Robert Ferguson (born 1 March 1945) is a Scottish former

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 ...

, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Football career

Kilmarnock

Born in

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the ' Three Towns'. Ardrossan is located on the east shore ...

, Ferguson came through Willie Waddell's Kilmarnock youth system in the early 1960s. Ferguson took over in the first-team following an injury to Campbell Forsyth in 1964–65. He retained the goalkeeper's shirt for the remainder of the season, playing eight games and keeping four clean sheets. In 1964–65

Heart of Midlothian F.C. Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Professional Football League. Hearts, the oldest and most successful football club in the S ...

fought out a championship title race with Waddell's Kilmarnock. In the era of two points for a win Hearts were three points clear with two games remaining. Hearts drew with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

meaning the last game of the season with the two title challengers playing each other at Tynecastle would be a league decider. Kilmarnock needed to win by a two-goal margin to take the title. Hearts entered the game as favourites with both a statistical and home advantage. They also had a solid pedigree of trophy winning under Walker. Waddell's Kilmarnock in contrast had been nearly men. Four times in the previous five seasons they had finished league runners-up including Hearts' triumph in 1960. Killie had also lost three domestic cup finals during the same period including the 1962 League Cup Final defeat to Hearts. Hearts had won five of the six senior cup finals they played in under Walker. Even the final they had lost was in a replay after drawing the first game. Hearts'

Roald Jensen Roald Jensen (11 January 1943 – 6 October 1987), nicknamed "Kniksen", of Bergen, Norway was one of that country's most celebrated association football players. He played for SK Brann and Heart of Midlothian F.C. ("Hearts"). ''Knicksen'' is a l ...

hit the post after six minutes. Kilmarnock then scored twice through

Davie Sneddon David Sneddon MBE (24 April 1936 – 24 December 2020) was a Scottish football player and manager. His career is notable for managing Kilmarnock to their 1979 Tennent Caledonian Cup victory and also being part of the 1964–65 Scottish Firs ...

and Brian McIlroy after 27 and 29 minutes. Alan Gordon had an excellent chance to clinch the title for Hearts in second half injury time but was denied by a Ferguson diving save pushing the ball past the post. The 2–0 defeat meant Hearts lost the title by an average of 0.042 goals. Subsequently, Hearts were instrumental in pushing through a change to use goal difference to separate teams level on points. Ironically this rule change later denied Hearts the title in 1985–86. This is the only time to date Killie's have been Scottish champions. Ferguson went on to make 73 league appearances for the club. During his time with Kilmarnock he won seven caps for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

West Ham United including Sheffield Wednesday loan

Ferguson was transferred east London club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

for a fee of £65,000 in 1967, which at the time was a world record fee for a goalkeeper. He made his Hammers debut against

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 ...

on 19 August 1967, the first game of the 1967–68 season. Despite having to compete for the number one shirt with

Peter Grotier Peter David Grotier (born 18 October 1950) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League. In a senior career that started in 1969, he played for West Ham United, Cardiff City, Lincoln City and ...

and

Mervyn Day Mervyn Richard Day (born 26 June 1955) is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a goalkeeper for West Ham United, Orient, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Luton Town, Sheffield United and Carlisle United. H ...

, Ferguson still managed 276 appearances during his 13 years at West Ham. He spent time with

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

in 1973, making five appearances for them. The signing of Phil Parkes in February 1979 ultimately meant the end of his career at West Ham. He played his last game for the Upton Park club in a 2–1 defeat on 14 November 1979 against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, and left in 1980. He received a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

in 1981, against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, for which he earned £20,000. He also played

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

football for West Ham as a winger.

Adelaide City

In 1981 Ferguson emigrated to Australia. He played with

Adelaide City Adelaide City Football Club is a soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was known historically as Juventus — the original name given to the club by its founders in Adelaide's Italian community. Adelaide City is one of Aust ...

for one year and then coached the club the following year. He later coached with Vacation Soccer Schools and Burnside Rugby Club.

Career after football

In 1982, he ran a diving firm for six years, but gave up when a colleague was attacked by a shark.

Honours

; Kilmarnock * Scottish league champions: 1964–65

References

External links

* *
Bobby Ferguson
at westhamstats.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Bobby 1945 births Adelaide City FC players Association football goalkeepers Kilmarnock F.C. players Living people Footballers from North Ayrshire Scotland international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players West Ham United F.C. players National Soccer League (Australia) players Scottish Football League representative players Scotland under-23 international footballers People from Ardrossan Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Scottish expatriate footballers Association football goalkeeping coaches