Bobby Lennox
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Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Robert Lennox | ||
Date of birth | 30 August 1943 | ||
Place of birth | Saltcoats, Scotland | ||
Position(s) | Outside Left | ||
Youth career | |||
Ardeer Recreation F.C. | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1961–1978 | Celtic | 294 | (157) |
1978 | Houston Hurricane | 30 | (3) |
1978–1981 | Celtic | 42 | (10) |
Total | 366 | (170) | |
International career | |||
1966–1970 | Scotland | 10 | (3) |
1966–1968 | Scottish League XI | 3 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Robert Lennox, MBE (born 30 August 1943, Saltcoats, Ayrshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played for Celtic and was a member of their 1967 European Cup-winning team, known as the Lisbon Lions. He earned ten international caps for 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 301 goals in all competitions, second only to Celtic's all-time top scorer Jimmy McGrory's total of 468 goals. Of those, 171 were scored in the Scottish league, making him the fifth-highest league scorer for Celtic.[2] He placed third for the European Golden Boot in 1967–68.[3]
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, the Lisbon Lions, who defeated Inter Milan 2–1 in the Estádio Nacional stadium in Lisbon, Portugal.[4]
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'.[5][6]
He left Celtic in March 1978, and moved to the United States to play for Houston Hurricane in their debut season in the NASL.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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.[7] 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.[8][9]
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.[10] His last appearance for Scotland was against Wales in 1970 at Hampden Park which resulted in a 0–0 draw.[7]
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.
- 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.[11]
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.[12] His son Gary carried on the family's footballing tradition, playing professionally for Dundee, Ayr United and Falkirk.[13] He married his wife Kathryn (who converted to his Catholic faith) in 1967.[14][15]
Career statistics
International appearances
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Scotland | 1966 | 1 | 1 |
1967 | 3 | 1 | |
1968 | 4 | 1 | |
1969 | 1 | 0 | |
1970 | 1 | 0 | |
Total | 10 | 3 |
International goals
- Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 16 November 1966 | Hampden Park, Glasgow | ![]() |
2–1 | 2–1 | 1966–67 British Home Championship | [7][16] |
2. | 15 April 1967 | Wembley Stadium, London | ![]() |
2–0 | 3–2 | 1966–67 British Home Championship | [7][16] |
3. | 16 October 1968 | Idraetsparken, Copenhagen | ![]() |
1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly match | [7][16] |
References
- ^ "Jinky best-ever Celtic player". BBC Sport. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
- ^ Celtic Filtered Player Records (Scottish League), FitbaStats
- ^ "Golden Boot ("Soulier d'Or") Awards". RSSSF. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ http://www.Celticprogrammesonline.com/lisbon.htm
- ^ http://www.Celticfc.net/home/players/playerInfo/blennox.aspx Archived 13 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ http://www.wwwtheCelticwiki.com/page/Players+Nicknames?t=anon[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f Bobby Lennox at the Scottish Football Association
- ^ "England v Scotland 1967". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
- ^ "My part in Scotland's finest hour". Telegraph. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
- ^ "THE DRAM BUSTERS". Daily Record. 20 April 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
- ^ http://www.theCelticwiki.com/page/Lennox,+Bobby?t=anon
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "GARY LENNOX". neilbrown.newcastlefans.com. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- ^ http://www.sconews.co.uk/feature/56537/faithful-through-and-through/
- ^ https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/bobby-lennox-remembers-lisbon-1967/
- ^ a b c Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (28 November 2019). "Scotland - International Matches 1966-1970". RSSSF. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- Use dmy dates from August 2013
- 1943 births
- Association football wingers
- Celtic F.C. players
- Celtic F.C. non-playing staff
- Expatriate soccer players in the United States
- Houston Hurricane players
- Living people
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
- People educated at St Michaels Academy
- People from Saltcoats
- Scotland international footballers
- Scottish expatriate footballers
- Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees
- Scottish Football League players
- Scottish Football League representative players
- Scottish footballers
- Scottish Roman Catholics
- Sportspeople from North Ayrshire
- Scottish league football top scorers
- UEFA Champions League winning players
- Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States
- Scottish Junior Football Association players