Because he doesn’t shout about it, letting millions of people know his feelings all the time in contemporary fashion, it’s easy to forget what a giant presence Bryan Robson is at Manchester United.
When Sir Bobby Charlton was struggling, Robson quietly took on some of his duties as the face and figurehead of the club and, although no one broadcasts it, he has filled the great man’s giant boots as the club’s elder statesman.
There’s something very appropriate about that, because for the truly great players who donned the shirt (Sir Bobby, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes), Robson was, and is, one of the first selections in United’s best XI of all time . . It is a link with the past, at a time when the memory of Busby and the spirit of Wembley, 1968, fade in the collective memory. The look on Robson’s face when I met him at Nobby Stiles’ funeral a few years ago told me what the members of that great team meant to him. He was devastated.
The current crop of young players weren’t even born when Robson was United’s Captain Marvel, delivering in a way that would be remembered far more had they played during Ferguson’s peak years at the club.
But you could have heard a pin drop when he sat down with the under-18s and under-21s as part of a new project he is involved in, encouraging young players to follow proper investment advice and avoid opportunists and financial predators on the edge. of football.
Bryan Robson is one of the greatest Man United players of all time and is a link to their past.
But during his career, Robson fell victim to bad financial advice and was defrauded.
Robson is now trying to pass on his advice to the next generation of United stars, encouraging them to follow the right investment advice and avoid opportunists and financial predators.
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Robson is working on this project with one of his United contemporaries, Simon Andrews, who was barely out of the first team in the late 1980s and is now a financial specialist. “I got tired of reading another newspaper and reading that someone else in the sport is bankrupt or has been scammed,” Robson tells me. I’ve also been bitten a couple of times.
With typical modesty, he recounts one of several bad investment decisions he made as a player. They encouraged him to invest in a hotel in the Whistler region of Canada. “They sent you updates on how the building was going, sending you maps and dimensions of the property you owned,” he says. “But when I tried to get my money out, I found out it didn’t even exist.”
Their role in the HPI (High Performance Individuals) project with Andrews is to convince the young stars they are speaking to (from around the football world) of the idea of ​​seeking structured advice that excludes fraudsters.
It involves players undergoing an HPI audit on where they are investing their money and their financial hopes for the present and future. If they wish to follow up on suggestions in the resulting 16 to 20 page report, they will be directed to experts in whatever field is relevant. “It’s the former players who help the players and we hope there’s trust there, as well as knowledge and life experience that they can relate to,” Robson says.
It is estimated that 40 percent of professional soccer players go bankrupt within five years of finishing playing. Wes Brown told last week how he had gone bankrupt due to lack of knowledge about how he was investing. Chris Smalling is taking legal action against his financial advisers KMW, alleging that he was not informed of fees owed if he withdrew his investment.
The huge sums of money in the game make players more prey than ever to spies and opportunists. Some are convinced that being represented by family members provides protection. That can create a false sense of security.
Robson is working on this project with one of his United contemporaries, Simon Andrews, who was out of the first team in the late 1980s and is now a financial specialist.
Former United star Wes Brown (right) told last week how he had gone bankrupt due to a lack of knowledge about how he was investing.
The conversation with Robson revolves around the topic of United’s false sense of security, after reaching two cup finals and the Champions League last season, with Marcus Rashford the ultimate manifestation of how things have not gone well. “There have been some incidents where he’s gone out at night,” Robson says. “Having fun is an integral part of the life of a footballer, but you have to know that there is a line that cannot be crossed.”
Empathy and at the same time realism, which explains why, until the end of his tenure as manager, Sir Alex Ferguson always liked having Robson around, keeping an eye on United’s young players as they trained.
‘If I was standing watching training or a game, he would say to me: ‘Come on, what are you thinking? The truth!’ Robson relates. —Then we’ll talk. And from time to time he would tell me: “If you feel the same way about him, talk to him.”
None of the managers United have hired since Ferguson left have asked Robson to do the same. Which perhaps tells us something about the club’s bumpy road over the last 11 years.
County cricket must do more for spectacle
The sun was high and Lancashire’s Josh Bohannon was flying at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. But the beauty and promise of a new season for those of us there was diluted by an unmistakable sense that more could be done to boost the county cricket experience, which could certainly use the help.
The gardens were barely soaked when at 11:00 it was announced that a new inspection of the field would be carried out at 12:15 and that lunch would be taken at 12:30. Nothing ever gets in the way of meal breaks in cricket.
None of the main electronic scoreboards were working and even if the cause was high winds, rather than electricity bills, one wonders whose idea it was to relegate any idea of ​​a manually operated scoreboard to the past. A problem occurred with one of the viewing screens, a group of five gardeners were casually wandering around the grounds to fix it (another 10 minute break in a day already reduced to two sessions) and one wonders whose idea it was to send those of white-coated butlers who were once on every viewing screen in the past.
The game was coming to life when play stopped at 6:30 pm sharp, on a beautiful April afternoon, and any idea of ​​the floodlights illuminating things until 9 pm was presumably one of utter naivety.
It was a pleasure to see Josh Bohannon in action against Surrey at Old Trafford on Saturday.
But the beauty and promise of a new season for those of us there was diluted by an unmistakable sense that more could be done to boost the county cricket experience for fans.
Sad day for sports broadcasting
A light goes out in sports broadcasting with the news of Garry Richardson’s departure from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Garry Richardson’s departure from BBC Radio 4’s Today program is sad news for broadcasting
Beyond Berkshire’s burr and a decidedly mixed performance in predicting race outcomes, there has been an object lesson in how to interview: pressing respectfully but firmly, asking the questions the layman wants to ask, without any of the current predilection for the jokes.
No program has been able to compare to Sportsweek, hosted by Richardson, which was scandalously eliminated 10 years ago. His departure in September will be a loss.