Bob McTavish
Bob McTavish
Bob McTavish
● Bob McTavish, 1911 (VIF)

born in Scotland

Robert McTavish was born on Friday, 26th October, 1888, in Govan, Glasgow.

The forward was a guest player for George Easton's Thistle in January, 1907.

Aged 18, he made his sole appearance on Thursday, 3rd January, 1907, in a 4-0 win at home to Queen's Park in a Benefit match.

That day, Bob became a member of our scoring debutant's club with his only goal for the club.

His club-list included Ibrox Roselea, Petershill, Partick Thistle, Falkirk, Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford, Third Lanark, York City and Raith Rovers.

Bob died in 1972, in Glasgow, aged 84. *

* If you can help us to improve any of these marked points on The Thistle Archive, then please do get in touch β†’

Bio Extra

The son of John McTavish (foreman) and Margaret McTavish (nΓ©e Kay) who married on 3rd June 1879 at Kilmaronock, on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Bob was the younger brother of Jock McTavish who also played for Thistle. The two also had a similar path to the senior game, signing in for Ibrox Roselea, Petershill, Falkirk and Tottenham Hotspur. Bob, who preferred inside forward, had been on the rise with Petershill in 1906 when he got the nod to appear in Tom Harvey's benefit match at Firhill on 3rd January 1907. He was one of two new players being tried from the Peasy that evening, the other being Currie at inside left. Bob himself played at centre forward and managed to get on the scoresheet as did his Petershill teammate Currie who grabbed a brace in the 4-0 win over Queen's Park. All Thistle's forwards shone well and were praised for their clever dribbling work. β€œAt times they moved along with some nice combinative work, and on occasion tricked the defence most cutely” reported the Referee. Despite this positivity, neither player put pen to paper on senior terms.

McTavish was Thistle's loss in the long term. He signed for Falkirk a few months later. Playing along with his brother Jock McTavish, Jock Simpson and others, Falkirk became one of the best teams in Scotland, finishing runners up to Celtic in The Scottish League in 1907-08 and 1909-10. Bob signed for Tottenham Hotspur in June 1910, but failed to stake a regular claim in their first team. He made his Football League debut against Preston North End that October and enjoyed a run of 10 matches, scoring 3 goals, between December and February, but lost his place after a defeat in the return match at Preston and played only once more before the end of the season.

Released, he joined Southern League club Brentford in the 1911 close season and scored 7 goals in 40 appearances for The Bees over the next two seasons before returning to Scotland with Third Lanark in 1913. He scored 4 goals in 24 appearances for Thirds during 1913-14 before returning to England to join Midland League club York City for a season, by when the First World War’s onset led to the suspension of peacetime football in England. He had a spell at Raith Rovers in 1915-16 scoring twice in 14 appearances before finishing his football career.

Bob's son, John McTavish, was a prominent central defender with Manchester City and St Mirren in the 1950s and 1960s.

(WS/JK/VIF)



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