St Johnstone has expressed the club’s condolences to the families of a former player and an interim manager who passed away over the weekend.
Bobby Grant, father of club legend and current associate director Roddy, died after a short illness at a Spanish care home. He had been living in Spain for several years.
A winger in his playing days, Bobby spent two seasons at Muirton Park from 1961/62, making six appearances under manager Bobby Brown and memorably netting the winner in a League Cup sectional tie against Celtic at Parkhead. Teammates at the time included a youthful Alex Ferguson.
Bobby’s previous clubs included Rangers, Leyton Orient, Gloucester – where Roddy was born – and Stirling Albion.
He took pride in seeing Roddy go on to clock-up more than 200 games for Saints and become a fans’ favourite rewarded with a testimonial year.
Former Saints coach Roger Hynd, a nephew of legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 75.
A native of Giffnock, he had been a day care patient at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice for the last three years.
A father and grandfather, during a creative writing class Roger had written his own obituary to pass on to his family.
Best known for his decade as a defender with Rangers, his appearances included the 1967 European Cup Winners Cup final extra-time loss to Bayern Munich as a makeshift centre forward. He also played for English clubs including Crystal Palace, Birmingham City – where he features in the Hall of Fame – and Walsall.
Roger managed Motherwell before becoming a PE teacher but his Perth connections saw him take the managerial reins for six crucial games towards the end of the 1980 campaign following the sacking of boss Alex Stuart.
Before the arrival of Alex Rennie, Roger was charged with supervising the part-time First Division squad and he successfully steered a struggling team away from the relegation zone. Results included the club’s first home win since November, against Clydebank, at a time when the star names included John Brogan, John Pelosi and a rookie teenage striker by the name of Ally McCoist.
Having been brought into the Muirton Park set-up to train players based in the west of Scotland, he threw his name into the ring for the vacant post at Perth, only to lose out to former Perth player Rennie, who was lured from a coaching role with Hearts.
A St Johnstone spokesman said: “The thoughts of everyone at the club go to the families of both men at this sad time.”
