Bobby Murdoch (17 August 1944 — 15 May 2001) was a
Scottish professional
footballer who played for
Celtic and was one of the
Lisbon Lions, the Celtic team who won the
European Cup in 1967. He and
Bertie Auld consistently formed Celtic's central midfield.
Brought up in Rutherglen, he lived there for most of his life and attended St. Columbkillle's Primary school in Rutherglen, before moving to Our Lady's High Secondary in Motherwell where although only fourteen he played in the same school football 1st XI as Billy McNeill (his future Celtic & Lisbon Lions captain). During his time at Celtic, he won eight Scottish League titles, four
Scottish Cups and five
League Cup, as well as the European Cup medal. He also played in the 1970
European Cup Final, when Celtic lost 2–1 to
Feyenoord.
His later years with Celtic were marked with injury problems but his importance to the success of a great Celtic team was such that when
Jock Stein was asked when he thought Celtic might win the European Cup again he replied
"when Bobby Murdoch is fit".
He left Celtic in 1973, and joined
Middlesbrough, as
Jack Charlton's first signing, and tutored the young
Graeme Souness. He made 125 appearances for Middlesbrough before his retirement from active play in 1976. He then took up the role of juniors' coach. He won a total of 12
caps for the
Scotland national team, scoring 6 goals.
He had a brief, unsuccessful, spell as manager of Middlesbrough between 1981 and 1982, ending with his...
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