The book looks at Bobby's life from his birth in August 1944 (and events in the World at that time) up to his death in May 2001 at the age of 56.
This excellent read is available from:
Empire Publications, Bobby Murdoch, different class by David Potter ISBN: 1901746321 - Paperback - 324pp - £10.99. Published - 3rd November 2003
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT ASHLEY SHAW ON 0161 872 3319 email: enquiries@empire-uk.com web :www.empire-uk.com
His rise from trainee to first team fixture at Celtic mirrored his club’s
emergence from Rangers’ shadow. Following promising performances in Celtic’s dysfunctional teams of the early 60s, Murdoch went on to become a powerhouse in the team that swept all before them in the latter part of the decade.
Aside from the Celts’ Annus Mirabilis of 1966-1967, when they won every tournament they entered, becoming the first British team to triumph in the European Cup in the process. Celtic, with Murdoch in midfield, became one of the most formidable teams in British football history - winning an unprecedented 9 Scottish titles in a row, 5 Scottish Cups and 5 Scottish League Cups
between 1965 and 1973.
It came as a surprise to many when he was sold to Jack Charlton’s Boro at the age of just 29. On Teesside (1973-74), he helped Boro to the Second Division title in his first season.
At Celtic and Boro the accuracy of his passing was his hallmark while his
combative ability in the middle of the park was essential to both teams ability to win possession and power forward.
Bobby’s career was curtailed by a painful knee injury not helped by a particularly energetic style of play. Bobby became our youth team coach unearthing the likes of Craig Johnston before being appointed manager at Ayresome Park in the summer of 1981. Unfortunately Bobby had joined
a sinking ship and, with few funds available for players the club were duly relegated in his first and only season as a football manager.
This season of management also proved to be the end of Murdoch’s meaningful football life. Yet throughout his enforced retirement from the game Bobby
suffered for his playing career and his premature death in 2001, was an indirect consequence of it.
David W. Potter’s biography of one of Celtic’s greatest players, is a celebration of the era and the man. The 1960's represented the dawn of a new era for Britain in general and Glasgow in particular, while Potter’s prose sings with the delight of being around at the time. As the author says of the period, to borrow a line from Wordsworth’s celebration of the French Revolution of 1789;
‘Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven!’