Robson rumours prove costly

A day of frenzied speculation on Tyneside concerning Bobby Robson's future at St James' Park culminated in the club issuing a statement to the London Stock Exchange confirming he remained as manager. But during the day the company's share price was significantly damaged.

Rumours swept Newcastle yesterday that Robson had decided to walk away from the job and, though wrong, they gained such currency Newcastle's share price was affected.

Between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. shares fell 5p, an 18 per cent drop. At 3.25 p.m. the following statement was released to the Stock Exchange: "Newcastle United notes recent media speculation regarding Sir Bobby Robson and confirms that Sir Bobby Robson has not resigned and that any reports to the contrary are completely unfounded."

Shares then rallied to close at 30½p, 2½p down on the day. That is a drop of 7.5 per cent, roughly equivalent to £3.6 million.

Robson's future has been the subject of some discussion since his side lost their Champions League qualifier against Partizan Belgrade in a penalty shoot-out and then compounded the disappointment by failing to record a victory in their first six Premiership games of the season.

United go into Saturday's league clash with Southampton needing a win to lift them away from 19th place in the table, the position they were lying in when Robson took over in September 1999.

Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy will be out for up to four weeks after injuring ankle ligaments in a reserve game against Everton on Monday night. Murphy is also out of Sven-Goran Eriksson's England squad for their final Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey on October 11th.

ITV1 announced yesterday it will show delayed footage of the England/Turkey game, following Sky's live coverage, although no transmission time has yet been confirmed.