Bobby Whitelaw

Robert Whitelaw (born 2 November 1907) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half back for various clubs in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s.

Bobby Whitelaw
Personal information
Full name Robert Whitelaw
Date of birth (1907-11-02)2 November 1907
Place of birth Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Date of death Not known
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Half back
Youth career
Larkhall Thistle
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1926–1930 Doncaster Rovers 31 (1)
1930–1932 Celtic 17 (0)
1931 → Albion Rovers (loan)
1932–1933 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 10 (2)
1933 Glentoran
1933–1934 Queen of the South
1934 Celtic – (–)
Cowdenbeath
Albion Rovers
Glentoran
1936–1937 Southampton 20 (1)
1937–19?? Kidderminster Harriers
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Football career

Whitelaw was born in Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire and first played junior football with local club, Larkhall Thistle.[1]

In July 1926,[2] he moved to England to join Doncaster Rovers of the Football League Third Division North, where he remained for four years, making 31 league appearances, scoring once.[1]

Whitelaw returned to his native Scotland in August 1930 to join Celtic. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw away to Hamilton Academical on 13 September.[3] Described as "a whole-hearted 90 minutes player", he was mainly used as cover for Chic Geatons.[3] Whitelaw remained at Parkhead until June 1932, when he moved to the south coast of England to join Bournemouth, of the Football League Third Division South.[2]

The following summer, he moved to Northern Ireland to join Glentoran, but he was soon back in Scotland with Queen of the South[1] before returning to Celtic in 1934.[3] After a very short time, he was again on the move spending time with Cowdenbeath, Albion Rovers and back at Glentoran[1] before returning to the south coast of England, to join Second Division Southampton in May 1936.[2]

Whitelaw was signed by Southampton's new manager George Goss as a replacement for the recently retired Stan Woodhouse.[2] His debut for the Saints came on 5 September 1936, in the first Second Division match played at Villa Park, which ended in a 4–0 defeat.[4] Whitelaw retained his place at right-half in the Southampton team, where he combined well with fellow half-backs, Bill Kennedy and Billy Kingdon,[2] until December when he lost his place to Cyril King.[4] Although he made one further appearance at the end of the season, he was not offered a new contract and left the club in May 1937, winding up his career at non-league Kidderminster Harriers.[2]

Later career

During the Second World War, he claimed to have been engaged as an interpreter for Military Intelligence.[3]

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 278. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
  2. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 362. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  3. "Whitelaw, Robert". Player profiles. www.thecelticwiki.com. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  4. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. p. 97. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
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