Bobby Kellard RIP

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

I heard a few days ago that Bobby Kellard had sadly passed away, aged 77. His career started at Southend as a left winger, and Palace signed him from there in 1963, staying at Selhurst for 3 years and always a wing man. After periods at Ipswich, Portsmouth, Bristol City and Leicester he re-joined Palace in 1971 as a hard, tough-tackling midfielder and he transformed the Glaziers from a bottom of the table side with relegation written all over them, to a hard-to-beat unit that clawed its way to safety. Job done, he returned to Pompey and then briefly to Torquay before retiring and ending up as an antique dealer in his native county, becoming the Essex Lovejoy.

Photos show him in his first spell at Palace, and then making his second debut in action in 1971 against his previous club Leicester and up against Alan Birchenall who made the reverse journey in a swap deal.




RIP Bobby, great bloke and Palace saviour!