With eight league soccer games being televised live this season [1983], and the average player earning 200/week, Ian Grant talks to a man who knows soccer from both sides of the cameras.
Bob Wilson by all rights should have played in the 1968 European Cup Final, for Manchester United, but for his Dad’s decision not to let him join the club as a schoolboy.
Instead he settled for glory in the week of May ’71, when Arsenal walked off with the League Championship and FA Cup.
But Bob’s high at winning the Championship on the Monday could easily have become an all time low when he let Steve Heighway in at the near-post during the final.
“I could have been known for all time as the man who cost Arsenal the double, no matter what other saves I pulled off. I was lucky the powers that be smiled on me.
“I could never repeat those eleven years at Arsenal and there is nothing to match that week in May. It’s a great dream that happens to a lucky few.”
Three years later, at the age of 33, Bob made the decision to retire early from the game, one year from his testimonial.
“The Arsenal management were looking at Clemence, Shilton and Parkes and I never fully recovered from a bad knee injury in the ’72 Cup semi-final.”
Bob had always done bits and pieces for the BBC and there was an unwritten contract about his working for them after he retired. In the event they approached him in 1974 for Football Preview (Football Focus).
“If they hadn’t approached me, I’d have gone on playing for another two years and gone into coaching, management or back into teaching.” (Bob trained as a PE teacher at Loughborough College where he played for Wolves reserves.) “The BBC offered me a chance to leapfrog the system and I became a presenter at 33”
“I was lucky”, he says. “The majority of footballers end up as lorry drivers or firms’ reps. A few that have been successful and careful, manage to buy pubs or start small businesses. You’ve got to remember the average wage of a footballer is only 200 a week and the time at the top only represents four or five years. You can’t live on that for the rest of your life. The reason why so many want to go into management – with all its insecurity – is that football is all that they know; what else can they do?”
“But anyone who takes on the manager’s job and doesn’t think it will end one way, is fooling himself. However there is such a thing as the managers’ merry-go-round, and once on, it is reasonably secure.”
Bob said he was encouraged by the new breed of young managers coming in – and that it was good to see people like Bill McGarry and Alan Dixon still in the game.
Twenty years
Bob Wilson’s career as a player and commentator has spun over 20 years and in that time he has seen many changes.” There is far better training and physical preparation and the fitness and speed of the players is far greater than any period from the 30’s to the ’60s.”
“A lot of caution crept into the game in the middle to late sixties after the open carefree spirit of the Tottenham double side.
“The England World Cup side was criticised for having no wingers. Leeds brought in ultra-professionalism. They were a great side and didn’t need to do a lot of the things they did. Winning became the be all and end all; managers jobs’ were more on the line.
“What with hooliganism, defensive play, bad pay and loyalty lost between players and clubs we all knew we’d have no game for the future.
“Now managers, coaches and players know what’s expected of them and there is far more chance taking and open play. Three points for a win has proved a great incentive.”
On the professional foul, Wilson regrets the inconsistencies of referees. “The FA have a clear line from FIFA, yet they pass the buck and leave it up to the referee’s discretion. Some will send players off for handling and shirt pulling; others won’t.”
Bob sees the recent advertising and sponsorship money injected into the game as a good thing. “We should do anything to get the crowds back even if its American style razz-ma-tazz or gimmicks, but it’s no good as just a one-off thing. We want to make Saturday ‘the match day’, the day out, and make it so that people really love going to games.”
Bob’s attitude here extends to live TV games. “Keith Burtenshaw and Brian Clough are wrong to condemn it without giving it a try. Terry Venables has the right attitude when he says[“we’ve made an agreement – let’s get on with it and see after a season”].”
Junior tips
And advice to young would be professional footballers: “you have to have a natural ability and be prepared to learn. Any youngster wanting to get into the Football League must be prepared to meet a very high standard. You find the few exceptional players are the ones who do little things within the game.
“Youngsters’ one aim should be consistency. It’s easy to have a great game one day, followed by a bad one. My aim was always to play to a level.”
Memories
Bob says he’s working as hard as he’s done in his life, with a busy media schedule – including getting up at 3.30 in the morning for Breakfast TV. He also coaches at Arsenal several days a week.
He feels very lucky to have retired from playing ten years ago and yet still remains so close to the game, courtesy of the BBC.
As for memories: “It was good to see the World Cup Final one and a half yards from Zoff’s goal, but when you retire a little bit of you dies and there will be nothing to match that incredible week in May.”