Bobby Baxter (footballer, born 1937)

Robert Denholm "Bobby" Baxter (born 4 February 1937) is an English former professional footballer born in Redcar, Yorkshire, who played in the Football League for Darlington, Brighton & Hove Albion and Torquay United.[2] He is the son and namesake of Scotland and Middlesbrough footballer Bobby Baxter.[3]

This article is about the English footballer. For his father, the Scottish footballer, see Bobby Baxter (Scottish footballer).

Bobby Baxter
Personal information
Full name Robert Denholm Baxter
Date of birth (1937-02-04) 4 February 1937
Place of birth Redcar, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Position(s) Inside forward / Left back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1959–1961 Darlington 64 (30)
1961–1967 Brighton & Hove Albion 195 (6)
1967–1969 Torquay United 62 (6)
1969–1970 Darlington 42 (1)
1970–197x Plymouth City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Baxter began his career by signing a professional contract on joining Darlington in November 1959. He began his professional career as a forward and was Darlington's top scorer for two seasons. After playing 64 league games and scoring 30 times he moved to Brighton & Hove Albion in June 1961 with Dennis Windross moving in the opposite direction. He had to wait until 25 November that year for his Brighton debut, at the Goldstone Ground against Preston North End. At Brighton he was converted to a wing half or full-back, and eventually made 195 league appearances, scoring six times, before moving to Torquay United in July 1967. He immediately settled into the Torquay first team at the start of the season, but lost his place when Bill Kitchener was signed on loan from West Ham United. Early in the following season, Kitchener signed permanently for Torquay and Baxter again lost his place. However, Baxter regained his place in the first team when Kitchener was switched to the centre of defence after the career-ending injury received by Torquay defender Alan Smith. After appearing in 62 league games (scoring six goals) for the Gulls, Baxter returned to Darlington in July 1969, playing just one further season in the football league before joining non-league Plymouth City in July 1970.

In September 2001, Baxter, still a Torbay resident, returned to Plainmoor as a match summariser for BBC Radio for the game between Torquay and Scunthorpe United.

References
  1. Maurice Golesworthy (1965). Soccer Who's Who. The Sportsmans Book Club London.
  2. "Bobby Baxter". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  3. Kelly, Graham (2005). "Bob Baxter". Terrace Heroes: The life and times of the 1930s professional footballer. Routledge. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7146-8294-5.
  • Bobby Baxter at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.