Football star John Collins in the running to be immortalised in Galashiels street name

A call has been made to immortalise former Hibs, Celtic and Scotland football star John Collins in one of his home town’s newest streets.
John Collins takes the Celtic stars for a training session at Lennoxtown in 2014.John Collins takes the Celtic stars for a training session at Lennoxtown in 2014.
John Collins takes the Celtic stars for a training session at Lennoxtown in 2014.

Galashiels Community Council chair Judith Cleghorn announced at last Wednesday’s meeting at the Focus Centre: “Alison Wallace of the council’s democratic services team has been in touch to get our suggestions for naming three new streets at Melrose Gait.”

Two of the attending Scottish Borders Councillors had come to the meeting with three of their own choices.

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Euan Jardine suggested John Collins Crescent, after the footballer, who also spent time at Monaco and Fulham, before becoming head coach at Hibs and acting as assistant manager in Ronny Deila’s Celtic side; Bill Lamb Way after the former councillor who died last year; and Jimmy Curran Place, after the famous athletics coach who trained five Olympic gold medallists in the early 1900s.

Harry Scott came up with George Hope Tait Drive, after the poet and town councillor; Charles Lapworth Way, after the revered geologist who married a Gala lass; and again, Bill Lamb Crescent.

Community Councillor Drew Tulley, who has already given his name to a street in the town – Tulley Court – had another suggestion.

He said: “I’d like to put forward George Knox. It’s a crying shame that he has never had a street named after him in the town he served so well.”

Mr Knox was a town clerk, as well as the first director of administration at Ettrick and Lauderdale District Council.