Robert H. "Bob" Kyle (16th December 1870 – 17th February 1941) was an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

during the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. A native of

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Kyle was club secretary (overseeing the whole club including coaching/training) at

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in the Irish League from June 1897 to 1905. During this time "the Whites" claimed three League titles, two

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

s, one City Cup, three

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

s and one Belfast Charity Cup. Kyle was invited to become secretary-manager at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in August 1905, remaining in the role until retiring on 15 March 1928. He thus remains Sunderland's longest serving manager. During Kyle's time in charge Sunderland claimed the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

title in 1913 and finished as runners-up in 1923. He is the only Irish manager ever to win the English top division.

Managerial stats

:''As of 16 September 2007.''

Notes

Sunderland A.F.C. managers Sportspeople from Belfast 1870s births Year of death missing Date of birth missing Place of death missing Association football managers from Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-footy-bio-stub

Managerial stats

See also

Notes