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Full Name: Robert Evans
aka: Bobby Evans
Born: 16 July 1927
Died: 1 September 2001
Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
Signed: 23 July 1944 (from St Anthony's)
Left: 20 May 1960 (to Chelsea)
Position: Centre-half (defence)
Debut: Albion Rovers 1-0 Celtic, Regional League, 19 Aug 1944
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 48 caps
International Goals: 0 goals

Biog

Flame haired Bobby Evans signed for the Bhoys from St Anthony Juniors in July 1944 and over the next 16 years would firmly establish himself as a Celtic great.

Evans made his debut in a 1-0 Regional League victory at Albion Rovers on August 19th and for much of his early career he was a stand-out performer in a poor Celtic side.

Initially played at inside-right Evans really made his name after reluctantly switching to perform the half-back role. Tough tackling, strong in the air and a fierce competitor Evans was also an intelligent passer of the ball who could masterfully link defence and attack. He was also a great organiser and on-field leader.

His stamina levels were second to none and such was his massive presence on the field he was described as ‘like a team all by himself’. Although playing in a poor Celtic side meant that the player often would put in vast effort but with little reward.

With his Hooped shirt hanging out over his shorts Evans was an instantly recognisable and much admired figure and in time his efforts did receive some reward.

He was part of the side that won the Coronation Cup in 1953 and the League and Scottish Cup Double in 1954. He skippered Celtic to their first League Cup in 1956 and returned to Hampden for the final of the same competition the next year as Celtic trounced Rangers 7-1

His many qualities were also recognised at international level where he went on to win 48 caps and become captain of Scotland, a great achievement at a time when Celtic were poor and discrimination against Celts was not uncommon.

Bobby Evans eventually left Celtic in 1960 to play for Chelsea in England. By then he had played 535 times for Celtic and scored 10 goals (exc Regional league totals from the war period).

A faithful servant to Celtic for 16 years Bobby Evans loss was a sad departure, but he had his reasons and left with the following attack on the powers that be at Celtic and their meddling: "He [i.e. the Celtic Captain] has no decisions to take about team changes or tactical changes. The answers to these problems come from the directors' box [i.e. chairman Bob Kelly] to the track - and are passed to the field by the trainer." It was an admission of the reality of Celtic's mismanagement by the board during that period, only tackled once Jock Stein stamped his authority when he became the manager,Stein having insisted a condition of his taking the Celtic Manager's job was that he was in total control of all footballing matters.

Bobby Evans will always be a hero at Parkhead, and has been inducted into the Scotland Football Hall of Fame. A true great!

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League Champions

• 1953-54

Scottish Cups

• 1951, 1954

Scottish League Cups

• 1956-57, 1957-58

Coronation Cup

• 1953

Pictures

• Player Pics

Quotes

"He [i.e. the Celtic Captain] has no decisions to take about team changes or tactical changes. The answers to these problems come from the directors' box [i.e. chairman Bob Kelly] to the track - and are passed to the field by the trainer."
(Bobby Evans scathing about the Celtic Directors, 1960)

BOBBY EVANS OBITUARY - 2001

The Herald (United Kingdom): Bobby Evans:
Charismatic Scotland and Celtic footballer who led by example H
erald and the Sunday Herald, The (Glasgow, Scotland)
September 5, 2001

Author: BOB CRAMPSEY

BOBBY EVANS was, without doubt, one of the most charismatic players to wear a Scottish jersey in the 15 or so years after the Second World War. He had arrived at Parkhead in the latter stages of that war from the junior side, St Anthony's. Celtic had virtually given up the struggle during war-time and, as a result, there was much to be done at Parkhead.

Evans and Charlie Tully were key figures in what was a substantial, but only partial, revival. With his thatch of flaming red hair, Evans was always going to be kenspeckle and, added to the physical characteristic, he had apparently boundless energy and no little skill. He announced himself in his second international, against Northern Ireland at Hampden in 1948. The visiting side included such giants as Johnny Carey, Jack Vernon, and the great Peter Doherty and they led until well into the game when the tireless foraging and skilful prompting of Evans, allied to the opportunism of Billy Houliston, turned prob-able defeat into victory.

The red-haired youngster would go on to play for his country 48 times and spend an incredible 23 years in senior football. He would have had many more caps but the Scotland support was not united as it is now and there was a substantial lobby for the talented Ian McColl of Rangers. It was the time when, in Jock Stein's memorable phrase, 'Old Firm supporters went to internationals to cheer three players, boo two, and ignore the rest'.

Evans made a formal statement to the effect that he no longer wished to be considered for international duty and for a time he dropped out of the Scotland side. When he returned, it was to take over at centre-half from the retiring George Young of Rangers, a move that itself created controversy. By now the somewhat manic energy of youth had abated and Evans played a much more waiting role in the middle of the defence, his marshalling of the rearguard being a feature of his game.

It was his misfortune to be a Celtic player at a time when that club was slackly administered and his list of domestic honours - reasonably imposing as it is - is nothing like as extensive as it should have been. This is particularly so in the Scottish Cup where semi-final and final defeats stud his career with monotonous regularity. Even at that, he had one league championship medal, two Scottish Cup medals, and two League Cup medals, including one from the famous final of 1957 when Celtic defeated Rangers 7-1.

By the late 1950s that fine side had broken up, affected by serious injury to such as Billy McPhail and Jock Stein, assisted by administrative incompetence. Willy Fernie went and Charlie Tully retired. The edge was going from Evans's great speed, always a trump card, and increasingly he was exposed by such mobile youngsters as Gerry Baker of St Mirren, whose blistering speed had led to a heavy defeat in the cup semi-final of 1959.

Changes in personnel and a none-too-generous wage structure at Parkhead led to a decision to join the trek south and in May 1960 Chelsea paid Celtic (pounds) 12,500 for him. His time at Stamford Bridge was very unsuccessful and with hindsight it is clear that he had delayed his move south far too long. A year in London was enough to convince both player and club that a mistake had been made and he set off for the Welsh border and the less exalted ranks of Newport County. Here he first tried his hand at managing, although, as it turned out, he still had plenty of playing left in him.

He returned north to Morton in 1963 and did much to reinvigorate the Greenock side which had just experienced a very bad patch. It could fairly be said that he helped lay the foundation of the Morton side which would reach the final of the League Cup in season 1964/65. By that latter year he had gone from coaching Third Lanark to managing that club and he did what he could to restore some measure of decency and sanity to its death throes. When he left Third Lanark the club had less than two years to exist. Understandably, he was cured of any lingering managerial aspirations and when he signed for Raith Rovers in 1965 it was purely as a player. He gave them two years of service before drawing a line under a remarkable football career.

For almost all his time at Parkhead, Evans was a figure loved and respected by the supporters. At a time when the attitude of some of the players was curiously casual and uninvolved, Evans would recognise no such thing as a lost cause. He was a physical rallier of his troops and, above all, a leader by example. He played in the era of the jersey player and there is no doubt he was one. There is even less doubt that he suffered financially and career-wise for his attachment to Celtic. By any playing standards, his career was highly successful.

He knew what it was to win at Wembley, he knew what it was to be home national champions, and, although he was just too early for European competition at club level, he measured himself in foreign internationals against the best in Europe. His nomination as player of the year in 1953 testified to his performance up to that point as does his achievement in gaining a record number of full and inter-league caps at the time of his retirement.

He made 535 appearances for Celtic in 16 years.

Bobby Evans, international footballer: born April 16, 1924, died September 2, 2001.
From THE INDEPENDENT

PHIL GORDON

Tuesday, 11 September 2001
Robert Evans, footballer: born Glasgow 14 April 1927; player, Celtic 1944-60, Chelsea 1960-61, Raith Rovers 1965-67; player-manager, Newport County 1961-63, Morton 1963-64, Third Lanark 1964-65; married (one son, one daughter); died Cumbernauld, Strathclyde 2 September 2001.

Few footballers can claim to have been the main attraction for Danny Kaye, or a backing singer for Bing Crosby. Bobby Evans earned both of these distinctions, which in some way can at least recompense a man whose reward from his club, Celtic, was sadly out of tune with his service.

Evans spent 16 years in the Glasgow club's first team, making 535 appearances until he departed acrimoniously in 1960 for Chelsea. It was this polished half-back's misfortune to serve Celtic during one of its least illuminating eras, the post-war years, sandwiched between a title-winning side of the late 1930s and the all-conquering side of Jock Stein which secured nine successive Scottish League championships and won the European Cup in 1967.

Ironically, in the very year that Stein guided Celtic to its greatest hour, Evans, who had played alongside him in the 1950s, was hanging up his boots on a 23-year playing career, at the age of 40, with Raith Rovers. Stein would ultimately become one of 11 men granted a lucrative testimonial by Celtic – the most recent, Tom Boyd, earned over £500,000 from his match with Manchester United in May this year – but it is to the club's shame that Evans was never shown similar gratitude.

The 1950s were marked with cup disappointment and league mediocrity for Celtic. Indeed, on one occasion, in 1948, they had to scrape a 3-2 win away to Dundee on the final day of the season to avoid relegation. That match marked the conversion of Evans from a youthful inside-forward to a half-back, playing in front of the defence. The sturdy redhead fetched and carried with aplomb, providing service for his forwards. His partnership with Stein and Bertie Peacock is regarded as one of the great trios in Celtic's history.

Tangible reward, in the shape of silverware, was much harder to come by. Even Evans's longevity could only encompass one Scottish League championship in 1954, two Scottish Cup successes in 1951 and 1954 and two Scottish League cups, though the last of these would enshrine Evans's status among Celtic fans, as he captained the team to an astonishing 7-1 rout of their rivals Rangers in the final.

Scotland recognised Evans's standing by awarding him 48 caps, a record at the time of his retiral, and he captained his country at the 1954 World Cup finals in Switzerland.

Born in 1927, Evans was signed during the Second World War by Celtic from the Glasgow junior side St Anthony's and his talent was such that it was not long before he made his début in 1944-45 at the age of 17 against Albion Rovers as a forward, before his switch to the more profitable half-back role.

The poverty of Celtic's post-war years was such that any honour was seized upon by the success-starved fans. Thus, the Glasgow Charity Cup Final in 1950 became memorable. The competition may have been insignificant but the defeat of Rangers 3-2 in the final saw Evans lift his first trophy in a match that became known as "The Danny Kaye Final", because of the American actor's presence at the game, which swelled the crowd to 81,000.

Just a few months later, Evans was rubbing shoulders with the other half of the White Christmas double-bill. Celtic's post-season tour of Italy saw none other than Bing Crosby as their fellow passenger on the SS Royal Albert to Brussels. Crosby shared a beer with the Celtic players before giving his rendition of "I Belong to Glasgow". There was a touch of the showman about Evans too. He wore his shirt outside his shorts – unthinkable at the time – which became his trademark, though it was adopted in 1951 simply to combat the heat of a summer tour to the United States.

If the Double-winning season of 1953-54 remains the benchmark of Evans's time at Celtic as far as the record books are concerned, the crowning glory for supporters was that remarkable League Cup final defeat of Rangers in October 1957. Evans had graduated to captain after Stein's retiral a year previously, and had moved back into defence, where his reading of the game aided his longevity. An ageing side, with many, like Evans, beyond 30, humiliated their great Glasgow rivals.

However, Evans's parting with Celtic in May 1960 was as bitter as that day had been sweet. Celtic had agreed to buy Evans a house but inserted a clause obliging them to do so only "should he finish his career with Celtic". Evans made his dissatisfaction public in the Daily Express, saying he had been cheated by Celtic, and handed in a transfer request.

The affair tarnished the Celtic directors in the eyes of supporters, who respected Evans's toil. He moved to Chelsea for £12,500 but stayed only one year before moving to Newport County, then back to Scotland, where he played for Morton, Third Lanark and Raith Rovers.

Widowed nine years ago, Evans suffered in later years from Parkinson's disease.