Robin Gregory Stubbs (born 22 April 1941) is an English former professional

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 ...

, born in

Quinton, Birmingham Quinton is a suburb and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, ward of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, west of the city centre. Formerly part of Halesowen parish, Quinton became part ...

, 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 nearly 400 appearances and scored 170 goals 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 ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

(in two separate spells) and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

. While with Birmingham, Stubbs played in the early rounds of their 1958–60 and 1960–61 campaigns in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

, but not in either final. At the age of 22 he joined Torquay for what was then their club record fee of £6,000. Over the following six seasons he scored at a rate of better than a goal every two games, and was the Torquay fans' choice in the 2007

PFA Fans' Favourites The PFA Fans' Favourites is a list of football players produced as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the Professional Footballers' Association in 2007. There is one entry for each Football League club's favourite player. In making the se ...

poll. Stubbs was formerly married to Anthea Redfern, who went on to marry

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 75 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the Associated Te ...

and assist him on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

game-show ''

The Generation Game ''The Generation Game'' is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two people from the same family, but different generations, compete to win prizes. The game There are eight competitors, hence the catchphrase "Let's me ...

''. In January 2020 Torquay United announced that the board of directors had appointed Stubbs as an Honorary Life President of the club.

References

1941 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players English Football League players {{England-footy-forward-1940s-stub