Sir Robert McErlean Kelly (1902 – 21 September 1971) was appointed a member of the board of

Scottish football Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scot ...

club

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 ...

after the death of his father James Kelly in 1931. He later became

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

in 1947, a position he held until 1971.

Early life

Robert Kelly was born in 1902, the fourth son in a family of six sons and four daughters. His father James Kelly played for

, and was the club's first ever captain. James Kelly subsequently became a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

at the club and had a brief spell as

. Robert Kelly's mother, Margaret, was also herself the daughter of a Celtic founder. Kelly and his brothers were educated at

St Joseph's College, Dumfries St Joseph's College in Dumfries, South West Scotland, is a Roman Catholic secondary school. It began as a Catholic boys' boarding school run by Marist Brothers. History St Joseph's College was founded in 1875 as both a boarding school and th ...

, a fee-paying school opened to develop a professional Catholic middle class in Scotland. His eldest brother,

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

, went on to play a handful of games for Celtic in 1918, but was killed trying to jump onto a train in France in 1919. Three other brothers played for Queen's Park. Kelly himself played football for a spell at junior level for Blantyre Victoria, but was limited due to an injury sustained to his arm in a childhood traffic accident, and he soon gave up playing at his father's behest. Despite his arm injury, Kelly was also an excellent

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. Kelly went on to become a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

by profession.

Celtic director and football legislator

Following the death of his father, Kelly joined the Celtic

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

in 1932. Taking an interest in the administrative side of the game, he joined the Scottish League Management Committee in 1939. When

Tom White died in 1947, Kelly was appointed as his successor. Although Celtic's performances were generally poor at this time, Kelly's value as a legislator was quickly realised, and he was elected as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

in 1950. Kelly was a prime advocate in Scotland for use of the new all-weather white

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

, in preference to the then standard brown leather ball which generally got heavier as the match progressed and was difficult for spectators to see on dark afternoons. He also resolutely defended Celtic's right to fly the Eire flag at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

when the SFA made efforts in 1952 to have it removed. He had a close working relationship at Celtic with

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 ...

Jimmy McGrory James Edward McGrory (26 April 1904 – 20 October 1982) was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and Clydebank as a forward and then went on to manage Kilmarnock before returning to Celtic as manager after the end of the Second World Wa ...

, and indeed had the final say on team selection in most instances. This resulted in decisions on line-ups that on occasion appeared somewhat eccentric. Despite this, Celtic's performances improved in the early 1950s, and a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,league and cup double. In the late 1950s, he introduced a

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, nicknamed 'Kelly's Babes', signing up a large group of talented local teenagers in an effort to emulate the

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United F.C. chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of ...

of the era. In 1960, Kelly was elected as president of the SFA, and his tenure in that role coincided with an upturn in Scotland's football success. He expressed strong views on a variety of footballing matters, opposing the live television coverage of matches, due to concern that the fees obtained would not compensate for loss of atmosphere within the ground. He was, however, dismissive of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, stating regarding the 1962 tournament in Chile – "I can see no sense in playing... n.. a remote country in which I understand it takes one year to become acclimatised." He also initially lacked enthusiasm for European club competitions, instead advocating the setting up of a British Cup tournament. Celtic, however, were once again struggling in the early 1960s. By early 1965 they had gone over seven years without a major trophy. At this time, Kelly approached

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 ...

to become manager of Celtic. Stein agreed, taking control of all team matters from Kelly. Within weeks, Celtic won the Scottish Cup, and the following season won the first of nine successive league championships. In season 1966–1967 Celtic won all four domestic competitions, and also became the first non-

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club to win the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, defeating

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2–1 in

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. Many of the

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 ...

players were 'Kelly Babes' who had been with the club for several years, though it took the appointment of Stein for their potential to be effectively honed. In the

1969 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1969 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

, Kelly became the first club chairman in Scotland to be

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

, for services to Scottish football.United Kingdom list: He regarded the honour as belonging to Celtic and Scotland as much as to himself. Kelly stood down as chairman in April 1971, where he was then given the honorary title at Celtic of Club President. Desmond White succeeded him as Celtic chairman. After several months of illness, Kelly died at his home on 21 September 1971. Jock Stein stated that "No man has done more for the club elticin every way than Sir Robert Kelly." Scottish League president, James Aitken, described Kelly as one of the "giants" of Scottish football, and that he was "a most outstanding legislator."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Robert 1902 births Businesspeople from Glasgow Celtic F.C. non-playing staff 1971 deaths Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Celtic F.C. directors and chairmen Knights Bachelor 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Association football people awarded knighthoods