Bobby Collins

I was extremely saddened to learn - after reading Stuart Cosgrove's column in yesterday's Daily Record - that Bobby Collins (pictured, left), the former Morton, Celtic, Leeds and Everton legend, is suffering from dementia.

Cosgrove penned the article after meeting Joe Jordan who had recently visited Collins in a Leeds nursing home. Tragically, the illness is at such a stage that Collins did not even know that his visitor was the man who he played with at Cappielow and who he catipulted to stardom by recommending him to Leeds manager Don Revie.

I'm too young to have seen Collins play but got a little bit of an understanding of how respected he was after reading a biography - Bobby Collins: The Wee Barra - by David Saffer. However, I probably learned more by reading Joe Jordan's autobiography in which he's full of praise for the man he described as 'his hero'.

Although I didn't score, I got involved in a move that resulted in a goal for Collins, my hero and, as it soon turn out, the man who put in the word that carried me to where I had always wanted to be, at the top of the professional game. Collins lashed in the goal from close range (pictured, below), and in his body language at that moment of triumph you could see that, even at that late stage of his career, all his passion for football and the hard edge of competitiveness were in full working order. Collins played Sunday football into his sixties. Only age could interfere with his rage to play - and to win.

(Joe Jordan on Bobby Collins)

The Daily Record - Stuart Cosgrove: Time We Looked After Guys Who Earned Pittance
(11.09.2008)

Bobby Collins: The Wee Barra