Bobby Whitelaw

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)
Playing position 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

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.

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. 1 2 3 4 Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 278. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 362. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Whitelaw, Robert". Player profiles. www.thecelticwiki.com. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  4. 1 2 Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. p. 97. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
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