BOBBY FERGUSON

102 games (1964 - 1967)

From catching balls on Cannon Hill to shutting out Pele, Bobby Ferguson's career scaled the heights. Kilmarnock's league-winning goalkeeper reflects on the era when the club went toe-to-toe with Europe's best.

A good story needs an attention-grabbing opening and Bobby's ‘Big Match’ delivers: the famous last-day title decider in April 1965 was only the twenty-year-old’s eighth appearance. Needing to beat league leaders Hearts by two goals on their own patch, Killie led 2-0 when a late, late chance fell for the hosts...

Although not one for idolatry, his dynamic goalkeeping style was, he acknowledges, influenced by a contemporary. Lev Yashin’s modern, physical technique - and his willingness to venture from the safety of his line - revolutionised the goalkeeper position in the 1950s. In later years, as a West Ham player, Bobby’s ‘continental-style’ punching of crosses, rather than catching them, led to much comment from the English press about a perceived shortcoming in his game. His pithy response: “I wasn’t trying to catch it; I was trying to punch the damned thing!”

Hard to fluster, Bobby took rapid elevation to both club and national team in his stride. Replacing Campbell Forsyth late in 1964/65, he also usurped his teammate in the Scotland first eleven, keeping out Pele when he faced the iconic Brazilian in 1966. After a European Fairs Cities Cup semi final, and with Killie pocketing a British record transfer fee for a goalkeeper, it was off to London for the next stage of his adventure.