The Lanarkshire-born inside-forward spent the majority of his career north of the border, with teams including Raith Rovers and Aberdeen, but spent just over a year in the Midlands with spells at City and Nottingham Forest from July 1958 until September 1959.
Leicester had initially beaten Forest to sign the powerful forward after impressing in Scotland and he made his debut in a trip to Arsenal in August 1958, eventually forging an encouraging strike pairing with Jimmy Walsh.
Kelly failed to completely settle off the pitch, however, and after scoring 15 goals in 27 appearances for the Foxes he made the switch to Forest, who finally got their man. His stay there was brief, less than six months, before he moved back to Scotland with Aberdeen and eventually returned to Raith where he finished his career.
His post-football career took him across the pond, where he worked in the solar heating business in Canada before moving to the United States.