Personal
Fullname: Robert Sanderson
aka: Robbie Sanderson
Born: 17 July 1884
Died: 18 December 1953
Birthplace: Peebles (?)
Signed: 1 May 1908
Left: 1909
Position: Inside-right
Debut: St Mirren 2-2 Celtic, League, 30 Apr 1908
Internationals: None
Biog
Peebles-born Robert Sanderson was an inside-right who was signed by the Bhoys in early 1908.
He had played against Celtic in the Scottish Cup on Burns night in 1908 in the Peebles Rovers side that lost 4-0 to Celtic.
Signed from Peebles Rovers he made his Celtic first team debut in a 2-2 league draw at St Mirren in the final game of the season, where he showed: “nice touches and much promise“, and was effectively a trial match for him.
He would make only one further league appearance in a 3-0 win over Partick Thistle in Nov 1908 as a fill-in for Peter Somers, before joining Spennymore United in 1909 after a loan spell at Kilmarnock.
He played in a benefit match for Peter Somers on a wet bad night, on 26 Aug 1908 and scored a goal.
One major note in his time at Celtic is having been in the team that put Rangers out of the 2nd XI Cup at Celtic Park on 23 Jan 1909.
Celtic won the league title in both seasons, so he could look back and say at least that he played in two title winning sides, as well as playing in a Celtic side that defeated Rangers (albeit in the reserves). The 1907-08 season was notable as Celtic won the the league & Scottish Cup double, a clean-sweep season, so he got to play alongside some highly celebrated Celtic players albeit as a bit-part player in the whole run but still to the envy of many others.
He went on to have spells with Barnsley and Hearts.
He passed away in Peebles in 1953.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (goals) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1908-09 | 2 | 0 | n/a | n/a | 2 |
| Goals: | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Honours are marked below in which the player has played in at least one of the matches in the campaign.
Scottish League
*He only played in one game in each of the seasons, and so we are marking him as part of these league title victories on that basis, despite the minor role.
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Obituary
Notes
– ‘Alphabet of the Celts‘ book questioned if his surname was actually ‘Turnbull‘, but investigations by Celtic Graves Society forum members have confirmed it to be ‘Sanderson‘.