Ferguson leads tributes at Bobby Robson memorial

DURHAM, England (AP) -Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and England's Fabio Capello were among the big names in soccer attending a memorial service for Bobby Robson, the former player and coach who died of cancer July 31 at age 76.

More than 1,000 guests filled Durham Cathedral on Monday, with Ferguson and former England striker Gary Lineker paying tributes to the man who led England to the 1990 World Cup semifinals and coached clubs to titles in Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain as well as England.

"It's been one of the privileges of my life to have met him and been enthused by him,'' said Ferguson, who first met Robson when the Scot was manager of Aberdeen. "He influenced me then and will always influence me.

"What made him so special was he influenced people who didn't know him. They admired his courage, his dignity, his enthusiasm.''

Former England coaches Sven-Goran Eriksson, Terry Venables, Graham Taylor and Steve McClaren were at the service. So were former England teammate Bobby Charlton and some of the stars he coached: Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer, Bryan Robson and Lineker.