Obituary: Bobby Kennedy

It was with great sadness that Kilmarnock Football Club heard of the passing of Bobby Kennedy, aged 87.

Bobby wore the No. 6 (left-half) jersey in the famous Kilmarnock half-back line of the 1959/60 and 1960/61 seasons. He played alongside No. 4 Frank Beattie (right-half) and No. 5 Willie Toner (centre-half) in what was one of the most highly rated half back lines in the country at the time. The trio were broken up in August 1961 when Bobby was sold to Manchester City for £45,000 – a transfer fee which helped greatly towards the costs incurred by the building of the new main stand in 1961 and the internal work that took place within it over the following couple of years.

Bobby was provisionally signed at the age of 19 by Malcolm MacDonald in March 1957 from junior club Coltness United. After MacDonald left for Brentford that summer, Bobby was called up by new manager Willie Waddell for the start of the 1957/58 season and made his first team debut at the age of 20 on the 5/10/1957 against Third Lanark and by the end of that season, he had become the first ever Kilmarnock player to play for Scotland at U-23 International level, appearing against Holland on 30/4/1958.

Unfortunately, he took seriously ill with tuberculosis after making just 8 appearances during the following 1958/59 season and was out of action for over 8 months. He recovered well and was an outstanding performer through the 1959/60 and 1960/61 seasons, during which time Kilmarnock were Division 1 runners-up on both occasions (to Hearts and Rangers respectively) as well as being beaten Scottish Cup Finalists in April 1960 and beaten League Cup Finalists in October 1960 – losing in both Hampden visits 2-0 to Rangers. In August 1960, in between those Hampden defeats, Kilmarnock also lost 2-0 in the Final of the New York International Tournament to A.C. Bangu (Brazil).

Bobby also played in the 1961 New York Tournament as well, and it was over there that he made his last appearance for Kilmarnock before his transfer to Manchester City.

He spent 8 seasons with City, who converted him into a full back, and he made some 254 appearances in League and Cup competitions, scoring 9 goals before being sold for £9,000 to Grimsby Town in 1969. Whilst with them he was player/manager and in May 1971 he came back to Kilmarnock and played as a guest in the Frank Beattie Testimonial against Celtic before moving to Ireland in 1971, where he played a few games for Drogheda United before retiring. In 1975, he became manager of Bradford City until 1978, and he and his wife Barbara made their home in the city, running a family clothing business with shops in the city and Manchester. His daughter Lorraine played as a forward with Bradford City Women and also with Scotland, whilst his son Graeme was a goalkeeper at semi-professional level and coached with the youth academies at FC Halifax Town and Bradford City.

Bobby’s Record with Kilmarnock:

League: 85 apps, 2 goals

Scottish Cup: 11 apps, 0 goals

League Cup: 16 apps, 2 goals

Total: 112 apps, 4 goals