Bobby Collins (footballer)

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography Robert Young Collins (16 February 1931 – 13 January 2014) was a Scotland international football player, best known for his successful spells at Celtic, Everton and Leeds United.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Playing career

Celtic

Collins was born on 16 February 1931 in Govanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, the eldest of Tom and Bella Collins's six children.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> He signed a contract with Everton from Pollok at the age of 17, but after a contractual dispute he eventually ended up joining Celtic instead of Everton; he was also working as an apprentice cobbler at the time.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> He made his debut at outside-right against Old Firm rivals Rangers on 13 August 1949, getting the better of Jock Shaw he helped Celtic to a 3–2 Scottish League Cup victory.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Despite being just about Template:Height tall, Collins was a strong, hard-working midfield player who was in the Celtic team as a 17-year-old and stayed there for ten years, winning the Scottish Cup in 1951, and the Scottish cup double in 1954. Affectionately known as the Wee Barra by Celtic fans, he was idolised by three generations of supporters.Template:Citation needed The grandfathers loved his throwback style of keeping the ball close, the dads loved his all-out action style and the kids just wanted to play like him.Template:Citation needed He was also called up for international duty in 1950, and maintained a frequent presence in the Scotland squad in the later stages of the decade. Collins also represented the Scottish League XI 16 times, scoring 12 goals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Everton

In 1958 Collins joined Everton where he played until 1962.<ref name="allfootballers1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Leeds United

Collins was an astute addition to the Leeds squad by manager Don Revie in 1962, helping the club avoid relegation. Revie later described Collins as his best-ever signing.<ref name="guardianobit">Bobby Collins Obituary, The Guardian 14 January 2014</ref> Leeds won promotion to the First Division in 1964, and Collins captained the side towards a potential League and FA Cup double a year later; however, Leeds missed out on the League on goal average to Manchester United, and lost the 1965 FA Cup Final to Liverpool. Collins's achievements at Leeds were recognised when he was awarded the Footballer of the Year title in 1965. His sparkling form at Leeds also won him a recall to the Scotland squad after a six-year absence, and he earned three more caps. His international career ended with 31 appearances and ten goals. Collins continued to skipper Leeds until 1966, when he suffered a horrific broken thighbone in a Fairs Cup tie against Torino. He briefly came back from the injury, but age and a struggle to reclaim previous form brought his Leeds career to an end.<ref name="nbnf1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="mightyleeds1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="mightyleeds2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="mightyleeds3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="mightyleeds4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="mightyleeds5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Later playing career

Bury signed Collins and he stayed there for two years.<ref name="allfootballers1" />

During a short period back in his native Scotland with Greenock Morton, he doubled up as a scout for Revie, and recommended Joe Jordan. Jordan went on to become a respected and feared striker with Leeds, Manchester United, Milan and Scotland. Collins' last appearance for Morton was in August 1971, in a pre-season friendly against his former club Leeds United.

In 1972 Collins was playing coach of Australian club Ringwood City but left after a disagreement with the club board.<ref name="ozfootball1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He then had a spell as player-coach with Oldham.

Collins guested for Shamrock Rovers in a friendly with Manchester United at Dalymount Park on 15 October 1973 and signed for The Hoops the following month making his début on the 11th at Glenmalure Park. He played a total of 13 games, 11 in the league scoring once on his second appearance at Finn Harps.<ref name="nbnf1" />

Managerial career

Collins went into management, with spells at Huddersfield Town, Hull City and Barnsley. He also coached within the Leeds youth set-up in the 1970s and then again in the late 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		OtherTemplate:Efn		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Celtic	1949–50	Scottish First Division	26	7	4	0	6	1	2	0	38	8
	1950–51	Scottish First Division	27	15	7	2	8	3	5	0	47	20
	1951–52	Scottish First Division	30	12	2	0	8	1	2	3	42	16
	1952–53	Scottish First Division	14	3	5	0	0	0	2	0	21	3
	1953–54	Scottish First Division	25	10	0	0	4	0	4	0	33	10
	1954–55	Scottish First Division	20	5	7	1	2	1	1	0	30	7
	1955–56	Scottish First Division	26	4	4	4	6	3	4	2	40	13
	1956–57	Scottish First Division	20	5	6	2	11	4	2	0	39	11
	1957–58	Scottish First Division	30	19	3	1	10	7	3	0	46	27
	1958–59	Scottish First Division	2	1	0	0	7	6	1	0	10	7
	Total		220	81	38	10	62	26	26	5	346	122
Everton	1958–59	First Division	32	7	4	3	—		0	0	36	10
	1959–60	First Division	42	14	1	0	—		0	0	43	14
	1960–61	First Division	40	16	1	0	5	1	0	0	46	17
	1961–62	First Division	19	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	22	7
	Total		133	42	9	5	5	1	0	0	147	48
Leeds United	1961–62	Second Division	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
	1962–63	Second Division	41	8	3	1	0	0	0	0	44	9
	1963–64	Second Division	41	6	2	0	1	0	0	0	44	6
	1964–65	First Division	39	9	8	0	1	1	0	0	48	10
	1965–66	First Division	10	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	12	0
	1966–67	First Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	9	0
	Total		149	24	13	1	2	1	4	0	168	26
Bury	1966–67	Second Division	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0
	1967–68	Third Division	43	4	3	1	4	0	0	0	50	5
	1968–69	Second Division	22	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	24	2
	Total		75	6	3	1	4	0	0	0	84	7
Greenock Morton	1969–70	Scottish First Division	28	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	30	2
	1970–71	Scottish First Division	27	1	1	0	0	0	4	0	32	1
	Total		55	3	3	0	0	0	4	0	62	3
Oldham Athletic	1972–73	Third Division	7	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	9	1
Shamrock Rovers	1973–74	League of Ireland	11	1	2	0	0	0	—		13	1
Career total			650	157	70	18	73	28	34	5	827	208

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland	1950	3	0
	1955	5	0
	1956	1	0
	1957	8	4
	1958	7	5
	1959	4	1
	1965	3	0
Total<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>		30	10

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Collins goal.

List of international goals scored by Bobby Collins

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	19 May 1957	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Template:Fb	2–1	2–1	1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	22 May 1957	Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, West Germany	Template:Fb	1–0	3–1	Friendly
3				3–0
4	13 November 1957	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Template:Fb	1–0	1–1	1958 British Home Championship
5	1 June 1958	Dziesieciolecia Stadion, Warsaw, Poland	Template:Fb	1–0	2–1	Friendly
6				2–1
7	11 June 1958	Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden	Template:Fb	2–3	2–3	1958 FIFA World Cup
8	18 October 1958	Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales	Template:Fb	3–0	3–0	1959 British Home Championship
9	5 November 1958	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Template:Fb	2–0	2–2	British Home Championship
10	27 May 1959	Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Template:Fb	1–1	2–1	Friendly

Managerial record

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record
			Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
Huddersfield Town	3 July 1974	23 December 1974
Hull City	1 October 1977	10 February 1978
Barnsley	8 February 1984	25 June 1985
Total<ref>Template:Soccerbase (manager)</ref>

Honours

Celtic<ref name="page 191">Template:Harvnb</ref>

• Glasgow Cup: 1950, 1956; runner-up 1951, 1952
• Scottish Cup: 1951; runner-up 1955
• Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup: 1953; runner-up 1951, 1954
• Scottish Football League First Division: 1953–54; runner-up 1954–55
• Scottish League Cup: 1957, 1958

Leeds United<ref name="page 191"/>

• Football League Second Division: 1963–64
• FA Cup runner-up: 1964–65<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Bury<ref name="page 191"/>

• Football League Third Division runner-up: 1967–68

Individual

• FWA Footballer of the Year: 1964–65

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Citation