The Thistle Archive

The quintessential seasoned campaigner, 36-year-old Bobby, recently freed by Ayr United, was recruited by the cash-strapped John McVeigh for Thistle's intended assault on the 1997-98 First Division. Experience was the order of the day with McVeigh's signings at the time, and the central midfielder was drafted in on a short term basis to see how it went. Initially playing as a trialist, Bobby impressed on his debut, a 4-0 pre-season friendly win away to Gala Fairydean. He came on as a half-time sub and contributed a goal and an assist. A one-month contract was signed, but Bobby departed after just a handful of matches, one of four players in the same boat (along with Ally Graham, Steven Tait & Gary O'Connor) as McVeigh attempted to strengthen and improve his squad “in-play”.

Born in Kilmarnock, Connor began his professional career with Ayr United in 1977 where he spent several years and racked up over 200 league appearances. During his playing career, Connor made nearly 600 appearances in the Scottish Football League in all, mostly bolstered via Dundee, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock. He was an integral part of the Aberdeen midfield that won the cup double in 1989-90. He won the first of his 4 Scotland caps whilst at Dundee, playing his part in a commendable 0-0 friendly draw in the Netherlands. 3 further caps were won from 1988 to 1990 as an Aberdeen player, culminating in a 2-1 Euros Qualifier win over Romania at Hampden Park. Post-Thistle, Bobby had one last hurrah with Queen of the South in 1997-98, the era of Jamie McAllister and Tommy Bryce. He later managed Ayr United between 2005 and 2007.

Bobby is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →