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Robert "Bob" Primrose Wilson (born October 30, 1941 in Chesterfield, England) was a goalkeeper for Arsenal of the Football League First Division from 1963 to 1974. He made over 300 appearances for Arsenal and two appearances for Scotland, the first Englishman since 1873 to do so. He also played for the England youth team. He is married and has three children.

His unusual middle name has often been a source of amusement; it stems from a Scottish tradition of giving children their mother's maiden name as a middle name.

Playing career

Wilson started late as a professional player as his father would not let him sign papers with Manchester United as he thought it wasn't a reasonable job while he was a youth. Wilson then went on to Loughborough College for training as a teacher before signing for Arsenal in 1963. He had been playing reserve games for Wolves as an amateur and made his debut for Arsenal as an amateur, making him the last non-professional to play in the top division, and the first amateur to have a transfer fee paid (around £6,500). Even then, it was five years before he became the first-choice keeper in 1968. In 1971 he was Arsenal's player of the year in their famous Double-winning season.

He became eligible to play for Scotland when the rules were changed in the 1970s to allow players to play for their parent's country of origin, if they had not already played for their own country. Wilson was selected by Tommy Docherty for his two games in charge, but Docherty then left the position and the next manager preferred another English-born keeper, David Harvey of Leeds United.

Wilson continued to play as Arsenal's keeper through the early 1970s, although an injury late on in the 1971-72 meant he missed Arsenal's 1972 Cup Final loss to Leeds United and much of the 1972-73 season, with understudy Geoff Barnett taking his place. Wilson regained his place once fully recovered, and was Arsenal's No. 1 up until his surprisingly early retirement from playing in May 1974, at the age of 32.

As a student and teacher of goalkeeping, Wilson has identified his own signature technique as diving at his opponents' feet to save goals. This has caused him a number of injuries throughout his career. Wilson also played goal without the use of goalkeeping gloves, something very rare at the time and completely unknown today.

Coaching career

Wilson was goalkeeping coach for Arsenal during the period Pat Jennings, John Lukic, and David Seaman were goalkeepers. He then moved to become youth goalkeeper coach, before retiring from all coaching at the end of the 2002-03 season

Broadcasting career

After his Football career he immediately became a Football television presenter working firstly for the BBC then for ITV until his retirement in 2002. He still makes occasional appearances on television, on the BBC's Football Focus and Match of the Day 2. In the mid-1980s he was also immortalised in comic strip form when, despite a certain lack of plausibility due to his age, he spent a season playing for the fictional Melchester Rovers team in the Roy of the Rovers strip.

Personal life

Wilson is married to his wife Megs, and they had three children: John (born 1965), Anna (born 1966) and Robert (born 1968). His son John Wilson is a presenter on Front Row, the BBC Radio 4 arts programme.

Charity work

In 1996, Anna was diagnosed with Breast cancer. After a long fight, she died on 2 December 1998. The "Willow Foundation" was set up in her memory in 1999 and operated locally, mainly in Hertfordshire. Wilson relaunched the charity on 4 October 2005 with a national remit. The organisation was established in Anna's memory and now helps some of the estimated 12,500 people in the UK, aged 16-40, who are diagnosed every year with a life-threatening illness.

Honours as a player

   * Inter-Cities Fairs Cup winner, 1970
   * First Division Championship, 1970-71
   * FA Cup winner, 1971

• Bob Wilson

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