From Argentina to Brazil

1979-80 : Best and Worst

After the dramatic Cup campaign of the previous season, there was some optimism around when Hibs co-hosted a four-team pre-season tournament with Hearts - the visitors being Coventry City and high-spending Man City, who had just made Britain's first £1 million signing - one Steve Daley, who went on to achieve lasting obscurity.  In the end the tournament was won by Coventry, who featured the legendary Jim Holton in defence, a young Mark Hateley in attack, and Terry Yorath as captain.  They only needed a draw against Hibs in the last game at Easter Road, having won both of their other games 3-1.  Hibs opened with a 2-1 home win over the Jambos (Gordon Rae and Colin Campbell netting), and then only managed a 1-1 draw with the Manchester side at Tynecastle.  More importantly, that match was marred by a nasty injury to Colin Campbell, who was caught by Joe Corrigan's fist as the keeper made a clearance at the Gorgie Road end.  Campbell was knocked out and swallowed his tongue, and was only saved from more serious trouble by quick action from the physio.  I thought he was never the same player after that incident, and I wonder how much effect it had on the events of the season.

We started the season with largely the same squad as for 1978-79, although skipper George Stewart only managed a few games because of knee problems, and a young Craig Paterson took his place in defence alongside Jackie McNamara.  Our league schedule started off with tough ties at home to Rangers (1-3) and away to the emerging Aberdeen side (0-3).  Although no points from the first two matches was a disappointing start, there didn't seem to be reason to panic.  Not yet...

The third game was at home to Dundee, and was one of the few high spots in the season.  It being early in the campaign, neither team was aware that it would be facing the drop in 8 or 9 months' time, so the action was fast and open.  With the score at 3-2 to Hibs at half time, we might have been happy to say we'd had our money's worth.  However, in the second half, Hibs managed to tighten up at the back.  And at the other end, Ralph Callachan waltzed through the entire Dundee defence (which admittedly was not the best) to side foot the ball into the net for an exquisite goal.  I didn't see a better one for years, and I only wished that the TV cameras had been there to catch it.  A goal from ex Dundee player Bobby Hutchinson finished the scoring at 5-2 for Hibs.

After this false dawn, Hibs managed only three draws out of the next eleven games, and no-one could doubt that this was a real crisis.  (Yes, a real one, not an Ibrox-stylee "We're no goanae win the league this season!" one.)  So, in a desperate attempt to save the team from the drop, Chairman Tom Hart followed the advice of Stewart Brown of the Evening News and signed 33-year-old George Best from Fulham.  George scored on his debut - a 2-1 defeat away to St Mirren.  It was certainly a privilege to see the man's skills on the park, and 20,622 turned up to see his home debut against the most unexciting opposition of the time - Partick Thistle.  That fixture would normally have been lucky to attract a third of that crowd in those days: Partick were being kept in the Premier League by Bertie Auld with the aid of a ten-man defence.  Bertie was to weave the same kind of magic for Hibs a couple of years later. ("You'll like it: Not a lot!")  Anyway, Hibs needed a penalty and an own goal to scrape a 2-1 win in this game.  But hey, they all count!

Sadly, George lived up to his wayward image and before long was missing games through 'ill-health'.  Still, it was worth every penny of the £2,000 a game that Hart was reputedly paying him to play.

The other match I like to remember was on December 22nd, at home to Rangers.  This one was on the telly, so I enjoyed it twice.  It was George Best's first game against the Old Firm.   (He scored a cracking goal in his second, a 1-1 draw in January's home league match against Celtic.)  Rangers scored the only goal of the first half.  At a direct free kick 20-odd yards out at the Dunbar end, Tommy McLean refused to place the ball until the referee had placed the defensive wall.  Then, when he did put the ball down, it was a yard or two to the right, so that it could be slotted in past the now immobilised defenders.  This tactic served to warm up the atmosphere, on an afternoon (before the installation of the under-soil heating) when the ground was doing a fair impression of the Siberian perma-frost.  Late in the second half, with Hibs playing up the slope, Best split the Rangers defence with a pass from the centre circle which found Ally MacLeod bearing in from the right wing.  At the edge of the box, MacLeod parted with the ball to allow the inrushing Tony Higgins to send a daisy-cutter into the corner of the net.  And Easter Road, as they say, erupted!  Five minutes later, a blunder from the Rangers keeper let a Colin Campbell header bobble into the net for the winning goal.  Every season has its highlights...

In spite of the odd memorable result, things continued to go badly, and with seven games to go, and Hibs on 14 points from 28 games and destined for 10th place, Eddie Turnbull was finally shown the door, to be replaced by his Famous Five team-mate Willie Ormond.  Having already steered Hearts out of the First Division, it was reckoned that Ormond could do the same trick for Hibs.  The fans had no doubt that we would be straight back in the Premier League after a season down below.  After all, it was true that a bad start to the season had resulted in a total collapse in the team's confidence, and relegation neurosis had taken hold early on.  Maybe the team weren't world-beaters, but they certainly were not as bad as the figures would suggest.  Ormond's first game in charge was at Pitoddrie, and Hibs got their first away point of the season in a 1-1 draw.

Just to twist the knife in the wound, here are a couple more bits of info: Hibs & Dundee were replaced in the Premier League the next season by... Hearts and Airdrie.  Actually, although Airdrie finished runners-up in the 1st Division, they scored 20 more goals than the Jambos, thanks to their promising young striker, Sandy Clark.  And finally, Aberdeen clinched the Championship with a 5-0 win at Easter Road.  The picture of Alex Ferguson cavorting around the hallowed turf with his arms out like a scarecrow on speed was used for all of the next season in the titles for BBC Sportscene.  God bless 'em...

Scottish Premier League Table 1979-80

PldWDLFAPts
1Aberdeen3619107683648
2Celtic3618117613847
3St Mirren3615129564942
4Dundee Utd36121311433037
5Rangers3615714504637
6Morton3614814514636
7Partick Th36111411434736
8Kilmarnock36111114365233
9Dundee3610620477326
10HIBERNIAN366624296718

More details from www.soccerbase.com

As an afterthought, one factor which may have had a detrimental effect on the team was the sale of Des Bremner early in the season.  In exchange, Aston Villa paid £220,000 plus striker Joe Ward, who was valued at £80,000.  Even given the rampant transfer inflation of the time, this was something of an over-estimate of his worth.  Ward was given several chances, but managed to avoid scoring on any of his outings.


Hibs Squad 1979/80

FAB Home Page Full Results Listing 1979-80