Date of birth: 1942
Birthplace:
Appearances 571
Goals: 273 in 571 (2nd highest in Celtic's history)


Bobby Lennox was another member of the Lisbon Lions.


Summary
Born in 1942, Lennox signed provisional forms for Celtic in September 1961 and made his first-team debut the following March. He went on to score 273 league goals in 571 appearances for Celtic, making him the second highest ever scorer for the club.

He won 11 League medals, 8 Scottish Cup medals, and 4 League Cup medals as well as his European Cup medal. He is one of the small band of Scotsmen to play in two European Cup finals.

He is also one of the few to have scored in a Scotland victory over England at Wembley, scoring one of the goals in the famous 3-2 victory in 1967. In total, he won ten international caps for Scotland, a surprisingly small number given his pace and ability. Bobby Charlton once described him as "one of the best strikers that I have ever seen".

Lennox left Celtic in the late seventies and moved to the United States to play for Houston Hurricane. During the 1978 season, he scored 15 goals in 36 games, before returning to Celtic in 1979. It was a good move, as Celtic took the League Championship that year and the Scottish Cup in 1980.

He was awarded an MBE in 1981 and was inducted into the Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame in November 2005.

Quotes

Bobby Charlton (ex-Man U & England) on Lennox
"If I'd had Lennox in my team, I could have played forever. He was one of the best strikers I have ever seen."

Di Stefano on Lennox
''But 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.''

Lennox on 1967, Lisbon and Di Stefano's testimonial
"I had hundreds of great moments in football, including scoring Scotland's second goal in our 3-2 win over England at Wembley in 1967.
It's hard to pick a defining moment, although it would need to be from the same year when Celtic won the European Cup in Lisbon. Which moment to choose, though? That's even more difficult.
Was it when the final whistle went after we'd beaten Inter Milan 2-1? Or was it when we got back to our hotel to kickoff our celebrations?
No, I think I'd have to go for our homecoming, because it wasn'twe got back to Glasgow that the worth of what we'd achieved began to sink in.
The funny thing is, I can't even remember where we landed: Glasgow Airport or the old one at Renfrew.
What I do remember is that hordes of folk lined the route all the way back to Celtic Park, where there must have been another 60,000 fans waiting to greet us. The atmosphere was fantastic. So many people were still outside later thatwe couldn't leave by the front door. I've still got a of me going across the pitch to escape via the Janefield Street exit.
We soon went to Madrid to play in Alfredo di Stefano's testimonial and the papers were full of how Real Madrid would show they were the best in Europe.
We won 1-0.
Who scored? Err, Lennox, after Wee Jimmy Johnstone had beaten about 14 opponents."

'We thought it would be impossible. We had seen Real Madrid play and all those teams, Milan and all those and we thought they were magnificent.'
Bobby Lennox speaking in 2003 about the players assesment of success in 1967

'At that point we had no thoughts about winning the European Cup. In fact it was a big thrill for us to just go to Zurich because we had never been there.'
Bobby Lennox speaking in 2003 about Celtic's opening tie of the European Cup 66/67.

On the Final,1970
"I remember how upset we were. What a chance we'd blown to win it a second time in just three years.
We went into that Final as favourites. We even scored first, although Feyenoord equalised shortly afterwards.
Then the match went into extra time and they scored again near the end. We were only two minutes away from forcing a replay and, had we got one, I'm sure Big Jock as well as all the players would have been right up for it. But we just didn't play well enough.
Some people reckoned we were overconfident after beating Leeds United in the semi-final. I never understood that. When you get to the Final of the European Cup, there's no room for complacency. Credit to Feyenoord - they turned out to be better than we'd expected."

On Injuries
CELTIC legend Bobby Lennox was asked by a fellow diner at a testimonial dinner for Danny McGrain what he thought about the metatarsal fractures suffered by David Beckham and Wayne Rooney.
"In my day," said the Lisbon Lion, "you didn't have metatarsals."
He did, though, explain the unusual healing skills of Celtic physio Bob Rooney when Bobby once struggled to see properly after heading the ball and getting grit in his eye. Bob told him to lie still and then licked the grit from his eyeball.
"What did he do for groin injuries?" asked a brave diner.
(From the Herald October 30 2007)




Links

• Lisbon Lions
• Lennox on being inducted into Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame
• Lennox Interview May 2007
• Picture Gallery