Source: Northern_Echo
Sir Bobby memories help Quinn lift gloom
HAVING had to endure the torment of a humiliating defeat at St James' Park last Sunday, Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn admits he wished he could have turned to Sir Bobby Robson for support and advice to help lift the doom and gloom on Wearside.[LNB] Quinn, sitting proudly at the Stadium of Light yesterday in his new role as a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, admitted he had become a depressed soul after suffering the biggest Tyne- Wear derby collapse since the 1956-57 season.[LNB] But Robson's fight against cancer before his death in July last year and the story of Jill Outhwaite whose husband died of skin cancer in March aged 36 and donated £30,000 to the Foundation yesterday helped put everything back into perspective.[LNB] Earlier in the week Quinn regularly asked himself what would Sir Bobby have done The Sunderland chairman said: I think I know what he would say.[LNB] I didn't know the answers myself in the last few days.[LNB] Sunday was a blur, Monday you try to get going again.[LNB] There's something about these winter nights that makes it harder.[LNB] It has been a tough week but I have been up to the training ground and there is a different mood, thank God.[LNB] Bobby would be giving it out if there was still doom and gloom around the place.[LNB] I would have asked him how do we put that game in a box and leave it there So it doesn't stick out and drag us down for the next 70 days'. He would have been the ideal person to get us out. One word from him was worth a thousand from others.[LNB] In Steve Bruce, though, Quinn feels Sunderland have a manager more than capable of making sure the defeat to Newcastle does not linger too much longer.[LNB] Sunderland headed for St James' Park last Sunday on the back of a seven-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, form which ensures a victory over Stoke could lift them into the top six.[LNB] Pressure may have been growing on Bruce from the club's fans in the last six days, but Quinn is clear in his belief that Sunderland have the right man.[LNB] Of course he was flat but I have noticed, as the week has gone on, there is a determination in Steve Bruce and you don't lose it, said Quinn.[LNB] It gets shuffled about on a day like that. Seven days later that determination will be back. I love his conscientiousness.[LNB] He has this passion, enthusiasm about him. He is a real football person. He is not a bluffer and he won't go blaming other people or try to work the fans against the board, he is real.[LNB] There will be ebbs and flows, there are in management, but for me he is the perfect manager for this club.[LNB] There is no lack of confidence in the manager whatsoever in everything he does.[LNB] For me he is the type of person, the ideal, to take Sunderland further.[LNB] Bruce was given a glowing recommendation from Robson prior to his appointment at Sunderland in the summer of last year. The former England boss had written to Quinn to identify the Corbridge- born manager as the man to take the Black Cats to a higher level.[LNB] Quinn listened, having got to know Robson well over the last ten years ever since he scored the winner against Newcastle at St James' Park in November 2000.[LNB] After the week we have had, I wish Bobby was still around to help us. It's been a tough week and one that brings everything home to you in the North-East, said Quinn.[LNB] People looked up to him, people were in awe of him. I came out of one of our victories at Newcastle and I had been selected for a urine test.[LNB] I was late, I had to get a taxi by Wor Jackie's statue.[LNB] Four hours later Sir Bobby came and tapped me on the shoulder, I froze because I had never spoken to him. He said why, what a good header son.' I felt I connected with him that day.[LNB] Even though I scored that was the biggest highlight of my day. I cherish that the most.[LNB] Like so many, Quinn has special memories of his meetings with Robson, which have all contributed to his decision to accept an invitation to become a patron for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.[LNB] When news came through last season that Sir Bobby had passed away we were playing a friendly at Celtic,[LNB] said Quinn. 5,000 Sunderland fans started to sing away in his memory for a good three minutes, that was the stamp of the man, he was such a class act. Most of us cried that day.[LNB] Quinn, who confirmed striker Asamoah Gyan will start for Sunderland for the first time against Stoke, also admitted how his post-derby flight back to Ireland did not go according to plan either.[LNB] He said: I got the late Ryanair flight from Newcastle and there were over 100 of the Newcastle Irish supporters club on the flight who had been drinking heavily all day.[LNB] I might as well have gone down the Bigg Market for a drink.[LNB]
