From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Dennis "Bob" Latchford (born January 18, 1951 in Birmingham) is a football player who played for Birmingham City, Everton, Swansea and England.

Latchford was the complete centre-forward: good in the air and on the ground. Despite his size - 6 feet (1,83m) tall - he was very fast over short distances, making him a great 'poacher' of goals and he also scored with some great diving headers.

He was transferred from Birmingham City to Everton for £350,000, a British transfer record at the time (Howard Kendall and Archie Styles were transferred to Birmingham City as part of the same deal, with Birmingham being paid just £80,000). At Everton, Latchford was the top scorer for six successive seasons scoring 30 goals in the 1977-78 season. During the mid-seventies, Latchford was widely considered as one of the top English forwards of his generation. He earned his first full cap for England in a World Cup qualified against Italy in 1977. In April 2006 a book was published telling the story of his 1977/78 season. Co-written with journalist Martin O'Boyle the book supports Everton's former players charity.

The closest he came to a winner's medal at Everton was a finalist in the League Cup in 1977. Latchford made 268 appearances (3 as substitute) for Everton scoring 138 goals. He was a great inspiration to a whole generation of Everton fans in the 1970's. Latchford left Everton for top-flight Swansea in 1981, scoring a hat-trick on his debut for the Swans. He later also played for Dutch NAC Breda and Newport County.

Latchford won 12 caps and scored 5 goals for England.

External Links

You can visit his personal website by clicking here.