Robert Dennis Latchford (born 18 January 1951) is an English 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 lea ...

who played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He made more than 500 appearances 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, playing for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

, Everton,

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

in the First Division, and represented England at

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

and under-23 levels before making 12 appearances at senior level.

Career

Latchford was born in

Kings Heath Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435 road, A435 Alces ...

, Birmingham. He was transferred from Birmingham City to Everton for £350,000, a British transfer record at the time (

Howard Kendall Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager. Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston ...

and

Archie Styles Arthur Styles (born 3 September 1949), known as Archie Styles, is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back. He made more than 150 appearances in the Football League for several clubs. Styles was born in Liverpool, an ...

were transferred to Birmingham City as part of the same deal, with Birmingham being paid just £80,000). At Everton, Latchford was the top scorer for six successive seasons. He scored 30 goals in the 1977–78 season, winning a £10,000 prize offered by a national newspaper for the first footballer to reach that number in a single season. During the mid-seventies, Latchford was widely considered one of the top English forwards of his generation. He earned his first full cap for England in a World Cup qualifier against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1977. In April 2006 a book was published telling the story of his 1977/78 season. Co-written with journalist Martin O'Boyle, the book support
Everton's former players charity.
The closest he came to a winner's medal at Everton was as a finalist in the League Cup in 1977. The match went to three games; after a goalless draw at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, Latchford scored in both replays - a late equaliser in the first replay at Hillsborough, which ended 1-1, and the opening goal at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in an eventual 3-2 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. Latchford made 268 appearances (3 as substitute) for Everton scoring 138 goals. After a guest stint in Australia for

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

in 1981, scoring 4 goals in as many appearances, Latchford left Everton for Swansea, newly promoted to the top tier of English football, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on his debut for the Swans. He scored 35 goals in 87 league appearances during his three years at Swansea, meaning that - as at Everton - he averaged a goal nearly every other game. Latchford later also played for Dutch club

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

(15 Appearances – 13 Goals), Newport County and finally

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

before retiring as a player in 1987. During his time at Everton, he was the club's leading post

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

goalscorer with 138 goals, a record he held until 1989 when

Graeme Sharp Graeme Marshall Sharp (born 16 October 1960) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Sharp played as a forward for Dumbarton, Everton, Oldham Athletic and Bangor City. He enjoyed great success with Everton, helping them ...

exceeded Latchford's tally. By the time Latchford left Everton, only Dixie Dean (pre Second World War) had scored more goals for the club in history. Latchford played 12 times for England, scoring 5 goals. He represented the players at

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sports trade union, with approximately 5,000 current members each seaso ...

, and in 1983 was part of a delegation which negotiated improved terms for players in the FA's deal with broadcasters for live coverage of that season's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. Now living in Germany with his family, Latchford makes regular trips back to England to speak on the after-dinner circuit and also has a regular column on Everton independent website
NSNO.co.uk
Latchford's two brothers, Dave and Peter, were both professional goalkeepers. Like Bob, Dave Latchford played for

; whilst Peter Latchford represented

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

before spending over ten years at

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 Foot ...

. (In March 1974, Bob managed the rare footballing feat of scoring twice against a sibling in a top-flight match.
/ref>)

Honours

Birmingham City *

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

runner-up: 1967 *

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 tier ...

promotion: 1971–72 Everton *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 1976–77 Swansea City *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

: 1981–82, 1982–83 NAC Breda *

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

promotion: 1983–84 Merthyr Tydfil * Welsh Cup: 1986–87

References

External links

*

at Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database profile

at Swansea City A.F.C.

at Everton F.C.

La Butie to Lawrence {{DEFAULTSORT:Latchford, Bob 1951 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Everton F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players NAC Breda players Coventry City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers English Football League representative players National Soccer League (Australia) players