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Personal
Fullname: Roy Baines
Born: 7 February 1950
Birthplace: Derby
Signed: 28 October 1976 (from Morton (part exchange for Andy Ritchie))
Left: 8 March 1979 (to Morton)
Position: Goalkeeper
First game: Ipswich Town home friendly 1-2 November 14 1976
Last game: Morton away League 0-1 December 23 1978
Internationals: none
Biog
Goalkeeper Roy Baines joined Celtic in 1976 from Morton and he moved to Parkhead in an exchange deal which saw Andy Ritchie move to Greenock in October 1976.
The English-born former Derby County and Hibernian man had previously had an unsuccessful trial at Celtic Park in 1968, although he did enough to have Jock Stein recommend him to Bob Shankly at Easter Road.
He was given his chance in March 1977 against Dundee United, where he was to experience possibly avery rare (if not unique event) when he saved a vital penalty from the Dundee United goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine at 0-0 with Celtic going on to win 2-0 through goals by Glavin and Craig. McAlpine was the regular penalty taker at Dundee Utd, a very rare touch at any team.
He was goalkeeper against Motherwell on April 13th 1977 on the night Celtic could have won the title but they lost 3-0 with two own goals from the unfortunate defender Andy Lynch. Latchford returned three days later when the title was won at Easter Road.
He returned in the Celtic goal in November 1978 after Latchford lost form and had an impressive game in the 1-1 draw against Rangers on November 11th. However on December 13th 1978 Roy Baines took the brunt of criticism after Celtic’s defeat to Rangers in the League Cup semi final at Hampden and Latchford was later recalled after the 1-0 defeat at Cappielow on December 23rd when, ironically, ex-Celt Andy Ritchie scored the winner against Roy Baines.
In this second run of games, he actually had conceded twelve goals in ten games, so the stats weren’t looking good for the case for his defence of a place in the First XI. Pat Bonner thereafter was preferred as the stand-in for Peter Latchford, and then to took over from Peter Latchford into the long-run, which ended Roy Baines chances for further first team appearances.
After a three year spell at Celtic, Roy Baines eventually returned to Morton in 1979 after making 16 starts for the Bhoys.
It wasn’t to be for Roy Baines at Celtic, but a 44% shut-out rate is an excellent record for any keeper in any era to look back on. A big problem is that Andy Ritchie who was part of the exchange deal with Morton, was having a long stellar career at Morton, and was to go on to be one of the best players in Scotland. To many it was in retrospect a poor transfer move.
Roy Baines later moved to St Johnstone, before retiring from playing in 1985. He then became manager for junior side Tranent, and the ‘Mine Host’ of the Keeper’s Arms (Tranent).
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1976-79 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 16 |
| Shut-outs: | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 (44%) |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Pictures
REMEMBERING ROY BAINES
Posted by St Anthony | Nov 29, 2019
REMEMBERING ROY BAINES
A decent Celtic quiz question is – name the three English born goalkeepers who Jock Stein signed for Celtic in the 1970’s? The answers are Peter Latchford, Gordon Marshall senior and – Roy Baines.
Roy Baines was something of a surprise signing for Celtic in late October 1976. He had been a respected and capable goalkeeper for Morton, whom he had joined from Hibs in 1972 and Jock Stein was in the market for an experienced back up goalkeeper for first choice Peter Latchford, after the departures of Ally Hunter and Denis Connaghan that summer. Morton were dead keen on Celtic’s restless youngster Andy Ritchie and a deal was proposed to see the experienced Baines arrive at Parkhead in exchange for the prodigious Ritchie going in the opposite direction to Cappielow.
Baines’ first appearance in a Celtic shirt came in November 1976 against Ipswich Town for a game that Jock Stein and Bobby Robson were keen to be played to keep their players in shape on a weekend where both Scotland and England had chosen to cancel top flight football due to World Cup qualifiers being played in midweek. The talented Ipswich side won 2-1 but Baines had made a good first impression in front of the Celtic fans.
In March 1977, Peter Latchford was injured at Ibrox, on a day when his courage in playing with an injury had earned Celtic a valuable 2-2 draw. The next fixture was a hugely important game against Dundee United at Celtic Park. Celtic led the table by three points from both United and Rangers and a win was essential for the Celts to stay on track towards another championship.
With Latchford out injured, Roy Banes made his Celtic league debut that day in front of a huge crowd. The official attendance was 37,000 but, as was usual at that time, there seemed a great deal many more people than that in the ground. The first incident of note took place in the 23rd minute when Danny McGrain gave away a penalty after he had fouled Paul Hegarty. At that time, United’s colourful goalkeeper, Hamish McAlpine, was the club’s nominated penalty taker, and as he came forward to take the kick it was difficult to recall any opposition goalkeeper who had previously been in this unusual position in a match at Parkhead.
To the great joy of the Celtic crowd, Roy Baines guessed correctly to dive and smother McAlpine’s shot. This resulted in the fans roaring for the ball to be kicked upfield towards McAlpine’s empty goal but Tom McAdam blocked Baines to give away a free kick. Happily Celtic went on to win 2-0 through goals by Ronnie Glavin and Joe Craig and a fine day was rounded off when the news came through that Kilmarnock had beaten Rangers 1-0 at Rugby Park. It was a tremendous start to Roy’s Celtic career. The league had all been won that day.
Roy retained his place in the Celtic side for the next five fixtures which included a Scottish Cup semi-final victory over Dundee at Hampden. On 13 April 1977, Celtic travelled to Fir Park in the knowledge that a draw would give them their first ever Premier League title. It was an unseasonably cold night and the game was to prove as bleak as the weather. Celtic lost 3-0 with full back, Andy Lynch, having the severe misfortune to score two own goals past Roy Baines in the Celtic goal. Four days later Celtic won the league at Easter Road but by this time Latchford had recovered and returned as Celtic’s goalie.
Eighteen long months passed before Roy was to make his next appearance for Celtic. After Latchford’s aberrations in a sore 2-0 defeat at Tynecastle, Roy was brought in to freshen the team up. By this time Billy McNeill was now Celtic manager and was keen to make his mark on team selection. Roy was given a run of ten games during a spell where McNeill’s team suffered from infuriating inconsistency. Results did not go Celtic’s way, the worst being a hugely controversial 3-2 League Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden where Roy was deemed to be blamed for a Rangers goal. His last Celtic appearance was against Morton at Cappielow on 23 December 1978 and there was great irony that the only goal of the game was scored by Morton’s Andy Ritchie, the player with whom Roy had been exchanged for back in 1976. In early 1979, Roy returned to Cappielow to join Ritchie as Morton a fine team in the Premier League under ex-Celt, Benny Rooney.
Although Roy Baines did not play many games for Celtic he will always be remembered for that dramatic debut penalty save against Hamish McAlpine in 1977. He was a decent goalkeeper and it was his misfortune that Andy Ritchie became so tremendously successful at Morton as this frustrated an element of the Celtic support who resented Roy’s arrival in exchange for Ritchie, who was so outstanding at Morton that he was named Scotland’s player of the year in 1979.
Another good Celtic quiz question is to name all the goalkeepers who played for Celtic during the Jock Stein years of 1965 to 1978? Roy Baines can be immensely proud that he was one of them.