Bobby Evans

Robert Evans (16 July 1927 – 1 September 2001) was a Scottish football player and manager, most notable for his time with Celtic.

This article is about the Scottish former footballer. For other people with this name, see Robert Evans (disambiguation).

Bobby Evans
Personal information
Full name Robert Evans[1]
Date of birth (1927-07-16)16 July 1927
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death 1 September 2001(2001-09-01) (aged 74)
Place of death Airdrie, Scotland
Position(s)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Pollok
– St Anthony's
1944–1960 Celtic 384 (9)
1960–1961 Chelsea 32 (0)
1961–1962 Newport County 31 (0)
1962–1963 Greenock Morton 31 (0)
1963–1965 Third Lanark 7 (1)
1965–1968 Raith Rovers 78 (0)
Total 563 (10)
National team
1948–1960 Scotland 48 (0)
1948–1960 Scottish League XI 25 (0)
1958[2] SFL trial v SFA 1 (0)
1959[3] SFA trial v SFL 1 (0)
Teams managed
1961–1962 Newport County
1964–1965 Third Lanark
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Evans began playing football for Glasgow Junior side Pollok. He then joined Celtic during 1944 from another Glasgow junior side St. Anthony's. He started out as a forward, but it was not until manager Jimmy McGrory moved him back to right half that Evans became a Celtic great.[4] Unmistakable with his red hair, he was among the first to wear his shirt out of his shorts, his trademark.

Celtic's long-awaited Scottish Cup victory of 1951 and the historic Saint Mungo Cup win of the same summer gave Evans his first taste of major success. He then went on to give the sustained performance of a lifetime throughout the unexpectedly triumphant Coronation Cup run two years later.[4] In the final, Evans played the great Lawrie Reilly out of the game and instigated the move that led to Jimmy Walsh's clinching strike in the 2–0 defeat of favourites Hibernian.

Evans was the first Celtic captain to lift the Scottish League Cup in 1956 and he famously helped defend it a year later against Rangers in the final that became known as Hampden in the Sun.[4] He made 535 appearances for Celtic and scored 10 goals in 16 years with the club. During this time he won 48 caps for Scotland. Evans also won 25 caps for the Scottish League XI,[5] the most of any player.[6]

Evans left Celtic in 1960, heading south to Chelsea, where he played for one season before being appointed player-manager of Newport County.[7] He returned to Scotland in a playing capacity with Greenock Morton in 1962, then joined Third Lanark as a player with coaching duties in 1963. He was promoted to manager in June 1964 but left after a difficult 1964–65 season. He played with Raith Rovers for two further years. He played for them as they won promotion from Division Two to Division One in 1967 before retiring at the end of that year, at the age of 39.

Evans died of pneumonia in 2001, after suffering for several years with Dementia and Parkinson's disease.[8][9] In 2008 he was posthumously inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.[10]

Career statistics

International appearances
Scotland national team[11]
YearAppsGoals
194820
194940
195030
195120
195330
195440
195560
195620
195750
195860
195960
196050
Total480

See also

References
  1. "Bobby Evans". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  2. Scottish trial match at Easter Road, Glasgow Herald, 4 February 1958
  3. The selectors still have problems, The Bulletin, 17 March 1959
  4. Bobby Evans Interview (1980s), The Celtic Underground 14 January 2019
  5. SFL player Robert Evans, London Hearts Supporters' Club
  6. "Scotland FL Players by Appearances". London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  7. Newport County A-Z of transfers
  8. https://celticunderground.net/bobby-evans-interview/
  9. "Celtic mourn Bobby Evans". BBC News. 4 September 2001.
  10. Saunders, Steven (17 November 2008). "Scottish football welcomes eight new faces into the Hall of Fame". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  11. Bobby Evans at the Scottish Football Association
Preceded by
Jock Stein		 Celtic F.C. captain
1956–1957		 Succeeded by
Bertie Peacock
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