ANDY WOODMAN never worked with Sir Bobby Robson. In fact, he never even met him. But when he attends the daily managerial meetings at Newcastle United's Darsley Park training ground, the goalkeeping coach cannot help but be inspired by the club's greatest ever manager.

Hanging on the wall of Alan Pardew's office is a lifesize portrait of Sir Bobby that underlines the extent to which the Magpies legend continues to tower over the club that came to define him.

Almost four years after his death, and Robson remains intrinsically connected the fabric of Newcastle United.

So when Woodman, in his guise as one of the founders of events company No 1 Promotions, agreed to help organise some charity packages for Beeswing Ladies Day at Newcastle Racecourse later this month, there was only going to be one beneficiary.

"There's so much of Sir Bobby at the training ground, and that's someone who didn't know him personally saying that," said Woodman, who followed Alan Pardew to Newcastle in December 2010, having previously worked with the Magpies manager at Charlton and West Ham.

"You turn the corner and there's always someone who has a story, or who'll say, 'Sir Bobby would have done it like this' or 'Imagine if Sir Bobby was here, he wouldn't stand for that'. There's always one of those stories to match up with.

"That's from the staff who've been there for a long time, people like (team administrator) Tony Toward or (physiotherapist) Derek Wright, those sort of people.

"We always feel that there's a Sir Bobby presence there and we absolutely love it, because we always feel that we're a little bit protected by him, too.

"Every morning we go into the manager's office for a meeting first thing and it's fantastic - there's a wall to ceiling portrait of Sir Bobby looking at all of us.

"It's a way of reminding us why we're doing it, the reasons we do it and the way we do it. There's a big respect for how Sir Bobby used to do things. It makes us remember that this is really his club still. It's always going to be Sir Bobby's club."

As well as the club link with Sir Bobby, there was another, more personal, reason why Woodman was keen to support The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, the cancer charity set up in the final years of Robson's life that has already raised more than £5m.

When he was only 17, Woodman lost his mother to cancer, and more recently, he helped raise money to support a former colleague who lost his young son to the disease.

"I was still a young football player when my mum died from cancer," he said. "I was the same age as my son is now. It just shapes your view on life a bit.

"I try to enjoy myself as much as possible and help where I can and maybe take a bit of advantage of the football business that I'm in.

"That's what happened when I worked with a player I played with called Dave Waterman. His son, Oakley, had cancer, so he wanted me to raise some money for this cancer ward where they buy a caravan for families to have a last couple of months together.

"I just opened up a company and set up a golf day in East Sussex. I rang all the people I knew to come and help raise money. Sky ended up being there, we had managers there, jockeys and it was huge, in a nice way and we raised the money we needed.

"That's how it went about. Oakley died, sadly, but the foundation is still going and his dad is still a friend of mine. That's how it all started, and it feels like it goes hand in hand with Sir Bobby."

Woodman has previously arranged charity hospitality at the Derby, and the link with racing is no coincidence either.

The 41-year-old's father was a bookmaker, and when he was young, he would accompany him to Epsom on some of the biggest racing days of the year.

"From a young age - five or six years old - I'd be on his pitch with him, whether it was the dog track or Epsom racecourse up on the hill," said Woodman, who is long-time friend of former Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate.

"I've always had this racing background, although I haven't backed many winners I can assure you of that! I've always liked the whole racing set-up and getting into the hospitality by a little bit of luck and fortune has given people a great day out, but also helped raise a lot of money for a lot of charities."

So with his gambling hat on, would Woodman recommend a punt on Newcastle reclaiming a place in the top eight next season?

"Like I said, I haven't won many bets," he said. "But we'll start getting ready for next year now, and we'll make sure we're fresh and ready to go.

"The fact we stayed in the Premier League is really important. I know it's not what we expected, but on this particular campaign, towards the last couple of months, anyone would have accepted it. When you see Wigan going down, you realise the impact it has on everybody.

"We haven't got the extra games (of Europe) next season, and we're really look forward to getting our teeth into it."

* More information on the charitable packages at Newcastle Racecourse is available at www.no1promotions.com/newcastle. More information on the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation can be found at www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk.