WHEN Sir Bobby Robson steps into the Philips Stadion for the first leg of Newcastle's UEFA Cup quarter-final with PSV Eindhoven tonight, it will be like a father returning to his family home, writes Scott Wilson.

Robson took charge of the Dutch club side in 1990 after leading England to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

He inherited an side that had fallen on hard times after lifting the European Cup just two years earlier, but reinvigorated them to the extent that they won successive domestic titles during his two-year reign.

Those successes ensured Robson's time at the club would never be forgotten but, when the PSV fans acclaim their returning hero this evening, they will not be rising to applaud Robson the manager. Instead, they will be voicing their approval of Robson the man.

"I remember conducting an interview with some of Robson's team towards the end of his first spell at the club," said Frans van den Neiuwenhof, chief sports writer of Eindhoven's leading daily newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad.

"To a man they all said to me 'Who wouldn't want to have a father like Bobby Robson'.

"He is remembered here for the tremendous energy and passion that he brought to the job.

"He didn't really have the resources to change the team when he first arrived in 1990. But he set about working with what he had and the team responded to that by winning the title.

"He got the most out of players. Probably the only person that didn't apply to was Romario. He was lazy, did what he wanted, and Robson wasn't really able to get a hold of him.

"But, other than that, he seemed to be able to get the players playing for him in a way that previous managers maybe couldn't.

"I don't think there'll be anyone who has a bad word to say about Bobby Robson and that's why we're all delighted to have him back in Eindhoven for this game."

Robson parted company with PSV in 1992 and moved to Portugal to lead Sporting Lisbon but, when Dick Advocaat left Eindhoven to take over at Rangers in 1998, the board knew exactly where to look for his successor.

"Bobby stepped into the breach really at that stage," said van den Neiuwenhof. "It was a very difficult season because five or six top players had also left.

"The likes of Boudewijn Zenden, Wim Jonk and Philip Cocu all followed Advocaat out of the door and Robson was left with a team of youngsters.

"Luckily one of those was a player called Ruud van Nistelrooy and, in partnership with Luc Nilis, he scored the goals to fire PSV back into the Champions League.

"They needed to win at Utrecht on the last day of the season to qualify and were 2-0 down with less than 20 minutes left. But Robson brought a guy called Arnold Bruggink off the bench and he scored the winner in injury-time.

"I'd never seen Robson as happy as he was in the dressing room after that game but, in fairness, what he did that season was probably even more impressive than the two titles he won in his first spell."