For really old Stokies - Bill Robertson and Wilf Hall

[DunnetHeadMoonraker]

I only saw 3 games as a 10 year old in the 57 - 58 season before moving away from Stoke.

Our custodian ( goalkeeper ) was Bill Robertson and I never saw Wilf Hall play.

Has anyone got any memories of Wilf Hall.

As a budding goalie my boyhood heroes were Bill and Wilf - my new school pals in Wiltshire had never even heard of them.

[Billybigbollox]

Christ on a bike I thought I was old. Turns out I'm only middle aged.

[chesterfieldstokie]

Bill Robertson was a Scottish keeper I think played when I first started supporting Stoke.
Wilf Hall was mainly a reserve keeper with a tendency to punch a lot.
He lived in Fenton and played cricket foe Fenton a fast bowler.
Dislocated his shoulder in one match and played on the wing with it strapped up, I think George Kelly went in goal
Stoke sold him to Ipswich, but he stayed living in Fenton.

[petebal03]

I must have been 10-11 years old when I saw Bill Robertson play, he looked about 50, Wilf Hall, I don't know if it was 1st team matches or Reserve team matches but he was fairly chubby and only just 6ft, but with being a goalkeeper for my school they were both my heroes. But alot of the players looked older than what they were ie John McCue, Frank Bowyer, Johnny King, Bobby Cairns etc. Those were the days !!

[Deleted]

Aug 28, 2014 17:46:07 GMT DunnetHeadMoonraker said:

I only saw 3 games as a 10 year old in the 57 - 58 season before moving away from Stoke.

Our custodian ( goalkeeper ) was Bill Robertson and I never saw Wilf Hall play.

Has anyone got any memories of Wilf Hall.

As a budding goalie my boyhood heroes were Bill and Wilf - my new school pals in Wiltshire had never even heard of them.

I saw Wilf play quite a few times for Macc Town, he had 2 spells there 64 - 66 and 68 - 72. He only got in the team when Johnnie Cooke was injured. He use to wear a flat cap and he did punch the ball a lot. Sadly Wilf passed away in 2007

Johnnie Cooke was a monster of a man, I remember him scoring from his own goal (Begovic style). I believe he still goes to watch Vale.


Wilf


Cooke

[cheadlestokie]

Maybe wrong but my recollection of Wilf Hall was that he was very left footed.

My memory,and I would only be about 6 at the time was that he was a well made goalie,along the lines of Shilton,and always seemed to wear a green goalie top that had been in the wash many times and its colour had faded.

Robertson on the either hand appeared taller and slimmer,but i did like Wilf Hall,or my memory does anyway.

[cheadlestokie]

And less of the really old!

[raven]

After his career finished Bill Robertson kept a newsagents shop right next to the Fulham ground. Wilf Hall never quite reached the heights that everyone predicted when he first joined us.

[nott1]

Aug 28, 2014 23:07:51 GMT cheadlestokie said:

And less of the really old!

We're just kiddies in our heads.

[Staying up for Grandadstokey]

Yes I remember Bill Robertson and Wilf Hall . Bill was in goal the first game I ever saw. Does anyone recall Geoff Hickson who played a few games in the early sixties I think,just before we signed Tommy Younger a Scottish international keeper who when playing for us made Gordon Marshall seem like Gordon Banks. He must have weighed about 16stone but strangely after we got rid , he signed for Falkirk? And played so well for them that he was considered for a recall by Scotland, he must have been in his 40s by this time.

[PerCyfilth ....Captains Log]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Robertson_(English_footballer)

[lancer]

Vaguely remember seeing Bill Robertson when I was on leave from the regiment, but have no real outstanding memories of him, or Wilf Hall.

[surreystokie]

Afraid I know little about Wilf Hall, Viz, but could write a book on Bill.

He was the one footballer I knew, both on and off the field, attending all home games, while living in Werrington Rd Bucknall, where Bill had his newsagents shop, opposite Newhouse Rd.

When their son, Brian, appeared, rather unexpectedly, well after his sister, they needed help, due to the unsocial hours of both jobs. So guess who volunteered to baby sit and help in so many other ways? Yes the cheery lollipop lady who worked the zebra crossing, right outside Bill's shop, a few yards from the local infant and junior school. Whatever the weather, she never let anybody down and, in hindsight, it served her well for the years ahead, when she would for so long stoically sell programmes on the car park at the freezing Brit. Yes, it was no other than the late and loved Mabel, (Smith) whom I was delighted to invite down to a reunion with him, in the eighties, en route to our game with Fulham. Only a few hours but yet another one for the memory bank, on all sides.

I had been was so sad when he left, retiring from the game and moving South because of his wife's health. He was such a jovial, friendly, humble and likeable fellow, whom I missed greatly.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when twenty years later, driving home from the Twickenham school where I was teaching, I stopped a couple of miles away, in Hanworth to buy a newspaper, to find Bill behind the counter, all smiles, as ever. And so the reminiscenses began and indeed continued until the day he died, twelve yrs ago, his funeral held on what would have been his 80th birthday.

Before then, however, I had discovered that Foxy was to overtake his Stoke City appearance record and arranged with the club to have him present a trophy to Peter, on the pitch at half time, with Mabel joining us. He was no Banks or Begovic but Bill was consistent and had served us well.

Sorry if it's his football in which readers would be more interested, but couldn't resist relaying the other side of Bill, who looked nowhere near his age, when he died, a full head of thick hair framing a still cheerful visage and humour still intact. The latter was underlined at his funeral, when the minister read a eulogy, composed by Bill himself, and finishing with words that brought the house down.

"And so I say a fond farewell, especially to my wife, Jean, to whom, as in life, I leave to pay the bill".

Bet at least Old Stokie will get a kick out of that.

[cheadlestokie]

I remember Tommy Younger getting inured,coming out of goal and playing on the right wing,limping about on one leg .

This before subs of course were allowed.He seemed quite a character,

[magwitch]

Thanks for those personal reminiscences, surrystokie. I too remember Bill Robertson, initially between the sticks in the fifties team, and later in his newsagent's shop in Bucknall. He was a reliable if unspectacular keeper, unlike his deputy Wilf Hall. Hall was the opposite, being below 6 feet in height but appearing to be a better shot stopper and quite spectacular at times. However he was prone to disastrous errors of judgement which kept him in the reserves and limited his chances at Stoke. I recall that some of his decisions about when to come out and when to stay in his goal were really quite bizarre.

[Deleted]

my dad jimmy wallace played with these players at stoke.... i didnt know much about them - good to read the comments