Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager

Gabriel Clarke and Torquil Jones had previously made Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans together, and Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager, released in June 2018 by Noah Media Group, applies the same mixture of archive and patient interview to a very different kind of sporting figure. It was shortlisted for the Grierson award for Best Historical Documentary.

Robson was born in 1933 into a mining family in County Durham, played for Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and England, then built an improbable career as a manager: a small-town club, Ipswich Town, taken to an FA Cup and a European trophy; eight years in charge of England; and a second, continental career at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting, Porto and Barcelona, where his young interpreter and assistant was José Mourinho, before a homecoming at Newcastle United. The film hears from his wife Elsie and their sons, and from colleagues and players across five countries, including Terry Butcher and Frank Arnesen.

What emerges is less a record of trophies than a portrait of decency in a profession that rarely rewards it: a manager remembered by his players for kindness and enthusiasm as much as tactics. The film is openly affectionate, and it earns its emotion; the archive of Robson on the touchline, from Portman Road to Italia 90, shows a man who never lost his delight in the game. It pairs naturally with Mourinho, whose subject learned his trade at Robson's side.