Maranovo  Pays Tribute to Scout Legend Bobby Dinnie

The passing of talent-spotting legend Bobby Dinnie has sparked a flurry of highly-merited tributes across the country, and rightly so.

Bobby Dinnie will be remembered nationwide for discovering one of Britain’s best players in Kenny Dalglish at St Augustine’s Primary School in the north of Glasgow. It was a simple kickabout between a bunch of kids outside of school hours but something felt right and would change Bobby Dinnie’s life forever.

Bobby Dinnie once said, “I accidentally came across young Kenny as a 12-year-old boy and since then my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”

There are not many who don’t know how far Kenny Dalglish went in the game but Bobby Dinnie didn’t stop there. He would find himself at the helm of one of the country’s leading youth football clubs, Possil YM, where a succession of young talent continually flowed towards Highbury from the North Glasgow institute before Bobby linked his academy to other clubs in the English league; with Aston Villa, Sunderland and Coventry City becoming beneficiaries of the famous Possil YMCA production line.

The appointment of John Greig as Rangers manager would prove another milestone for Bobby Dinnie after the Ibrox icon entrusted Bobby to look after the Rangers youth department. It was a move that once again proved successful until Graeme Souness arrived in 1986 and the structure changed.

John Greig said of Bobby:

“When I first met Bobby Dinnie, he immediately impressed me with, not only his football knowledge, but he was also an outstanding kind of person who we would wish to represent your club when speaking to the parents of young players.”

The move would provide a conveyor belt at Rangers and it didn’t take long before Robert Fleck, Gary McSwegan, Sandy Robertson – some of many – would go on to play for the Rangers first team.

The Dinnie family are very well-known but you’d never guess as Bobby was never one to brag or boast. He was a relative of the iconic strongman used in the logo for Barr’s Irn Bru.

Donald Dinnie, once the world’s strongest man, and thought to be the first athlete to endorse a product, paving the way for other athletes to forge lucrative partnerships with global brands.

Bobby’s young nephew Allan Dinnie played for Partick Thistle and Dundee and the scout legend is also related to a host of others who made their name in the world of sport including boxer Robert Nicol – who Benny Lynch regarded as his hardest opponent (they were from the same stable).

Being a Glasgow boy, football was always going to play a huge part in Bobby’s life. Humour, also, is inescapable when you grow up in the city and during a war and hardship, both the fitba and laughter were great remedies for the horrors that unfolded. In his book, ‘The Scout: The Bobby Dinnie Story’, Bobby reflects much more about his football life but it does begin with a classic line filled with serious humour. In his book, he writes:

“I asked my wife, Betty, if she would like to go to the United States for our honeymoon. Naturally she was ecstatic. What I didn´t tell her at the time was I was taking 18 players with us… to play in a football tournament.”

Bobby also served during the Korean War where he survived after being shot in the neck. He recalled the night he almost never came home after carrying out a routine foot patrol with his buddy:

“At times we’d take turns to go out there to listen for any noises and to try and establish where our enemy was located. On one particular evening’s watch a young man by the name of Robert Marshall and I were doing our duties in the trench when all of a sudden there was a huge bang that rang in my ears, so close it was and I didn’t need to think about how near we both were to immediate danger. Robert and I had taken a hit, both of us ironically took one each to the neck. The jolt threw me on top of Robert. The medics were swift to act and at times of great emergency we can sometimes underestimate the importance of speed together with the professional way they conduct their precise work. Both Robert and I were carried off into the medical HQ to be treated. I can remember very clearly one of the medical staff telling one of his colleagues: “I’m afraid that’s Robert gone.” It was a great shock to me as he had just joined our company days before.”

In 2015 Bobby Dinnie was a finalist in the Daily Record’s ‘Our Heroes’ award and as always, was very humbled and bashful to be recognized for his work. Bobby never thought about himself. it was always about the others. If he could help someone, he would go all out and nothing was ever a problem for him.

He spoke highly of the people who helped him run Possil YM. He has often credited his many helpers at the club and in his local community. He once said: ‘I was very fortunate to be surrounded by great people at the club and in the local community. Without their support, we would never have been so successful. Everyone played their part no matter how big or small and this helped us tremendously.”

Many who didn’t make it in football would make it in other walks of life thanks to the guidance and wisdom from one of Glasgow’s greatest unsung icons, Bobby Dinnie M.B.E.

He will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by all who knew him.