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 lea ...

who played for Scottish club

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

as an

outside left 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 ...

.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) is a defunct 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&nbs ...

, 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 – Australian aviator 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 independen ...

, 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 Foot ...

). 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 the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...

and

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , 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 The Honest Men, fro ...

. 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 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

, 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. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

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

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

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 Scotland national team under the rules of the time due to his birthplace. His 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 his ...

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

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

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 men's footballers Scottish football managers Scottish men's 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 Footballers from Dumbarton Men's association football outside forwards Anglo-Scots 20th-century English sportsmen 20th-century Scottish sportsmen

Personal life

See also

References