Bobby Flavell (Scottish footballer)

Robert Wilson Flavell (1 September 1921 – 2005) was a Scottish football player and manager. His senior playing career, which was delayed by the Second World War, had its high point at Dundee, where he won two Scottish League Cup winners' medals in consecutive years. Flavell won two caps for the Scotland national football team, both in 1947. He later became a manager of Ayr United, St Mirren and Albion Rovers.

Bobby Flavell
Personal information
Full name Robert Wilson Flavell
Date of birth (1921-09-01)1 September 1921
Place of birth Annathill, Scotland
Date of death 2005 (aged 83–84)
Place of death Airdrie, Scotland
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Position(s)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Kirkintilloch Rob Roy
1937–1947 Airdrieonians 62 (51)
1947–1950 Heart of Midlothian 69 (26)
1950 Millonarios[1] 12 (3)
1951–1954 Dundee 68 (32)
1954–1956 Kilmarnock 38 (13)
1956–1958 St Mirren 22 (6)
Total 271 (131)
National team
1944[2] Scotland (wartime) 1 (0)
1947[3] Scottish League XI 2 (6)
1947[4] Scotland 2 (2)
Teams managed
1961 Ayr United
1961–1962 St Mirren
1963–1964 Ayr United
1965–1966 Albion Rovers
1969–1972 Albion Rovers
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Flavell was born in Annathill, North Lanarkshire in 1921. He joined the senior game by signing for Airdrie in 1937 as a teenager, but only played two seasons before the war broke out;[5] he had to wait until the 1946–47 season to make another league appearance. During the conflict, Flavell had made guest appearances for both Arsenal and Tottenham. When the Scottish Football League resumed in 1946, Flavell scored over a goal per game for Airdrie and won his two caps for Scotland, which convinced Heart of Midlothian to pay £10,000 to acquire his services.

He again scored frequently at Hearts, but he became a football outcast on 12 June 1949 by signing for Millonarios, of the breakaway Colombian league, a move that Hearts manager Dave McLean said meant he would "never play for Hearts again". Flavell played alongside the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano in Bogota, but at the end of the Colombian season returned to Scotland in December 1950; he was punished heavily for his actions in going to Colombia, attracting far stronger sanctions than English players who had made a similar move. He was fined £150 – then a record fine for a Scottish player – and suspended from playing until May 1951. He was transfer-listed by Hearts in February 1951, before signing for Dundee in April, making his debut for the club in a Dewar Shield game against St Johnstone on 5 May 1951. Flavell scored goals in both the 1951 and 1952 Scottish League Cup Finals, which helped Dundee win the cup in successive years. He also played in the 1952 Scottish Cup Final, which ended in a 4–0 defeat by Motherwell. He also played for Kilmarnock and St Mirren before retiring as a player.

Coaching career

Flavell had five stints as a manager at three clubs, starting with Ayr United in 1961. He quickly moved to St Mirren, whom he guided to the 1962 Scottish Cup Final. He briefly returned to Ayr, before having two spells at Albion Rovers. Flavell later became a director of Albion Rovers.

References
  1. Statistics at Golgolgol.net
  2. (unofficial Scotland player) Robert Wilson Flavell, London Hearts Supporters Club
  3. (SFL player) Robert Flavell, London Hearts Supporters Club
  4. (Scotland player) Robert Flavell, London Hearts Supporters Club
  5. John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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