Big Bob was the complete centre forward,
bought for a record fee from a Birmingham City side that also had a young Trevor Francis in their line up.
Dixie Dean rated him. His penalties would be blasted into the back of the net, only Bruce Rioch could give him a run for his money on the power of a shot or maybe Lorimer at Leeds.
When the service was excellent (Dave Thomas) and the space created ( Duncan McKenzie & Martin Dobson ) he thrived.
Scored 30 goals in one season, was a fashion icon with his 'perm' after bagging four away at QPR.
Always happy to sign autographs, and go to the big factories etc while hordes queued up for them.
Never won enough England caps for his talents and we were unlucky that he picked up a few injuries when the big derby matches came around.
We were very close to winning the league cup in his time, which took two replays to decide it.
He was always great to watch and those that followed him in the forward line after he left were very poor in comparison.
An absolute gent, who shunned the limelight for a long time after he retired too.
He had nothing to do with footy for years after he retired and it was a good few years before he started doing things like after dinner stuff.
I`ve been to quite a few functions, where he was one of the speakers and he was one of the most down to earth and decent ex players I`ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. ( Derek Mountfield would be another that immediately springs to mind )
He wouldn`t allow himself to be guided down the path of saying anything negative about ex players or the club, instead would deflect any negative stuff onto himself, talking about his own disappointments instead.
He very obviously looked after himself post footy, as he was in great nick too.