BOBBY SAXTON

Born: 06 September 1943

Came from: Derby County   Went to: Exeter City

First game: 03 February 1968   Last game: 13 September 1975

Appearances: 257 (248/9)   Goals: 7

Born in Balby, near Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, Saxton was and a tough, gritty defender, brought to Home Park from Derby County for £12,000 in 1968. He had begun his career in non-league football with Gainsborough Trinity's youth team and then Denaby United, in the Midland League. The fee on arrival from The Rams, for whom he had played 96 times and scored once, had been knocked down from an original asking price of £20,000 by the tenacious negotiation skills of Billy Bingham.

His arrival at Home Park, however, was too late, to prevent the Pilgrims from sliding into Division Three. More disappointment followed a year later when a broken leg, sustained in a car accident, and subsequent complications, kept him out of action for a year. At one stage his career was under threat from the injury. He returned to the Derby area and trained at Derby under Brian Clough. The two enjoyed a good relationship, and Clough often trained with him rather than seeing Saxton train alone, trying to get fit.

With Bingham having departed Home Park and Ellis Stuttard at the helm, the new manager was sufficiently convinced by Saxton's efforts in re-gaining his fitness and installed him as captain ahead of the new season. It was a prudent move. The good times arrived, as he became the driving force as the club reached the League Cup semi-final in 1973-74 and then gained promotion, the following season, in 1974-75.

A whole-hearted and dedicated footballer, Saxton was strong in the tackle and a totally committed player for over seven years. This was no more typified by his minor blip, via the so-called 'Black Sunday' match in March 1974, when Saxton was one of three Argyle players dismissed at Vale Park - it was his first-ever red card. Together with the dismissals of John Hore and Steve Davey, Argyle suffered the ignominy of become the first English Football League Team to have three players sent off.

After over 250 appearances in green, he was sold to Exeter City in 1975 for £4,000 becoming player-manager, after former Argyle legend Johnny Newman left to take charge of Grimsby Town. Saxton made 92 appearances and scored three goals, becoming a lynchpin for the Grecians as they won promotion from Division Four in 1976-77. His success had not gone unnoticed and he was to return to Home Park as manager, in 1979. Saxton replaced Malcolm Allison and to the dismay of City fans brought his backroom staff with him, including his scout, former legendary 'keeper Jim Furnell.

In his two years at the helm, the Pilgrims kept a steady course, finishing 15th in 1979-80 and 7th in 1980-81. Notable arrivals during his tenure included Dave Kemp and Geoff Crudgington. In the summer of 1981, Saxton left Argyle for Blackburn Rovers to take over from Howard Kendall, on a wage he could not refuse. He was to remain in charge at Ewood Park for nearly six years, all of them in the Second Division. He then took over at York City from June 1987 until the end of September 1988. This was his last managerial position though he was briefly caretaker-manager of Newcastle United in 1991.

After leaving Newcastle, Saxton stayed in football, most notably as assistant manager to future Argyle boss Peter Reid at Sunderland between 1995 and 2002. In 2006, he famously came out of retirement to assist Niall Quinn, then acting manager at the Stadium of Light. A fly-on-the-wall TV documentary about Sunderland showed Saxton had lost none of his passion as his industrial language was repeatedly bleeped out!

He continued to scout occasionally for both Newcastle and Sunderland and has also been a match-day guest at Home Park for Forever Green (the former players' association).