Bobby Saxton played for Exeter City between 1975 and 1979. Having earlier played for Derby County he joined the Grecians from Plymouth Argyle and was a member of the City that won promotion in 1976/77. Having taken over as manager in January 1977 he remained the helm until January 1979 when he left to take charge at Argyle. Moving again in 1981 he subsequently enjoyed a five-year tenure as manager of Blackburn Rovers before being employed in a range of roles at a variety of clubs over the following fifteen years.  

Bobby's first Football League chance was with Derby County after signing from Denaby United in February 1962. He made 96 league appearances for the Baseball ground club, and moved on after the arrival of Brian Clough as manager. He signed for Plymouth Argyle in February 1968 for a fee of £12,000 and was an instant success going to feature in 231 league matches for the Pilgrims, scoring seven goals. He was in the team that reached the semi-final of the Football League Cup in 1973-74. He would have played a lot more for Argyle but for being sidelined for the 1969-70 season with a broken leg which he suffered in a car accident. 

Bobby made the short move to Exeter City in September 1975 for £4,000, being signed by his former Argyle team mate John Newman. He made his Grecians debut in a 2-2 home draw with Crewe Alexandra, scoring one of the goals, When Newman left to take over as manager of Grimsby Town, Bobby became the Exeter City player-manager in January 1977 and guided the team to their second ever promotion by the end of that season. 

Plymouth Argyle persuaded him to return to Home Park in January 1979 as their manager, succeeding Malcolm Allison taking with him several of the Grecians’ back room staff. Bobby remained in charge until May 1981 when he was appointed the manager of Blackburn Rovers. He left Ewood Park in December 1986 and was then employed as an advisor at Preston North End in the following month. His next managerial job proved to be a struggle, that being at York City in June 1987 and the team slipped to the bottom of the Fourth Division. He left York in September 1988 and, within days, had become a coach at Blackpool. 

Bobby then became assistant manager at Newcastle United in 1989 and had a couple of months as caretaker boss from March 1991. Thereafter he was chief scout for Manchester City in October 1991 before going back to the North East as assistant to Peter Reid at Sunderland between 1995 and 2002. He later scouted for the Wearside club.