Robert Fleming Archibald was a footballer who played in the Football League for Barnsley and Stoke City. Archibald played for a number of Scottish clubs before joining Stoke City in 1925. He helped Stoke win the Football League Third Division North in 1926–27 and became a consistent performer for Stoke at outside-left. He racked up 276 appearances for Stoke in seven seasons and he scored 40 goals. He ended his career with Barnsley and later became an insurance agent in Glasgow and a scout for Bradford City.
Archibald played for Rutherglen Glencairn, Albion Rovers, Third Lanark before joining Aberdeen in 1914. During World War I he played for Rangers and his army regiment in France and Denmark. On 25 August 1925 at the age of 29 he joined English side Stoke City and made a fine impression scoring on his debut against Stockport County on the opening day of the 1925–26, but a new look Stoke side failed to gel together and the side agonisingly slipped towards relegation to the Third Division. Archibald was a small player at just 5 ft 4in tall and weighing just 10 stone, His physique enabled him to become a fast player and his skill on the wings marked him out as one of the few class acts in the side relegated from the Second Divisionfor the first time. He was renowned for his consistency, from his debut he played 58 consecutive matches before pulling a muscle against Rochdale in November 1927 and missed just six matches in the next six seasons. His fine footwork proved to be too much for Third Division full backs as he set up numerous chances for Charlie Wilson to score his 25 goals as Stoke won the Football League Third Division North title. After six years of fine service he was awarded a benefit match, he chose the final home match of the 1930–31 season against West Bromwich Albion. The second highest crowd of the season, 26,064 paid £1,540 6s 2d to bid farewell to Archibald. He spent one more season at the Victoria Ground during which the now 38-year-old lost his place to Harold Taylor. Once manager Tom Mather had brought in Joe Johnson in April 1932 he allowed Archibald to join Barnsley. He played just eight matches for the "Tykes" and after spending several seasons in the reserves he retired in May 1937 at the age of 42.
Personal life
At the end of his career he returned to his native Glasgow where he became an insurance agent and scouted from time to time for Bradford City managerFred Westgarth. Archibald was a very modern man for his generation, who always required the latest gadget, he would constantly use his wireless set in the dressing room for hours and was one of the few Stoke players to own his own car. In 1966, Archibald died at his home in Cambuslang of lung cancer, age 72.
