Bobby Robson had been manager of England for four years when he attended the home game against Southend United in 1986 to re-open the Cowhed which had just been refurbished at a cost of £100,000. After a playing career with Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Vancouver Whitecaps - during which time he won twenty England caps - he had started his managerial career in Canada with another Vancouver team. Moving on to Fulham for a year or so, he then enjoyed a highly-successful thirteen-year stay with Ipswich Town prior to succeeding Ron Greenwood as England manager in 1982.

When visiting St James' Park he was halfway through his spell as England manager which was to end on a high note with a run to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup. Returning to club management he spent time at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona before, around the time the Cowshed was finally demolished at the turn of the century, managing Newcastle United which had been one of his local clubs when young. Awarded a knighthood in 2002, he died at the age of seventy-six in 2009.