Player #472 for Aston Villa, Robert Gillies McKenzie Thomson, known as Bobby Thomson, played as an inside forward for the club.

Bobby played for Villa between 1959-60 and 1963-64 making 172 appearances and scoring 70 goals.

Bobby was born in Dundee, Scotland on 21 March 1937 and made his debut appearance for Villa on Monday, 31 August 1959 aged 22.

A precocious talent with a serious will to win Bobby could often be found as a child playing in teams many years above his age group and such was his innate self confidence he literally went knocking for a footballing career aged just 15.

Arriving at the home of the then chairman of Albion Rovers to find his target was out he waited until his return some hours later and presented his case - ready to play… anywhere… as long as it was in the first team.

The result was a trial, to which Bobby acceded, and true to his word he proved his worth and earned a contract soon after to be picked up by Airdrieonians just a year later in 1953.

At Airdrie Bobby played in midfield and the forward line and he was quickly coming to the attention of clubs south of the border and Wolverhampton Wanderers won his signature after a trial in 1953 with Bobby signing professional forms in 1954.

Sadly Wolves completely failed the youngster and gave him next to no opportunities, when they did call him up he didn’t disappoint yet he had to wait until he was 20 to make his Wolves debut at which point he scored twice against Valencia in a 3-0 win.

The reward? A single league outing with an obligatory strike from Bobby.

Unsurprisingly Bobby worked out that his future lay elsewhere and fled the Wolverhampton strictures to join Villa in
June 1959 for a fee of £8,000.

Bobby’s fortunes were transformed at Villa with a club and manager Joe Mercer prepared to show faith in him since he left his native Scotland.

In his debut season Bobby went on to make 34 appearances, scoring 20 goals as Villa took the Second Division Championship and won promotion back to Division One at the first attempt but in typical self confident style, Bobby claimed he should have had 60 goals that campaign.

Although 1959-60 proved to be Bobby’s most prolific season for the club however he went on to be a regular scorer - averaging 1 in every 3 games - for the next 3 seasons

As well as securing the second division championship, Bobby also helped Villa to FA Cup Semi finals in 1959-60 and runners up in the League Cup final in 1962-63.

During Villa’s victorious League Cup campaign in 1960-61 Bobby was an ever present making 11 appearances and scoring 3 goals as Villa went on to lift the trophy after vanquishing Rotherham United in the two legged final which was held over to the following season due to fixture congestion.

Bobby Thomson, in his own words was “loved off the pitch, but loathed on it!”

Not everything during Bobby’s time with the club was without controversy however - after returning from winning the 1961 League Cup Final second leg at Villa Park on 5 September 1961, Bobby was the driver in a car accident which killed passenger Malcolm Williams and left teammate Derek Dougan with a broken arm and head injuries.

Bobby Thomson was charged but subsequently found not guilty of careless driving.

In 2010 Bobby revealed the cause of that accident - that perennial prankster Dougan had drunkenly pulled a deerstalker hat over Bobby’s eyes, causing him to crash the car.

Bobby played his final game for Villa on Tuesday, 10 September 1963 aged 26 before moving on to Villa’s neighbours Birmingham City later that month.

Bobby had played under manager Joe Mercer.