Sir Bobby Robson: Toon are 'sad and horribly wrong' so give Shearer the job

Sir Bobby Robson has described Newcastle's decline as "sad and horribly wrong" - but is backing a new owner to restore hope by appointing Alan Shearer as boss.

The ex-England and United boss has revealed his concern at the plight Newcastle find themselves in - up for sale, in the relegation zone and facing an uncertain future in the hands of foreign owners.

Yet Robson says a route out of the depression on Tyneside can be found if Shearer, a "man who understands the club" is handed the reigns alongside a top experienced coach.

Robson has called on Mike Ashley to "sell up as quickly as possible" and reckons the one big decision a new owner has is to "get the right manager and stick with him.

Offering his blueprint for the way forward as Newcastle face Manchester City tonight, Robson said: "There are all sorts of words you could use to describe what's happened at Newcastle and some words have been vitriolic but the one I'd use to express what I feel about the club is sadness.

"Its not just disappointing or outrageous or obnoxious, its just sad how a big, magnificent club like it is, could have reached this point.

"Advice to buyers? The club, financially, has got to be stable. But the appointment of a top manager is crucial. He's the puppet master, he pulls the strings."

"What Newcastle needs is a top-class manager and without that man, they won't succeed. Simple as that. Its like the captain of a ship; with a good captain, the ship sails, without one, it doesn't.

"Kevin Keegan And Alan are both realistic prospects. And I think they'd be welcome, too. Alan might not have any experience, but he knows what the club is all about, he knows the supporters, he knows how they feel and he'd be dedicated to it.

"I think Alan will make a very good manager. He's got clout; he had that in the dressing room, he loved the club, he wanted everything right, he wanted training right, everything around the club right.

"The one thing he hasn't got, of course, is experience and to run a club like Newcastle , you'd need a very experienced man. So if Alan came in, I think he'd need someone else to coach for him or be a good liaison with him."

Sir Bobby has faced his battle with cancer with bullish determination and optimism - qualities his beloved Newcastle could do with at this time of crisis.

Still oozing passion, and full of life, Robson has watched current turmoil unfold at St James's Park with sadness, and he has a withering verdict on the current regimes folly.

Robson's latest offering to the Tyneside public could not be better timed. A book celebrating Newcastle. My Kind of Toon, it is called, is packed full of nostalgia, for a celebration of a city currently in need of reminding of its strengths.

Analyse the goings of at St James's Park, he calls it "a cathedral of a ground towering over the city", and irrepressible Robson offers a critique that potential new owner should study carefully.

Fighting the disease for the fifth time, this time in his lungs that was diagnosed as inoperable in February last year, it feels an age since Robson was leading Newcastle in the Champions' League, and to three top five finishes in the Premiership.

But those glory days date back only to 2002-04. United's fall has been rapid. And Robson says: "We've just lost stability at Newcastle and the quicker the club is sold and the proper people are put in charge and the right amount of money is made available to spend on the team to improve it, the better it will be."

Mike Ashley is trying to clinch a deal in the next fortnight to give the club a fresh start after a period that saw Kevin Keegan ousted as boss after losing control of transfers.

Robson is scathing over the episode: "I felt that lift, the emotion, when Kevin was appointed. On that day, the whole city was enraptured, everyone was excited and thought that the messiah had returned, that it might take a little while, but that he'd get it right.

"Everyone thought he'd have a great relationship with Mike Ashley, that because he'd been given a three-year contract, the club would back him, they'll find the money to do it and he'll run. It was a shock, but it felt like an inspired choice. I thought to myself this is it now.

"But then they threw a spanner in the works by appointing Dennis Wise and he operates from London . The mistake was bringing people in who aren't attuned to the club and who worked at the opposite end of the country. And whether Dennis has got the skill and expertise and experience in that field is very doubtful.

"They've brought in people like Xisco and Gonzalez and when I first saw them I thought: "Oh my God! How are they going to play in the Premier League?"

"Who's responsible for buying those players? Who saw them play? When did they see them, how many times and where are the scouting reports? I think its wrong, and potentially a waste of money."

Robson still enthuses about fulfilling his "dream" of landing the Newcastle job. "To have been in charge of my fathers club... phew. If my dad had known that, he wouldn't have believed it," he says. "He'd have somersaulted all the way to the games."

"I was there for five years and they were among the most marvelous years of my life. Its hard to envisage how the club has gone back to where it was and possibly worse.

"There have been way too many managers in that time and some of the player acquisitions have been dreadful. In Kevin Keegan's case, that was one of his arguments that they were bringing in players that he didn't even know.

"That never happened in my career. In the five years I was at Newcastle, as well as coaching from Monday to Friday and working on Saturdays, I would send the likes of Charlie Woods, Gordon Milne, Tommy Craig and John Carver out scouting for me. So we knew what we were buying.

"Successful football clubs are all about successful relationships and you don't get that overnight. It takes time and continuity; you can't do it in six months.

"To be fair, Freddy Shepherd and I didn't have such a bad relationship. We never rowed. He never wanted to know what the team was and he never interfered one iota.

"And it takes time. I was at Newcastle for five years and it took two years to get it together. And then we finished third, fourth and fifth and then they sacked me.

"The trouble is, since I left, success didn't come that readily and before you know where you are, they've changed their manager again. It's just gone horribly wrong."

Shearer, Keegan, Steve Bruce could all be candidates to succeed interim boss Joe Kinnear. Robson says what Shearer lacks in experience, he more than makes up for in his leadership qualities.

"All the big, successful clubs have got top men, top managers, who know the game, can impart that knowledge, who are a good judge of a player, a good tactician, an enthusiast, who gets on with the players and knows how to handle big players and discipline them.

"Without that sort of manager, you will not run a big club. He needs all those attributes and assets. All the top managers have it: Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, I'd like to think I was one of them."

New owners, a new manager and a fresh start could be on the horizon, but any shiek or billionaire looking for guidance could do no better than hear Robson give them a feel for the club.

He added: "Its a big club, a massive club. And its a fantastic club, too. You roll out there, look up into the stands and think: "Jeepers, I hope we win today for this lot." It's a magnificent place. And its those 52,000 you feel sorry for.

"In spite of the way it is, we must be the envy of a lot of other clubs in the league. The'yre still the third best supported team in the country. We must be the envy of Fulham, Blackburn, Everton, Liverpool . It's a one city team and that's a great advantage.

"They wear their hearts on their sleeves, they love the club, they appear come rain, shine, blow or snow. They're just magnificent people you work for and you just hope you can get them a great result to give them a great weekend. There's a passion here that's rare. You don't see it at many other clubs."

Neither do you see it in many people, like you see it in Sir Bobby Robson.

Newcastle : My Kind of Toon, By Sir Bobby Robson. Hodder and Stoughton

Donations to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation can be made at www.justgiving.com/thesirbobbyrobsonfoundation

He has raised more than £734,000 for North East based NHS cancer projects. Over the summer, he gave a cheque for 500,000 to the Freeman Hospital where it is being used to equip the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre.