Bobby Graham (footballer)

Bobby Graham

Personal information
Full name	Robert Graham
Date of birth	(1944-11-22) 22 November 1944
Place of birth	Motherwell, Scotland
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1961–1964	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1972	Liverpool	101	(31)
1972–1973	Coventry City	19	(3)
1973	→ Tranmere Rovers (loan)	10	(3)
1973–1977	Motherwell	132	(37)
1977–1981	Hamilton Academical	118	(42)
Total		380	(116)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Bobby Graham (born 22 November 1944) is a former professional footballer who played for Liverpool during the 1960s.

Life and playing career

Born in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Graham played for Motherwell Bridge Works as an amateur before Bill Shankly signed him for Liverpool as 17-year-old in the November 1961.

A striker, Graham scored on his full debut, the 6-1 thumping of KR Reykjavik on the 14 September 1964 in a European Cup preliminary round 2nd leg tie at Anfield, he scored a hat-trick in his first league game against Aston Villa 12 days later on the 26th, the game finished 5-1 to the Reds with Bobby's goals coming in the 6th, 64th and 86th minutes.

Graham was at Liverpool at an unfortunate time for himself as he found it almost impossible to dislodge the successful strike partnership of Ian St John and Roger Hunt and found first team appearances hard to come by. Such was the dominance of both St John and Hunt he missed out on FA Cup glory in 1965 and only made 1 appearance during the Reds run to the league title the following season, obviously, not enough to gain him a medal.

The 1969/70 season was the most successful for him in a red shirt, with Hunt and St John both pensioned off he made 54 (ever present) first-team appearances and scored 21 goals which included a stunning strike in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, the same game that saw Everton's Sandy Brown scored 'that' infamous own goal. Shortly afterwards, though, 2 new strikers arrived in the form of Kevin Keegan from Scunthorpe United and John Toshack from Cardiff City, Graham lost his place once again.

In March 1972 he was allowed to leave Anfield and moved to Highfield Road and Coventry City where he linked up with former team-mate St John once more, again he struggled to get 1st team recognistion, even going out on loan to Tranmere Rovers, when St John was in charge, for 10 games. Bobby ended his short association with the Sky Blues and moved to his home town club Motherwell.

Ian St John was certainly a fan of Graham's as it was he who again signed Bobby for the Fir Park club and by the end of his first season he had shown why 'The Saint' had shown such faith, he finished top scorer. A young Willie Pettigrew was added to the side the following season and the pair formed a lethal partnership that terrorised Scottish defences for 4 seasons. When Crawford Boyd was later interviewed for the Queen of the South F.C. website, Boyd listed Bobby Graham as the best player that he played against in his time at Queens.

After 132 games and 37 goals Graham joined Hamilton Academical in 1977 for a, then, record transfer fee of £15,000, he, again, made over 100 appearances scoring 42 times. Graham ended his career at Shotts Bon Accord in the Scottish junior football scene.

External links

• Player profile at LFChistory.net
• Former players at Motherwellfc.co.uk
• Profile on Neil Brown's player database