BOBBY COLLINS was a favourite with the Celtic supporters during his time at Parkhead and became known as the "The Wee Barra"...

G MELVILLE (Falkirk) - My grandfather's favourite player at Celtic was Bobby Collins, whom it is said, had a long, distinguished playing career. Can you give me any information about this?

Bobby Collins was a diminutive inside-forward, aged 17, who joined Celtic for just £50 from Pollok Juniors in August, 1948.

If he had signed then for Everton, Pollok Juniors would have received £1,000!

He played for 10 seasons for Celtic, moving to Everton for £22,500.

He then moved to Leeds United, where he played from season 1961/62 to season 1966/67, moving to Bury until 1969, then to Greenock Morton from 1969/70 to 1971/72 as a player/coach.

He played and coached in Australia, returned to be player/coach/assistant manager at Oldham, then manager at Huddersfield Town until December, 1975, followed by coaching posts at Leeds United, Hull City, Blackpool and Barnsley, finally ending his career as manager of Guiseley in 1987.

Bobby was capped 31 times for Scotland and appeared for the Scottish League on 15 occasions.

With Celtic he won the Scottish League Championship in 1954, was a Scottish Cup winner in 1951 and a Scottish League Cup winner in 1957 and 1958.

With Leeds United he won the Football League Division Two Championship in 1964. An outstanding career.

Sadly, Bobby died on January 13, 2014.

NEUTRAL JOHN (Lochwinnoch) - Could you please give details about the Sunderland career of Ally McCoist. Also, were Sunderland in the top tier of the English League at this time?

Ally was at Sunderland between June, 1981 and June, 1983. In that time, Ally started 38 league games (plus 26 as substitute) and scored eight goals. In the FA Cup, he made five starts without scoring. In the English League Cup he scored one goal in five matches.Sunderland were in the top tier at this time.

R BARCLAY (Paisley) - I was informed that Thomas Gemmell who played for St Mirren in the fifties was capped by Scotland. Do you have details of how many and when he won the caps.

Thomas Gemmell was an inside-forward for St Mirren and he won two caps for Scotland in 1955.

His first cap was against Portugal at Hampden on May 4, 1955, and he scored the first goal in a 3-0 victory.

His second cap was away to Yugoslavia on May 15, 1955, and the result was 2-2, with Hibs players Reilly and Smith scoring Scotland's goals.