Sir Bobby’s honour tinged with regret

Last updated : 17 May 2003 By Martyn Elliott

While he is looking forward to the honour of being presented to the teams before kick off and presenting the cup to the winning captain, Sir Bobby would much rather be leading us out at the Millennium Stadium.

"I'm honoured to be in charge on Saturday," Sir Bobby told the Evening Chronicle. "But I would love to be there as an actual manager.

"It's a great honour for me and I'm thrilled about it. The FA Cup final is always a special occasion and of course I'd love to be there with Newcastle and be one of the managers trying to win the cup rather than presenting it.

"But to say I'm delighted would be an understatement. One of the great joys of my football life is the FA Cup final.

"As a young player I used to get tickets and would be among the 100,000 crowd watching the drama unfold and as a manager at Ipswich I watched as my players went up the steps to receive their trophy after beating Arsenal.

"I was so proud and I never dreamt that one day I would be the man to present the cup and medals to the winning team."