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Fullname: Robert Young Collins
aka: Bobby Collins, The Wee Barra
Born: 16 Feb 1931
Died: 13 Jan 2014
Birthplace: Govanhill (Glasgow)
Weight: 9st 3lbs
Height: 5ft 4in
Signed: 27 Aug 1948
Left: 12 Sep 1958 (to Everton)
Position: Midfielder
Debut: Celtic 3-2 Rangers, League Cup, 13 Aug 1949
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 31 games
International Goals: 10 goals
Biog
| “Bobby was five foot three, he took a size four boot, but he would have fought King Kong and won. He was just a hell of a player, and a man.” Eddie Gray (Leeds) in an interview with Nutmeg magazine (2017) |
Born Robert Young Collins in Glasgow on 16 February 1931, Bobby Collins was brought up in Toryglen Street, Polmadie. He was the eldest of six children and followed his local club, Third Lanark, as a boy, often squeezing under the fence to see them play accompanied by brother Davie.
Both Everton and Celtic chased his signature and the Merseysiders offered his Pollok club a £1,000 transfer fee. The 17-year-old initially agreed to the deal, but quickly changed his mind when he heard that Celtic manager Jimmy McGrory was after him and signed on as a part timer at Parkhead in 1948 for a weekly wage packet of £8.
He made his debut against Rangers on 13 August 1949 in a League Cup clash with Rangers. 70,000 Parkhead supporters saw the youngster perform admirably on the right wing, tormenting Rangers veteran Jock Shaw. Bobby Collins was a fighter, a terrier, the archetypal tough wee Scotsman so loved by the fans.
He became an automatic choice, winning rave reviews after his first League goal, the winner in a 3-2 victory over Hearts. John Jessiman of the Sunday Express:
“Little Bobby Collins, game as a pebble, built like a Brencarrier, and in his element at inside-right, crashed home a picture opportunist goal, fired first time. Away up on the terracing behind the goals, out flew the green scarves. He brings back to Celtic, this boy, the immortal fire of Patsy Gallagher. His idea of progress is the shortest way through … the technique of the electric drill! When he was not hurling himself at the entire Hearts defence he was back defending. That was Patsy’s way. After the Collins winner, the roar from the Parkhead faithful went on for five minutes. No wonder!”
He enjoyed a fine debut season, scoring seven League goals, though Celtic trailed in fifth. Nevertheless it was the club’s best finish since the war. 1951 saw the club slip to a seventh place finish, though Collins’ 15 goals made him top scorer, and included a hat trick in a 6-2 win against East Fife.
There was also a first trophy since 1938 as they captured the Scottish Cup. Bobby Collins was ever present in the 1951 Cup run, helping the Celts beat Motherwell 1-0 in the final before a 132,000 capacity crowd.
Bobby Collins’ outstanding club form caught the eye of the Scotland selectors and he was called up to the full international squad in the autumn of 1950. Injury forced his withdrawal from a fixture with Switzerland, but he made his full debut soon afterwards, at Cardiff against Wales on 21 October 1950. Bobby Collins laid on a cross for Billy Liddell to head home spectacularly en route to a 3-1 victory. Collins retained his place for home matches with Northern Ireland, a 6-1 triumph with Billy Steel scoring four, and Austria. The latter game brought a depressing landmark with a 1-0 defeat leaving the Scots as the first home international nation to lose on their own turf to overseas opposition. The setback prompted a radical rebuilding programme, and it was four and a half years before Collins regained a place.
Despite winning the St Mungo Cup competition in the autumn of 1951 by beating Aberdeen in a Hampden Park final, Celtic again finished no better than mid table in the League in 1952. The club had a bunch of outstanding individuals, including Collins and the mercurial Charlie Tully, but could not function consistently as a team, trailing in a hugely dispiriting ninth in an up and down campaign.
It wasn’t until the arrival of Jock Stein into the side that things changed, and the team finally managed to achieve the silverware that was so lacking for a generation if not longer. Firstly, Celtic won the Coronation Cup in 1953, a national competition which helped to give Celtic the exposure that the club found to its benefit.
However, it was the 1953/54 season that was important, with Bobby Collins playing a pivotal role in the midfield that landed us the golden league & cup double. Ridiculously, one of Chairman Bob Kelly’s most baffling and ridiculous decisions was to leave Bobby Collins out of the 1954 Scottish Cup final v Aberdeen. Celtic still managed to squeak the game 2-1, but many will never forget how outraged everyone was at the omission of the ‘Wee Barra’. It was a slap in the face.
The management structure was poor at Celtic, and the club could not (or did not?) build on those achievements despite the wonderful quality of players at the club. The club was a shambles.
He was again dropped from the Replay of the 1955 Scottish Cup Final against Clyde following his what was described as an undignified charging of Clyde’s goalkeeper, who was at least a foot taller than Bobby Collins. Celtic consequently lost the replay.
Must add that despite the 1950’s not being a glorious period for Celtic, with Bobby Collins in the side we did have some great achievements, alongside winning the aforementioned double in 1954 of the Cup and the League, we won back-to-back League cups in 1956 & 1957. The 1957 win was legendary, seeing Celtic win 7-1 with Bobby Collins likely as enraptured with the performance and result as anyone else. It has since been dubbed as “Hampden in the Sun“.
Bobby Collins was transferred to Everton – a transfer he was not happy with – on 12th September, 1958. Never made public why he was sold but the club likely sold him for financial reasons to fund the new floodlights system! The newspapers from the time reported that Bobby Collins himself had instigated the transfer “for domestic reasons” and he had in fact stopped the building of a new house in Bishopbriggs and cancelled orders for furniture and carpets a month before the transfer. It was another short-sighted move by the meddling board.
It was a blow for the support, and many from the generation who grew up watching him play, passed on their tales of love to their dying days of their affection for Bobby Collins on the pitch and his impact on the support.
Post-Celtic
Arsenal had been the front runners for his signature and Everton would have been a less popular choice as they had failed to win a game that season up to when the transfer went through. Although his arrival at Everton sparked a revival, he was the subject of petty jealousy and poison pen letters despite giving them some good service. He subsequently moved from them to Leeds Utd, then in the second division, in 1963. It was a wildly successful move for him (despite being seemingly a move downwards at first) and he was credited (by no less a talent than Eddie Gray) with being a major influence in the creation of the great Leeds side of the 1960s. He was once dubbed as “The Lord Mayor of Leeds“!
A glorious time for Leeds, they were promptly promoted to the top division and almost grabbed a coveted league/cup double (coming runners-up in both in 1964/65. In recognition of his play that season, Bobby Collins was awarded the Football Writers’ Player of the Year in 1965, the first Scot to win the award. A befitting achievement for the “Wee Barra“. Notably, Liverpool won the FA Cup in that season to meet Celtic the next season in the ECWC against Celtic in a controversial set of matches. Could have been Celtic v Bobby Collins’ Leeds side. He even won a Scottish cap again after six years in 1965 (long overdue).
The Celts never forgot him and gave him a huge ovation on Dec 5th 1965 in a Celtic Supporters’ Association rally.
Bobby Collins skippered Leeds until 1966, when he suffered a horrific broken thigh-bone in a Fairs Cup tie against Italian side Torino. He briefly came back from the injury, but age and a struggle to reclaim previous form brought his Leeds career to an end.
Bury signed Collins and he stayed there for two years. He joined two more clubs but did not play for either, though 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 both Leeds and Scotland, and was at one point assistant manager at Celtic (and an interim manager for about one day).
After a spell as player/coach with Oldham he signed for Shamrock Rovers in November 1973 making his début on the 11th at Glenmalure Park. He played a total of 13 games, 12 in the league scoring once on his second appearance at Finn Harps.
Collins went into management, with spells at Huddersfield Town, Hull City and Barnsley. He coached Australian club Ringwood City in the Victorian Soccer League in 1972, but left following a dispute with the club’s management. Collins coached within the Leeds youth set-up in the 1970s and then again in the late 1990s.
One of the great tributes that you can give Bobby Collins is the long list of players (especially from Leeds Utd) who list Bobby Collins as pivotal in their development.
He lived in quiet retirement, but sadly in 2002 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
He passed away in January 2014, and will be fondly remembered by all.
Notes:
- As for the nickname “The Wee Barra”, for those not familiar with Glasgow patter, a “barra” is a colloquial term for a barrow (or stall) which were used by old street market traders to sell their goods from, and is in reference to Bobby Collins’ exemplary strong work ethic on the field.
Quotes
“Bobby Collins could have graced a team in any era; he was one of British football’s greatest stars.”
Bertie Auld
“In my opinion, Bobby Collins was probably the most influential player in the history of Leeds United.”
Eddie Gray (Leeds)
“Bobby was five foot three, he took a size four boot, but he would have fought King Kong and won. He was just a hell of a player, and a man.”
Eddie Gray (Leeds) in an interview with Nutmeg magazine (2017)
“I got on all right with Bobby but I didn’t like to play against him. Even when we were playing five-a-side you never knew what he was liable to do because he wanted to win so much.”
Bobby Charlton (Leeds)
“The best signing I ever made”
Don Revie (Leeds) on Bobby Collins
“They say one man doesn’t make a team, but Bobby Collins came nearer to doing it than anyone else I have ever seen.”
Billy Bremner (Leeds)
“Little Bobby Collins, game as a pebble, built like a Brencarrier, and in his element at inside-right, crashed home a picture opportunist goal, fired first time. Away up on the terracing behind the goals, out flew the green scarves. He brings back to Celtic, this boy, the immortal fire of Patsy Gallagher. His idea of progress is the shortest way through … the technique of the electric drill! When he was not hurling himself at the entire Hearts defence he was back defending. That was Patsy’s way. After the Collins winner, the roar from the Parkhead faithful went on for five minutes. No wonder!”
John Jessiman of the Sunday Express
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1949-58 | 220 | 38 | 62 | n/a | 320 |
| Goals | 80 | 10 | 26 | – | 116 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup
Scottish Division One
Scottish League Cup