Robert Kelly - Director & Chairman

Director (1932-1971)
Chairman (Mar 1947 - Apr 1971)

Opinion 1

Bob Kelly's name will forever be tarnished by his family associations with the period that almost saw the club going into receivership, but an historic perspective should be rather more generous to him than to his younger relatives Michael and Kevin.

By modern standards, he was an autocrat, no question of that, but his role was hardly extraordinary for his era. What he didn't do, though, was recognise the changing trends around him in the game (e.g. the track suited managers, the development of European football) until it was almost too late. He appointed Jock Stein, initially with reluctance, just in time for the club, but at least he did that and established a good working relationship with the Big Man up until his death. Stein appears to have respected Kelly considerably.

Ultimately the debit side may outweigh to the credit side when analysing Kelly, but even so, he had noble qualities that deserve to be remembered. His corinthian approach was genuine and players were often dropped for on-field misdemeanours when the club was not compelled to do so by the disciplinary rules of the day. Even Stein was known to drop a player out of deference to Kelly.

On balance, we have to see Kelly as a hopeless romantic, not really equipped to lead Celtic in a modern or any age. However, we cannot deny that his philosophy was not that far from that of the supporters either and in that respect, we cannot deny him his label as a true Celt. However, the old board eulogised him in a way that was right out of proportion to his achievements and nothing illustrated their nepotism and cronyism more than this. For that, perhaps the supporters now would condemn Kelly rather vehemently than they ought to.

And yes, his stand during the flag affair in 1952 was probably his finest moment.



Opinion 2

Kelly's interference with team selection was so erratic and inexplicable that it possibly cost us 3 Cup Final defeats - 1955 (Clyde), 1956 (Hearts) and 1961 (Dunfermline). We should have won at least 2 of these (Hearts were probably superior to us in '56) but for his team selections.

Also, despite having players of the calibre of Willie Miller, Evans, Peacock, Collins, Fernie, Mochan, the 2 McPhails, Tully, Dunky McKay, Crerand etc. Celtic won only 1 Championship between 1946 - 65. He was quite content to preside over such mediocrity

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Anecdotes

(by Big Nana of KStreet forum)
My brother was disabled having lost a leg and a lung to cancer as a young man. He was a Celtic Pools collector and as such would always get a ticket for big games,

When Celtic drew with AC Milan in Milan in 1968/69 the return leg at Celtic Park was a sell-out and tickets were in such demand that the normal courtesy of giving agents a ticket was abandoned (at least in the case of my brother). He wrote to Celtic to complain of this and got a letter back, not just from some functionary, but from Sir Robert Kelly. The letter was hand written (in green ink) and apologised for the club's actions in refusing to issue a ticket and by way of apology enclosed not one but two complimentary tickets.

I sat in the best seats in the centre stand with my brother on this occasion, filled with optimism we hoped for victory and enjoyed non-stop Celtic pressure until a Celtic throw-in just in front of us saw the ball bounce of Billy McNeill?/John Clark only for the AC Milan player to nick in and head for the Celtic goal. The rest as they say is history.

Can you imagine a chairman or director of any football club today going to the trouble of lifting his hand and writing a personal letter to a fan?

Different class and no matter the deficiencies of the Kelly clan that followed Sir Robert was a gentleman.

As regards him being supine to the anti-Catholic policies of Rangers this is nonsense. These were different times when anti-Irish racism and anti-RC bigotry were rampant and went unreported. He did what he could and stood up to the SFA in the flag issue, which took some balls.
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One great story involves his appointing William Goldie to his one and only game to play for Celtic! Can never happen now surely?
Goalkeeper Willie Goldie’s solitary first team appearance for the Bhoys was a result of probably the most bizarre reason for selection in Celtic, if not football, history.

Signed in August 1960 on a short term deal as cover for John Fallon, while.Frank Connor and Frank Haffey returned from injury, Newmains-born Goldie made his only Celtic appearance on October 1st in a 2-0 away league defeat at his former club Airdrie.

Willie had not originally been selected for the side but was spotted by his team mates walking to the ground as a spectator, with his Celtic scarf wrapped around his neck. He was picked up by the team coach and so impressed was chairman Robert Kelly with Willie’s keen following of the team that he decided to play him.

Willie was said to be at fault for the goals and never played for the Bhoys again. He joined Albion Rovers in January 1961.
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