Bryan Robson has admitted that he would have 'loved' to have played for boyhood club Newcastle United after the England legend grew up on the terraces at St James' Park.
The former Manchester United captain watched his first live game at St James' at around eight years of age with his father, Brian, and went on to attend the first-leg of the Fairs Cup final win against Ujpest Dozsa in 1969. By that stage, Robson was already attracting interest from professional clubs while playing for his school team.
Robson ended up having trials at Newcastle, Burnley, Coventry City, West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday as a youngster and, ultimately, decided to join the Baggies as an apprentice in 1972. The rest, of course, was history: Robson went on to become the most expensive footballer in Britain after completing a £1.5m move to Manchester United and won nine trophies during his spell at Old Trafford.
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However, Robson never lost touch with his roots in Chester-le-Street - even when Kevin Keegan vowed Newcastle were coming for Manchester United's title in 1993. Indeed, former Manchester United team-mate Gary Pallister previously told ChronicleLive that Robson 'always' looked for Newcastle's results in the dressing room after 'getting through on a Saturday afternoon'.
Robson did end up returning to the North East, as player-manager at Pallister's boyhood club, Middlesbrough, in 1994, but the former midfielder never ultimately represented Newcastle. Looking back on his decision to join West Brom as a 15-year-old, in the film 'Robbo', Robson has now explained why.
"When I went to West Brom, it was just the way they looked after you and the week that you were at the club, I just really enjoyed it," the 65-year-old said. "For whatever reason, it was just that little bit better.
"Even though I would have loved to have played for Newcastle at a certain stage, West Brom just captured me and that's why I ended up there."
While Newcastle's new owners plan to make further signings in the transfer market in the coming years, the hierarchy are keen to ensure that the North East's finest talents, like Robson, do not end up leaving the region and vast resources will be set aside for the academy.
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