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Player: Bobby Lennox
Ref: Statue raised for the great Bobby Lennox in his home town of Saltcoats
Date:18 Nov 2018
Bobby Lennox statue unveiled, a fitting tribute to a true great 
By: Newsroom Staff on 18 Nov, 2018 16:41http://www.celticfc.net/news/15284
SALTCOATS honoured one of its favourite and most famous sons today when a statue of Bobby Lennox was unveiled in the centre of the town where the Celtic legend and his wife, Catherine, have stayed their whole lives.
It was a special day for the Lennox family, with Bobby’s friend and fellow Lisbon Lion, John Clark, unveiling the statue in front of a large crowd of over 2,000 people.
Speaking after the event, Bobby said: “I’m really proud what the people of Saltcoats have done for me. It’s a great wee town to stay in. I’ve lived here all my life, my wife, Catherine, has stayed here all her life too. It’s a wonderful occasion and is very humbling, but it’s a great honour for the family.
“We prayed for a nice day and it worked out a treat so that everyone was able to sit outside.
I couldn’t believe the turnout. I thought just a few people would have come, but it was incredible what a great crowd there was.” Celtic Chief Executive, Peter Lawwell, spoke at the event and paid tribute to Bobby Lennox as one of Celtic’s greatest ever players, as well as someone he has gotten to know very well as a friend over many years now. “It really is a well-deserved and brilliant tribute to Bobby,” Peter Lawwell said after the unveiling.
“There must have been between two or three thousand people here, which is just brilliant and thoroughly-deserved “Legend is an overused word, particularly in football, but clearly he is a Celtic legend and a Saltcoats legend. That show of appreciation and fondness shows he is a much-loved guy.
There were a lot of people here who were not just Celtic supporters, but some Rangers supporters too, and they all talk so highly of Bobby and what he means to Saltcoats. “Bobby is a true Celtic great, as a member of the Lisbon Lions and as a player and as a Celtic supporter. It is fantastic to have him and the other lads still around the club. They are great ambassadors for the club.”
Articles
Statue to Celtic’s European Cup hero Bobby Lennox unveiled in hometown
https://www.scotsman.com/news/statue-to-celtic-s-european-cup-hero-bobby-lennox-unveiled-in-hometown-1-4831638
Published: 06:00 Monday 19 November 2018
A statue of European Cup winner Bobby Lennox was unveiled in his hometown yesterday to celebrate his achievements and inspire youngsters.
Lennox, 75, was part of the Celtic side dubbed the Lisbon Lions after they won the European competition in 1967 with a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan.
Yesterday Celtic greats Danny McGrain, Bertie Auld and Roy Aitken and Rangers legend John Greig, as well as about 3,000 fans, saw the statue being unveiled in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire.
Lennox, who was accompanied by his wife Kathryn, said: “I feel really proud it has happened in Saltcoats. It’s a place I’ve always stayed, I’m delighted to be here.
“It is quite humbling but it’s a great honour for the family.”
Lennox’s nephew, also Bobby, said: “It’s great to see so many people here to celebrate this wonderful occasion.
“Thank you to the campaign committee and all the supporters for making this special day a reality.”
The statue sits opposite the town’s railway station and is just yards away from Bobby’s Bar, the pub Lennox owned in the town after he retired.
Local man Tony Savage, the father of Corporal William “Sav” Savage, a local Royal Regiment of Scotland soldier who was killed on duty in Afghanistan in 2013, and former Lisbon Lion John Clark unveiled the statue, which was made by sculptor John McKenna.
The sheet that covered the statue was removed after rousing renditions of Highland Cathedral and Scotland The Brave by a piper, while gatherers sang Celtic songs.
The club’s chief executive Peter Lawwell also attended,
Lennox was awarded an MBE in 1981 and was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
He won 11 League winners’ medals, eight Scottish Cup medals, five League Cup medals and ten caps for Scotland during a 19-year career.
In 2002 Celtic supporters picked Lennox, who suffered defeat with Celtic in another European Cup final in 1970, in the club’s all-time greatest team.
The winger, who retired in 1980, is the second top scorer in the club’s history, with 273 goals in all competitions, beaten only by Jimmy McGrory.
Lennox also scored in Scotland’s famous victory over England at Wembley in 1967 in the World Cup holders’ first defeat after winning the trophy.
The campaign to get the statue erected was launched in 2016, the day Lennox turned 73.
Big Interview: Celtic legend Bobby Lennox on his statue, Saltcoats and why being known as a good guy is all you can ask for
By Neil Cameron @NeilCameron5 Sports Writer
https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/17231788.big-interview-celtic-legend-bobby-lennox-on-his-statue-saltcoats-and-why-being-known-as-a-good-guy-is-all-you-can-ask-for/
THE living room door bursts open and in walks one of Scotland’s greatest sporting sons. And he’s singing.
Bobby Lennox, Lisbon Lion, Celtic legend and all-round good bloke is in fine form. He’s 75 now but looks and sounds younger. The eyes remain filled with his mischief. A joke and story, some tales will have to stay in the room, are rapidly fired at you. He was never known to be slow.
I am in rainy Saltcoats just three days before this proud Ayrshire town honours it’s most famous son, and most popular resident by some distance, by unveiling a statue of one of their own. The rain stayed away yesterday even if it was seriously chilly.
“And I’m still alive to see it,” says Bobby. I tell him that he’ll outlive us all. “You better believe it, son,” is the answer. I believe him.
This has been two years in the making.
The way I understand it is that like many great ideas it began in a pub in Saltcoats itself when someone mentioned that the town synonymous with the Lion who lived farthest away from Glasgow – a whole 30 miles – should do something in honour of the local lad who, apart from a spell when he played in Houston, lived all his days in the town.
The statue, and it is magnificent, stands in Countess Street where Bobby was born “just 50 yards down the road” and where he and beloved wife Kath owned and ran a pub for 30 years.
Caroline McKenna, a member of the Statue for Bobby committee, kindly invited me to her home to meet the great man. Mark McClure, who was involved from the start, picked me up from the station and they are joined by Stewart Nixon and Dean McMillan.
These are nice people, good people, who together through many ways including standing in the rain for a bucket collection before games raised £50,000 and fought through some amount of red tape – they could now write a PHD on talking to the council about statues – but it was worth it.
Although the man himself took a bit of nudging which will not come as a surprise to anyone fortunate enough to know this Celtic great who is modest, quiet (most of the time) and utterly without ego.
Bobby said: “It’s a great honour for the family. I don’t know how I’m going feel walking past myself every day. When it was first brought up, I said ‘no, we’ll no bother with this’. But I was ignored, ha. This mob decided to carry on.
“That is a fact. I thought it was a bit much. However, it is a magnificent honour. The first time we saw the statue, Kath thought it was really smart. But the problem is that it’s no really me, it’s Steven McQueen. We are awfy alike.”
The record books show that Robert Lennox MBE played 586 times for Celtic, scored 277 goals, second in the club’s history, won 25 medals including the European Cup and then became a coach and reserve team manager.
Few have done more for that football club. And he is the nicest guy in the world.
That is why so many gathered yesterday to see the statue, sculptor John McKenna did a fantastic job. John Clark was there and many Celtic fans had travelled to the coast. But this was really a day, at least I felt, for the town.
“I’m just Bobby from Saltcoats,” says Bobby from Saltcoats. “I never wanted to be anywhere else, didn’t want to be anyone else. I was quite happy where we were. Kath is a Saltcoats girl so we were never going to leave.
“This is a smashing wee town. Kath and I would walk the dogs down at the shore. It’s been a great place to bring up our family. When people see me walking about, I honestly don’t think they see me as some football player and that’s the way I like it. I was just going to my work – and it was a great job.
“I would drive to training in the morning at 9.15pm and there would be guys outside working on the roads. Then when I was going back to the house for an afternoon kip, they would still be there.
“Kath was 15 and I was 18 when we first met. I was lucky. And that was it. I never wanted to be treated differently. All I wanted was to play for Celtic, my club, and then go home.
“Saltcoats was known as a Rangers town but I’ve never had any bother. The Rangers boys were great with me. It did help that I scored against England in 1967. After that, they liked me a bit more. The town took to me then.”
Events such as yesterday are always of course tinged with sadness. His best pal Jimmy Johnstone and, alas, too many former team-maers, brothers really, are no longer with us. However, what that bunch of rascals got up to will live forever.
“I still work at Celtic Park at the home games, going about and meeting folkk” said Bobby. “I love it. George McCluskey, Tam Callaghan, wee Berti, Dixie Deans and Evan Williams are there. The great thing about it is that all the goals we scored from ten yards, they are now 30 yards.
“Ach, we’re all still pals. I love it. We had great camaraderie and we won a few things as well.”
Bobby was a world class players. No doubt about that. However, his legacy is that he will be forever known as being one of the good guys.
“That’s all you want to be. I’ve had a great life, I really have.”
Let’s hope Bobby Lennox has a lot more living to be done and he walks past himself every day for many years to come. Nobody deserves it more than this world class human being.
Celtic legend Bobby Lennox on defying Jock Stein and why he’s ’embarrassed’ by hometown statue
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic-legend-bobby-lennox-defying-13564301
The Lisbon Lion is set to have a permanent tribute unveiled in his hometown of Saltcoats.
ByCraig Swan
06:00, 10 NOV 2018
“It’s all a bit: ‘Look at me, look at me’.”
Bobby Lennox’s reaction to having a statue of himself erected in his home town
of Saltcoats is typical of the man.
Humble, unassuming, self-effacing.
Lennox’s modesty leads him to proclaim that his good lady Kathryn knows more people in the place than he does.
It’s not really a surprise to anyone you speak to who knows him. He is quiet, shy and has never sought limelight.
(Image: Daily Record)
It’s against his better judgement that Kathryn and the rest of the town will be there next Sunday to see the ultimate home-bird recognised and celebrated in the shape of the statue which will stand about 50 yards from where he was born, yet few are more deserving.
Celtic hero Lennox is, unquestionably, one of Scottish football’s greats.
For his club, he of course won the greatest prize of them all in the shape of a European Cup in 1967 during a career in green and white which brought 273 goals.
In two spells which lasted 20 years, he won 11 title medals, eight Scottish Cup badges and five in the League Cup.
He is a Lisbon Lion. He’s also a Wembley Wizard having helped Scotland to their famous triumph over world champions England at Wembley.
John Clark and Bobby Lennox (Image: SNS Group)
But he doesn’t see it that way. He sees himself as Bobby fae Saltcoats.
It’s what made him reticent about the idea. Be clear, it’s not ungrateful,
just reticent.
Lennox said: “I am proud for my family that this statue is being unveiled but I have to admit to be being a wee bit embarrassed by it all.
“There was a committee formed and they came and asked me if I would fancy it and I said I didn’t know if it would be a good idea or not.
“They thought it was a good idea and just carried on with it.
“I’m not sure what to think. It’s a lovely gesture but I just keep thinking that it’s all a bit, ‘look at me, look at me’.
(Image: PA)
“It’s the same guy, John McKenna, who made the statues of Jock Stein and Billy McNeill outside Celtic Park.
“He’s a nice fella and it was down in Girvan where it was being made. I must admit that I got to have a little peek and it looks nice. Kathryn likes it so that’s the most important thing.
“Some of the statues don’t really look like the folk they are supposed to, so I hope that people will like it.”
In fairness, it’s not really the likeness that counts. Just the positioning.
Slap bang in the middle of a town which he has called home forever and caused him to defy Jock Stein.
As everyone knows, the Lisbon Lions’ come within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow trademark, had it’s boundaries extended by Lennox.
Stein may have wanted him in Glasgow but that wasn’t an option.
Now 75, he has never gone anywhere apart from a short spell in Houston playing in America. Never considered it. The statue will sit across the road from Bobby’s Bar, the pub he used to own in Saltcoats which still sits with the same name.
Lennox smiled and said: “I was the stranger of the team. I was 30 miles away.
“I’ve always been here and I’ve never wanted to leave. I didn’t have any interest in living in Glasgow.
“Most people have probably heard the story about the gaffer saying to me before myself and Kath got married that the club would like me to move up to Glasgow.
“I just said, ‘boss, I’d rather not. I’d rather just get married and stay in Saltcoats’. He just said that was fine.
(Image: SNS Group)
“The school I used to go to, St Mary’s, has been knocked down and it makes me smile when I think about how I used to look at it.
“It’s daft but when I was a wee boy, I used to think it was this big, massive school.
“The playground to run about and kick the ball about seemed huge to me but then I saw the space when they knocked it down and it was a wee tiny place.
“I go to the same place for my papers every morning, I go to the same place for my morning rolls, I go to the candy bar for my cakes and stuff.
“Everything is just much the same. Of course the town has changed a fair bit
over the years.
“Many of the shops have changed and it has been almost 20 years since I got rid of the pub. It was 1999, I think.
The delighted Celtic players show off the European Cup to their fans
“But the statue is going to be right outside it.
“It’s still Bobby’s Bar. It was changed once or twice during the years with different names but they came back to me and asked if it was okay to be changed back to Bobby’s Bar and I said that was not a problem.
“I enjoy a blether with the boys. I must say that I do but the thing is that Katherine knows more people in Saltcoats than I do. She knows absolutely everybody.
“I never thought I’d have to go. I was tapped up a few times but it never really entered my thoughts.”
Actually, as Lennox reconsiders, there was once. Just for a fleeting moment.
He said: “Only once can I remember ever feeling disgruntled.
“We played Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup one year and I was left out of the team. At that point, I thought I was doing well and I was really disappointed with the gaffer.
“It was a first-round game I think. The boys lost 2-0 and I was really disappointed not to be involved because I felt as though I was doing okay at
the time.
“I was back in the following week so it was all fine.
“There were people interested in me but I never showed any interest.”
It’s part of the reason why Saltcoats loves him. Always has done.
The work of art which is set to be housed in the town’s Countess Street will be uncovered for the public by fellow Lisbon Lion John Clark and the father of a
local war hero, Corporal William Savage.
Lennox said: “The whole family will be there and I think there’s a bus coming down from the park.
“I’ve known wee John since the first day I signed at the club. That was 1961.
“He’s a really great guy and he was the best player in the European Cup Final.
“It’s wonderful for me that he is going to be there for me when the statue is unveiled. It’s humbling.