces once again.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments