Robert Gibb Howitt (15 July 1925 – 31 January 2005) was a Scottish

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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Sheffield United and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Career

Howitt started his career in Scotland at Vale of Clyde and

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

before moving to England with Sheffield United. He made a decent start to English football scoring 14 goals in 44 appearances in 1955–56 as the "Blades" suffered relegation from the First Division. He hit 13 the following season as Sheffield United finished in 6th position in the second tier. He then only scored four in 22 matches in 1957–58 and at the end of the season he signed for league rivals

. He made fine start to his Stoke career scoring on his debut against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in a 2–1 victory. He occupied all forward positions in 1958–59 scoring ten goals. New manager Tony Waddington began to use Howitt in a left half position in 1960–61 which saw his goalscoring suffer as a result. However, he began consistent playing in 45 matches in 1961–62 but he often came in for criticism from supporters due to his lack of skill. He played 11 matches in 1962–63 as Stoke won the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

and at the end of the season he left to return to Scotland. He went on to coach at

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

and was appointed manager of

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 ...

in 1965. He spent seven year as manager at Fir Park guiding the "Wells" to the Scottish League Division Two title in 1968–69.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Stoke City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

champions: 1962–63

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howitt, Bobby 1929 births 2005 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Men's association football inside forwards Scottish footballers Stoke City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Vale of Clyde F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Scottish football managers