- After Dinner Speakers
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Bob Wilson
Born in Chesterfield, Bob Wilson found success playing in goal at school and gained England schoolboy honours in 1957.
Football Player
After qualifying as a physical education teacher at Loughborough College he signed for Arsenal in 1963. He made more that 300 first-team appearances, helping the Gunners win the European Fairs Cup in 1970 and one year later the coveted League Championship and FA Cup ‘double’. He also became the first English born player to be capped for Scotland.
Sports Jounalist
In 1974 he embarked on a second career in sports journalism for BBC Television. He presented ‘Football Focus’ for 20 years and was also a regular presenter of ‘Grandstand’, ‘Sportsnight’ and ‘Breakfast Sport’. In August 1994 he was lured to the rival channel to be ITV’s main football presenter.
Football Coach
An FA Full Badge Coach since 1967, he specialised in the coaching of goalkeepers. During that time the goalkeepers at Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers, Southampton, Tottenham and Luton have benefited from his training methods. He ran his own Goalkeeping School for youngsters from 1982 until 1995. He coached the keepers at Arsenal, including England’s number one David Seaman, from 1974 to May 2003.
He has been Chairman of the London Football Coaches Association since 1988. In 1989 he was awarded an honorary degree by Loughborough University for services to football. In 1997 he was appointed to the board of Governors of the University of Hertfordshire. In 2000 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Derby and in 2004 and Honorary Doctorate by Middlesex University.
Popular Author
He has written many books on football, mainly involving goalkeeping, including a history of goalkeeping entitled, ‘You’ve Got To Be Crazy’, published by Arthur Barker. Hodder and Stoughton published his autobiography, entitled ‘Behind the Network’, in October 2003.
After Dinner & Motivational Speaker
Bob Wilson is an accomplished After Dinner and Motivational Speaker, and together with his anecdotal and humorous stories, he has an interesting and unusual visual bag of footballing memorabilia including boots & a ball from the 40s, as well as David Seaman's jersey and Thierry Henry’s boots!
In Memory of Anna
In August 1999 he and his wife Megs launched the Willow Foundation, a charity in memory of their daughter Anna who died in December 1998. The foundation provides special days for seriously ill young adults between the ages 16 – 40. Bob and Megs have two sons; John, a radio journalist and Robert, a photographer.
