UEFA Cup quarter finals first leg: PSV v Newcastle UtdA man with a past in football as long and varied as Bobby Robson's is always likely to encounter faces and venues from those many yesterdays.
Last season Newcastle's enterprising run in the Champions League took Robson back to Barcelona for an Alan Shearer-less 3-1 defeat, and tonight he returns to PSV Eindhoven, the club he joined in 1990 after an eight-year spell as England manager and whom he rejoined in 1998 for a season.
"My greatest experience football-wise was Barcelona," Robson reminisced. "But it was a delightful time at PSV because the Dutch are so pro-British. I won two championships in my first two years at PSV and they really helped to promote my interests. They were great years of my life. It's a thrill to be back."
Despite last season's European expedition, encompassing San Siro, Camp Nou and De Kuip, being more enthralling for Newcastle fans than this season's slow walk through the lowlands of the UEFA Cup, the fact is that Newcastle are in Europe in April and that is as rare as a goal from Kieron Dyer. The business end of the season also sees Newcastle in a domestic fight for fourth place in the Premiership.
"We will try to fight on two fronts," Robson said, when questioned about priorities. "I think both are important and if you sacrifice one and fail in the other, then you have nothing.
"But there's far too much football to start thinking about winning anything - Arsenal were winning a treble a few days ago."
Names such as Mark van Bommel and Mateja Kezman will be familiar PSV names. Arjen Robben, the winger who will join Chelsea for pounds £13 million in the summer, is injured but is expected to return for the second leg next Wednesday. Dennis Rom-medahl, PSV's other flying winger, may be on the bench and the coveted defender Kevin Hofland is suspended.
Newcastle's scouts thought Auxerre, whom PSV defeated in the last round, the better side. That feeling is sure to have filtered through to Eindhoven but then Kezman's comment that, "Newcastle are not a top team, you can compare them to Auxerre - we have a real chance," will have been registered by Robson.
Especially as at last night's press conference Robson was asked if he would sign Kezman this summer. "I don't speculate on rumours," was the reply.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
PSV EINDHOVEN (4-3-3): Wattereus; Bogelund, Colin, Bouma, Lee; Van Bommel, Vogel, De Jong; Park, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Kezman.
NEWCASTLE UNITED (4-4-2): Given; Hughes, Woodgate, Bramble, Bernard; Ambrose, Dyer, Speed, Robert; Bellamy, Shearer.
Philipsstadion, 7.45
On TV: Channel 5
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