Campbell, Robert

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Fullname: Robert Gordon Campbell
aka: Robert Campbell, “Baby” (from Baby Elephant)
Born: 27 January 1883
Died: 31 May 1942*
Birthplace: Ellon, Scotland
Signed: 26 June 1905 (from Queen’s Park)
Left: 13 January 1906 (to Rangers)
Position: Defence/Full-back
Debut: Celtic 3-1 Motherwell, League, 19 Aug 1905
Internationals: none
*Date of passing confirmed is 1942, and not 1943 as some sources had wrongly stated it.

Biog

Full back Robert Campbell is one of the few players to have played for both Celtic and Rangers.

The Ellon-born player signed for Celtic on June 26th 1905 from Queen’s Park where as an amateur he had earned a reputation as a player of great potential and seen as a catch of the season.

It was a boast that Celtic never poached from Queen’s Park. However, with Celtic’s rising stature and Queen’s Park slide (due to their obstinate adherence to sham amateurism) it was inevitable that players would be demanding to move to clubs like Celtic (for prestige and pecuniary reasons). Also clubs would be aiming to transfer in players from Queen’s Park to take fair advantage of the situation, and so Celtic signed Bob Campbell and University student Willie Black.

He was nicknamed ‘Baby’ from ‘Baby Elephant’ due to his apparent size, although on his debut (a 3-1 win v Motherwell), he was described to be as “as nervous as a bride at the altar“.

His time in the Hoops was brief although he did play in a total of 11 appearances – all in the league title winning season of 1905-06. Only played in two defeats one to Port Glasgow and one to Rangers, so a fine record. Even played in a thumping 5-1 victory over his old club Queens Park, so with that record he was a fine player at Celtic.

He then made the big move; as a reputedly Rangers man at heart he moved to Ibrox in January 1906 for £350. He stayed there for 8 years with Rangers where he was played mostly as a centre forward, and had a very successful career, so Celtic can be said to have lost out on him.

Interestingly, he was to play for the three biggest Glasgow sides at a time when all three were big names, and so he holds possibly a unique record as having also played the three top tier sides in Glasgow.

There was still some respect for Robert Campbell as a player at Celtic, and on 19 Aug 1912, Celtic played Rangers in a benefit game for him. He was said to be an assiduous worker for the Glasgow Wesleyan Brotherhood (a religious group).

He was to later become a director of the Ibrox club, a disturbing fact in that a former Celtic player was on the board of Rangers as it began to enforce its sectarian policies under arch-bigot Struth et al. Looks like the Celtic ethos had long dissipated from him; was he getting his own back after his short stint at Celtic? Who knows?

He was a long-term player for Rangers playing around 200 games for their first team and won a number of titles with them, so promotion in the club is understandable. He will have profited from the bigoted policy being implemented & enforced at Ibrox, and that is sad to see, however that is not to confirm that he was undeniably a full-blown bigot himself, but as he was on their board he was part of the problem.

He passed away in 1942.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League

• 1905-06

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