As the last rites are carried out over the Boleyn and before it disappears forever I hope these words of the great Mooro will help every fan worldwide.
As some may know I was fortunate to become Bob’s ghost writer back in the 80s/90s when he regularly contributed a column as sports editor to Sport Newspapers.
He was as self effacing off the pitch as he was on it – cool, calm and collected in every assessment he made of any situation – good or bad.
Whether he would have been for or against the move from Upton Park we will never know but what I am absolutely certain of is that he would have accepted it without any hint of hysteria – that simply wasn’t his way.
Once, after we had completed a column, talking quietly I asked him what he made of a statue being erected to Sir Matt Busby and his answer gave an indication of how he would have felt to one being erected to himself!
It also serves to show how he would have viewed such a momentous event as the move from Green Street to Stratford.
He looked at me very cooly and said: ” The brain is the best camera in the world. No-one can ever take away the memories.
“I certainly don’t need a bronze statue of someone whom I knew as flesh and blood. Everything moves on but we can always turn on the memories can’t we.”
Bob was a realist and the calmest fella I ever had the pleasure of knowing with a simple way of facing the realities of life. So this morning I simply say: “Goodbye old girl – you will always be in my head and when I want to see you again I’ll throw the mental switch.”