“The Wee Barra” was little more than 5 feet tall when he joined the club in 1948, but it was soon observed that he was a superb player with many skills of dribbling, passing, shooting and goal scoring.

He won a Scottish Cup medal in 1951 when Celtic beat Motherwell, but he wasn’t always in the team for reasons of injury, loss of form or sheer madness in team selection!

Bobby Collins training to be a miner while playing for Celtic. Can you imagine Jota doing that shift?

In 1953, he played in the Coronation Cup winning team, and then in September of that year performed the unusual feat of scoring three penalty kicks as Celtic beat Aberdeen 3-0.

He missed out on the 1954 Scottish Cup final, but played in the first game in 1955’s Cup final against Clyde. Inadvisedly, he indulged in a shoulder charge with Clyde’s goalkeeper, was dropped for the replay and Celtic duly lost!

Bobby Collins scoring against Rangers in a 4-4 draw at Parkhead in a Scottish cup tie in 1957. Celtic win the replay 2-0 at Ibrox.🍀💚 pic.twitter.com/tRegRxaorY

— Matthew Blair (@mattybhoyblair) July 6, 2023

He was also a star in the 7-1 team of 1957.

He played 31 times for Scotland, as late as 1965 turning out for Scotland against England, some 7 years after Celtic let him go, apparently to pay for the Parkhead floodlights. He went to Everton and Leeds United, and was a success with both. He was one of the players, one feels, that Celtic might have made a lot more of…but Mr Kelly didn’t like him.

David Potter

18.01.2014 – Celtic players during the minutes silence for the Celtic player Bobby Collins who died during the week before the Scottish Premier League game between Celtic and Motherwell. Photo Vagelis Georgariou at ActionPlus

HUGE SAVINGS IN THE CELTIC STAR’S SUMMER SALE!

The Celtic Star’s Father’s Day Promotion has been so successful, with hundreds of books at great prices being posted to Celtic fans all over the world, that we’ve decided to continue with the sale until the end of July. We’ve reduced all six books currently available from their usual retail price of £20 and prices are as low as £6 (see below).

All books are high quality hardback, with some signed by the author. And it’s also worth noting that you only pay postage on one book, so it’s free for the second, third and so on. ORDER HERE or click on The Celtic Star image above…this is how it feels to be Celtic!