| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Evans[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1927-07-16)16 July 1927 | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 1 September 2001(2001-09-01) (aged 74) | ||
| Place of death | Airdrie, Scotland | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2] | ||
| Positions | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| – | Pollok | ||
| – | St Anthony's | ||
| 1944–1960 | Celtic | 537 | (11) |
| 1960–1961 | Chelsea | 32 | (0) |
| 1961–1962 | Newport County | 31 | (0) |
| 1962–1963 | Greenock Morton | 31 | (0) |
| 1963–1965 | Third Lanark | 7 | (1) |
| 1965–1968 | Raith Rovers | 78 | (0) |
| Total | 563 | (12) | |
| International career | |||
| 1948–1960 | Scotland | 48 | (0) |
| 1948–1960 | Scottish Football League XI | 25 | (0) |
| 1958[3] | SFL trial v SFA | 1 | (0) |
| 1959[4] | SFA trial v SFL | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1961–1962 | Newport County | ||
| 1964–1965 | Third Lanark | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Robert Evans (16 July 1927 – 1 September 2001) was a Scottishfootball player and manager, most notable for his time withCeltic.
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Bobby Evans" footballer – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Evans began playing football for GlasgowJunior sidePollok. He then joined Celtic during 1944 from another Glasgow junior sideSt. Anthony's. He started out as a forward, but it was not until managerJimmy McGrory moved him back toright half that Evans became a Celtic great.[5]
Celtic's long-awaitedScottish Cup victory of1951 and the historicSaint Mungo Cup win of the same summer gave Evans his first taste of major success. He then went on to give the sustained performance of a lifetime throughout the unexpectedly triumphantCoronation Cup run two years later.[5] In the final, Evans played the greatLawrie Reilly out of the game and instigated the move that led toJimmy Walsh's clinching strike in the 2–0 defeat of favouritesHibernian.
Evans was the first Celtic captain to lift theScottish League Cup in1956 and he famously helped defend it a year later againstRangers in the final that became known asHampden in the Sun.[5] He made 535 appearances for Celtic and scored 10 goals in 16 years with the club. During this time he won 48caps forScotland. Evans also won 25 caps for theScottish Football League XI,[6] the most of any player.[7]
Evans left Celtic in 1960, heading south toChelsea, where he played for one season before being appointed player-manager ofNewport County.[8] He returned to Scotland in a playing capacity withGreenock Morton in 1962, then joinedThird Lanark as a player with coaching duties in 1963. He was promoted to manager in June 1964 but left after a difficult1964–65 season. He played withRaith Rovers for two further years. He played for them as they won promotion from Division Two to Division One in 1967 before retiring at the end of that year, at the age of 39.
Evans died ofpneumonia in 2001, after suffering for several years withdementia andParkinson's disease.[9][10] In 2008 he was posthumously inducted to theScottish Football Hall of Fame.[11]
| Scotland national team[12] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1948 | 2 | 0 |
| 1949 | 4 | 0 |
| 1950 | 3 | 0 |
| 1951 | 2 | 0 |
| 1953 | 3 | 0 |
| 1954 | 4 | 0 |
| 1955 | 6 | 0 |
| 1956 | 2 | 0 |
| 1957 | 5 | 0 |
| 1958 | 6 | 0 |
| 1959 | 6 | 0 |
| 1960 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | 48 | 0 |
| Preceded by | Celtic F.C. captain 1956–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Media's team |
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||
| ||
| |
