Bobby Whitelaw was a travelling man. By the time he arrived at Second Division Southampton, aged 33, he had been with seven League clubs – two of them twice each – in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland and for good measure, he was on Celtic’s first US tour in 1931. He settled in at right-half for a run of 17 matches – one fewer than the records would show for almost 60 years, thereafter. That’s because he withdrew unnoticed, at the last minute, from the game that was falsely recorded as his debut (a case of mistaken identity reported in Bill Moore’s profile). After Christmas, he played only twice more and was duly released by new manager, Tom Parker.

He finished his career in the West Midlands League, at Kidderminster. Joining the army, he worked in intelligence during the War, as an interpreter. After which, he became an hotelier in the Kidderminster area. Bob was at Fellows Park, Walsall when the Saints visited in 1953. Rather mysteriously he went out of his way to tell the Echo reporter about the time he made his debut for Saints at Villa Park which rather flies in the face of Bill Moore’s claim.