Robert Ferrier (1899 – 1971) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for Scottish club

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

as an

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

.Bobby Ferrier
MotherWELLnetFerrier Bob Image 3 Motherwell 1928
Vintage Footballers He holds the record for most appearances in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

, and is one of the top ten goalscorers. He was captain of the side that won Motherwell's only league championship to date, in 1931–32,Past Managers
, Ayr United history website. besides playing in two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

and

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

, both lost to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

). Ferrier represented the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

in seven inter-league matches, scoring five goals. After retiring as a player in 1937, he was the Motherwell assistant manager and later managed

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

and

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

. In October 2021, 104 years after first signing on at

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. Mo ...

, it was announced that Ferrier was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.

Personal life

His father, likewise named Robert and known as Bob, was also a footballer. The older Ferrier achieved success playing for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

in the early 1900s. It was during this spell in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

that his son was born, and although the family moved back to Scotland and young Bob played all his football there, he was ineligible to play for the Scottish national team under the rules of the time due to his birthplace. His own son, another Bob, was a sports journalist.Bob Ferrier
Robert McElroy, The Herald, 29 November 2010, via PressReader Additionally his uncle Willie Speedie (brother of Scottish international

Finlay Speedie Finlay Ballantyne Speedie (18 August 1880 – 5 February 1953) was a Scottish footballer who played for Rangers, Newcastle United and Scotland in the 1900s. He was a versatile forward who was most at home at inside left. Career Speedie began hi ...

) and nephew Bob Speedie played for the families' hometown club

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrier, Bob Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) managers Ayr United F.C. managers Motherwell F.C. non-playing staff Date of birth missing Date of death missing 1899 births 1971 deaths English football managers English footballers Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Motherwell F.C. players Petershill F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Footballers from Sheffield Sportspeople from Dumbarton Footballers from West Dunbartonshire Association football outside forwards Anglo-Scots

Personal life

See also

References