Bobby Lennox

Bobby Lennox
Personal information
Full name Robert Lennox
Date of birth (1943-08-30) 30 August 1943
Place of birth Saltcoats, Scotland
Playing position Outside Left
Youth career
Ardeer Recreation F.C.
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1961–1978 Celtic 293 (157)
1978 Houston Hurricane 30 (3)
1978–1981 Celtic 42 (10)
National team
1966–1970 Scotland 10 (3)
1966–1968 Scottish League XI 3 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Robert Lennox, MBE (born 30 August 1943, Saltcoats, Ayrshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played for Celtic Football Club and was a member of their 1967 European Cup winning team known as the Lisbon Lions. He earned ten international caps for his national team Scotland. In 2002, Celtic supporters voted him a member of the club's all-time greatest team.[1]

Celtic

Celtic signed Lennox from Scottish Junior team Ardeer Recreation on provisional forms in 1961 at the age of 18, and he made his first team debut the following March. He went on to score 273 goals in all competitions, second only to Celtic's all-time top scorer Jimmy McGrory's total of 468 goals. Of his 273 goals, 167 were scored in the Scottish league, making him the fifth top league scorer in Celtic.

He won eleven League medals, eight Scottish Cup medals, and five League Cup medals (scoring 63 goals in the competition) and was a member of the 1967 European Cup winning Celtic team, known as the Lisbon Lions, who defeated Inter Milan 2–1 in the Estádio Nacional stadium in Lisbon, Portugal.[2]

He scored in 13 consecutive league games (21 goals) between 2 March 1968 and 7 September 1968, a record only beaten by Evelyn Morrison of Falkirk in the 1928/1929 season, who scored in 14 consecutive league games and equalled by Finn Dossing of Dundee United in the 1964/1965 season.

Below are details of that 13 game streak (goals scored in brackets);

  • 07/05/1968 vs Clyde 3-0 (1)
  • 30/04/1968 vs Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 (2)
  • 20/04/1968 vs Morton 2-1 (1)
  • 13/04/1968 vs Dundee 5-2 (2)
  • 10/04/1968 vs Aberdeen 1-0 (1)
  • 06/04/1968 vs Heart of Midlothian 2-0 (1)
  • 30/03/1968 vs Dundee United 5-0 (2)
  • 25/03/1968 vs St Johnstone 6-1 (4)
  • 23/03/1968 vs Raith Rovers 5-0 (1)
  • 16/03/1968 vs Falkirk 3-0 (1)
  • 13/03/1968 vs Airdrieonians 4-0 (1)
  • 06/03/1968 vs Aberdeen 4-1 (3)
  • 02/03/1968 vs Kilmarnock 6-0 (1)

He played in a second European Cup final with Celtic in 1970, losing 2–1 after extra time to Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Netherlands at the San Siro stadium, Milan. He was an extremely fast winger and was known by fans as 'Buzz Bomb' or 'Lemon' as they thought he made defenders look like 'suckers'.[3][4]

He left Celtic in March 1978, and moved to the United States to play for Houston Hurricane in their debut season in the NASL.

After a disappointing 3 goals in 30 games for a struggling team, he got a surprise offer to rejoin Celtic in September 1978. It was a good move, as Celtic took the League Championship that year and the Scottish Cup in 1980. He was the last Lisbon Lion to retire as a player when he joined Celtic's coaching staff in November 1980.

Scotland

Lennox made his debut for Scotland in a 2–1 victory over Northern Ireland in 1966, going on to win ten international caps and scoring three goals in the process. He scored one of the goals in the famous victory over the then reigning FIFA World Cup holders England at Wembley in 1967, England's first defeat since winning the trophy. The goal made him the first Celtic player to score for Scotland at Wembley, and he later said it was a major moment in his life.[5][6]

Although he thought there was no particular bias, he believes that he and several of his Celtic teammates should have received more caps than they were given.[7] His last appearance for Scotland was against Wales in 1970 at Hampden Park which resulted in a 0–0 draw.

Tributes

Bobby Charlton said of him,

If I'd had Lennox in my team, I could have played forever. He was one of the best strikers I have ever seen

.

Another football legend Alfredo Di Stefano of Real Madrid said of him,

The Scotsman who gave me the most trouble was Bobby Lennox of Celtic. My testimonial at the Bernabeu was against Celtic as, of course, they were the champions of Europe in 1967, and although I remember the Bernabeu rising to Jimmy Johnstone, I admired Lennox greatly.[8]

Later life

He was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in November 2005 and was also awarded an MBE in 1981. Lennox published his autobiography, "A Million Miles For Celtic", in 1982.

He continues his connection with Celtic as a match day host and is the Honorary President of the Houston Bobby Lennox Celtic Club.[9] His son Gary carried on the family's footballing tradition, playing professionally for Dundee, Ayr United and Falkirk.

References

  1. ↑ "Jinky best-ever Celtic player". BBC Sport. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  2. ↑ http://www.Celticprogrammesonline.com/lisbon.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.Celticfc.net/home/players/playerInfo/blennox.aspx Archived 13 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ http://www.wwwtheCelticwiki.com/page/Players+Nicknames?t=anon%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  5. ↑ "England v Scotland 1967". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
  6. ↑ "My part in Scotland's finest hour". Telegraph. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  7. ↑ "THE DRAM BUSTERS". Daily Record. 20 April 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
  8. ↑ http://www.theCelticwiki.com/page/Lennox,+Bobby?t=anon
  9. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
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