Bernard Rooney (3 May 1943 – 28 July 2023) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Playing career

Rooney played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

as a youth and was a contemporary of the group of players who would form the core of their

Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose ma ...

team, but was unable to break into the team in the face of such stiff competition for a place, and after being loaned out to the junior leagues and to

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, he was allowed to sign for

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

on a free transfer in 1963.Extract from Section 2 of The Rise of the Terrors
, Arabest Publishing. He was frequently relegated to United's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, however, and he was eventually sold to

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

in 1966 for £3,500. Rooney served the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

club for nearly a decade during a very successful period for the club under the management of

Willie Ormond William Esplin Ormond (23 February 1927 – 4 May 1984) was a Scottish football player and manager. As a player, Ormond was well known as one of Hibernian's Famous Five forward line, winning three league championships in the late 1940s an ...

. Rooney was the club's captain during their

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

run of 1971–72, when they defeated

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and Vasas Budapest. He also had the honour of being captain for ''Saints first ever national final when they were unlucky to lose 1–0 to a Celtic side who were among the very best in Europe at the time in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

Final at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

. As a key member of the Ormond era, Rooney has a place in St Johnstone history and will always be well remembered by the fans.

Managerial career

Rooney was appointed manager of

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

in 1976. Morton were part-time and competing in the First Division at the time. In his second season in charge he led the club to promotion to the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...

. In the 1979–80 season Morton famously topped the Premier Division in the middle of the season, and ultimately finished in 6th place, quite an achievement for a part-time club. Rooney is also revered by Morton fans for assembling a memorable squad, including fan favourite Andy Ritchie, who was brought to

Cappielow Cappielow, also known as Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology UK for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Greenock Morton, w ...

from Celtic in 1976. Rooney left Morton in 1983, and went on to manage

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

and

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

, before returning to his first club Celtic briefly as a coach.

Personal life

Benny Rooney had two children with wife Marion. His son Kevin is an actor, whilst his father, Bob, had been

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

at Celtic in the successful

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

managerial era at the club. Rooney’s great-nephew

Shaun Rooney Shaun Antony Rooney (born 26 July 1996) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Fleetwood Town. He has previously played for Queen's Park, Dunfermline Athletic, York City, Queen of the South, Inverness Caledonian T ...

is also a footballer. He emulated his great uncle by playing for St Johnstone in the February 2021 Scottish League Cup Final, scoring the only goal of the game;St Johnstone hero Shaun Rooney on his family ties to Saints and Celtic sides who squared off in 1969 League Cup final
Eric Nicholson, The Courier, 28 February 2021 he also scored the winning goal in the

2021 Scottish Cup Final The 2021 Scottish Cup Final was the 136th final of the Scottish Cup and the final of the 2020–21 Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The match was played on 22 May 2021 at Hampden Park, Glasgow. St ...

three months later. Rooney died in July 2023, at the age of 80.

References

External links

*
Profile
at ''Sons Archive'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rooney, Benny 1943 births 2023 deaths Scottish men's footballers Celtic F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Greenock Morton F.C. managers Partick Thistle F.C. managers Albion Rovers F.C. managers Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League managers Footballers from Glasgow People educated at Our Lady's High School, Motherwell Footballers from Cambuslang Dumbarton F.C. players Cambuslang Rangers F.C. players Petershill F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Men's association football defenders