Leg break at Barrow put Bill’s career on new path
It’s a bittersweet weekend for the fans of Barrow.
League football returned to Holker Street for the first time in 48 years when they took on Stevenage yesterday.
Unfortunately, the current ban on spectators means the long wait continues for those who remember Barrow’s last home match, against Workington in 1972.
Their final fixture before being voted out of the league came against Exeter.
That’s the sort of game that brings a smile to the face of former player, Bill Munro.
He’s best known in Scotland as Clydebank’s greatest-ever manager.
During the 1970s, he led the Bankies to successive promotions and took them into the top flight for the first time.
But he was a player before moving into coaching.
They were very different times when Bill was trying to make inroads into the professional game as an inside-forward.
He said: “I was playing junior football for Kilwinning Rangers, and was signed by Kilmarnock.
“I was attached to them but didn’t make the first-team at Rugby Park.
“Barrow had a scout searching Scotland for players, and he saw me playing for Kilwinning.
“A move there suited me because I could also get a job in one of the shipyards there.
“I was a plater to trade, and had worked for the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow.
“Barrow were able to get me a job to supplement my wages, and we also got a club house.
“There were a few other Scots there – lads like Tommy Bannan, Jackie Robertson and Johnny Kemp.
“They were good players and helped us settle into the area.
“What amazed me was the distance we had to travel to reach some of the away games.
“I remember us going to play Torquay United, and we seemed to be away all weekend.
“My wife and I really enjoyed living in Barrow, but I suffered a broken leg at the end of my first season there.
“That didn’t do my career any favours. I had to come back to Scotland and ended up joining East Stirling.”
It looked like an unlucky break at the time, but it was perhaps why Bill later became such a successful manager.
He went on: “I became a coach at East Stirling and was then coach at Clydebank when the Steedman brothers took over the club.
“Jack and Charlie Steedman were good to me, and we had a great time at Clydebank.
“Taking them up to the Premier Division, where we competed with Rangers and Celtic, was a fantastic experience.
“We recruited a lot of players who’d been with junior or amateur teams, and gave them the chance to turn professional.
“Players like Jim Fallon and Jim Gallacher were the backbone of our success.
“I was surprised some of our lads didn’t go on to bigger things because they certainly had the ability.
“Davie Cooper was one of the best I’ve ever seen, and it was great to work with him. “He was a joy to watch.”
Bill took Scotland’s semi-professional side to a tournament in Holland in 1980 and came back with the trophy.
His work was overseen by Scotland boss, Jock Stein.
He said: “I got on well with Jock. He was a big name and him being there gave the lads a boost.”
Bill, now 86, left Clydebank in 1981, and had a short spell as manager of Airdrie.
He later took charge of Clyde’s reserve team and also coached at Kilmarnock.
His last role, one he has fond memories of, was coaching Cumbernauld Ladies.