Playing Career
Wilson started late as a professional player, as his father would not let him sign papers with Manchester United as he thought it wasn't a reasonable job whilst he was a youth. Wilson then went on to Loughborough College for training as a teacher before signing for Arsenal in 1963. He had been playing reserve games for Wolves as an amateur and made his debut for Arsenal as an amateur,and was the first amateur to have a transfer fee paid (around £6,500).
Wilson made his debut against Nottingham Forest on 26 October 1963, in a 4-2 win. However, being forced to play understudy to Jim Furnell, it was to be over four years until Wilson became first-choice keeper in 1968, after Furnell made a mistake in an FA Cup tie against Birmingham City in March 1968. Wilson took over and remained in goal for Arsenal for the remainder of the 1967-68 season.
Now firmly ensconced in the Arsenal side, Wilson was an ever-present in the 1968-69 season, which included Arsenal's loss to Swindon Town in the 1969 League Cup Final. Despite sustaining a broken arm the following season, 1969-70, Wilson recovered and won his first trophy with Arsenal, the 1969-70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In 1971, he was Arsenal's player of the year in their famous Double-winning season, in which he played every single first-team match in League and Cup, culminating in the 1971 FA Cup Final win over Liverpool.
He became eligible to play for Scotland when the rules were changed in 1970 to allow players to play for their parent's country of origin, if they had not already played for their own country. Wilson was selected by Tommy Docherty for his two games in charge, making his debut against Portugal on 13 October 1971. After Wilson's second game, against the Netherlands on 1 December 1971, Docherty left the position and his successor Willie Ormond reverted to a Scottish-born number one, in Bobby Clark of Aberdeen.
Wilson continued to play as Arsenal's keeper through the early 1970s, although an injury late on in the 1972 FA Cup semi-final against Stoke City meant he missed Arsenal's 1972 FA Cup Final loss to Leeds United and much of the 1972-73 season. Understudy Geoff Barnett took his place, but Wilson regained the number one shirt once fully recovered, and was Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper up until his surprisingly early retirement from playing in May 1974, at the age of 32.
As a student and teacher of goalkeeping, Wilson has identified his own signature technique as diving at his opponents' feet to save goals. This caused him a number of injuries throughout his career.
Read more about this topic: Bob Wilson (footballer Born 1941)
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