Hibs' season in the First Division got off to a bad start, just as it did in season 1998-99, with a 1-0 home defeat. This time it was Raith Rovers who did the damage with a breakaway goal against the general run of play, with just 5 minutes to go. Things could only get better after that, and thankfully they did. For 90% of the season, Raith were our main rivals for the First Division Championship, but blew their promotion bid in the last three games of the season, dropping from 2nd to 4th behind St Johnstone and Dundee, who won on the last day of the season to clinch the second promotion place and bounce straight back to the Premier along with the Hibees.
Hibs were just too good for the division. I reckoned the big difference between that league and the Premier was the shakiness of the defences, who also gave away many more corners, even well before the pass-back rule was in force. However, the side didn't really press home their superiority until nearly half way through the season. After 17 games, Hibs had lost the lead to Raith, and Willie Ormond had to retire on health grounds. On 18th November 1980, his place was taken by Bertie Auld, who had played for the Hibees as well as for Celtic.
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We hoped that with the greater resources at Easter Road,
the Cigar-Toting One would take the chance to abandon the negative tactics
he had used at Firhill to keep the Jags afloat in the Premier League.
And indeed for the rest of that season Hibs' scoring rate was maintained,
while Auld managed to reduce the rate of goals conceded dramatically:
Having let in 16 goals in the 17 games before his arrival, the defence only
conceded 8 in the remaining 22.
Bertie also started by introducing some bizarre free-kick
routines, some of which seemed to be a bit too complex for some of the players
to remember away from the training ground. The new boss also insisted
that the players wear their short-sleeved strips for every game, all through
the winter. He said he liked players who liked to get their sleeves
rolled up, so he no doubt just wanted to save them the bother...
Promotion was finally secured and the championship all but
sewn up with just two games to spare, at home to Clydebank. First-half
goals from Gordon Rae (2) and Craig Paterson were enough to see off the Bankies.
Only Raith Rovers could match the Hibees on points, but a goal difference
which was 20 better than the Kirkcaldy side removed any serious doubts that
we would hold on to the top spot at the end of the season.
We officially clinched the title the following Saturday at
Easter Road. On a sunny April afternoon, goals from Gary Murray and
Ralph Callachan were enough to sweep aside a demoralised Raith side, who
were on their way to throwing away the second promotion spot, and to extract
revenge for that opening-day defeat. The TV cameras were there along
with 8,000 fans (a big crowd for that season) to see skipper Jackie McNamara
presented with the trophy, with Queen's "We are the Champions" predictably
wafting through the breeze. Thoughts could now turn to the next season,
and speculation on how Bertie Auld would see us through another survival struggle
in the Premier.
Meanwhile in the Premier Division, Hearts amassed the same miserable total of 18 points that Hibs had gathered the previous season, ensuring that another season would go by without any Edinburgh derbies. Only 1,866 people turned up to watch their home tie against Kilmarnock (only goal scored by 17-year-old Davie Bowman), on a day when the crowd at Easter Road was around 4,000 for the visit of Stirling Albion. Having generally declined throughout the 70s, Scottish football attendances were at a low point at the turn of the decade.
| Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HIBERNIAN | 39 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 67 | 25 | 57 |
| 2 | Dundee | 39 | 22 | 8 | 9 | 64 | 40 | 52 |
| 3 | St Johnstone | 39 | 20 | 11 | 8 | 64 | 45 | 51 |
| 4 | Raith Rovers | 39 | 20 | 10 | 9 | 49 | 32 | 50 |
| 5 | Motherwell | 39 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 65 | 51 | 49 |
| 6 | Ayr United | 39 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 59 | 42 | 45 |
| 7 | Hamilton Acc | 39 | 15 | 7 | 17 | 61 | 57 | 37 |
| 8 | Dumbarton | 39 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 49 | 50 | 37 |
| 9 | Falkirk | 39 | 13 | 8 | 18 | 39 | 52 | 34 |
| 10 | Clydebank | 39 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 48 | 59 | 33 |
| 11 | East Stirling | 39 | 6 | 17 | 16 | 41 | 56 | 29 |
| 12 | Dunfermline Ath | 39 | 10 | 7 | 22 | 41 | 58 | 27 |
| 13 | Stirling Albion | 39 | 6 | 11 | 22 | 18 | 48 | 23 |
| 14 | Berwick Rangers | 39 | 5 | 12 | 22 | 31 | 82 | 22 |
More details from www.soccerbase.com
In the League Cup, in which each tie was played over two legs, Hibs got past Alloa and Clyde in the early rounds, but went out to Ayr at home. After a 2-2 result in the first leg as Somerset Park, the return match was goalless after 90 minutes. With no away goals rule applying, the game went into extra time, and everyone was, well, I can only say Shocked and Stunned, when Ayr scored twice to knock us out of the competition.
In the Scottish Cup we needed a replay and an extra-time goal from Ralph Callachan to edge past Pat Stanton's Dunfermline side in the 3rd round, and a penalty from the same player to put Falkirk out in the 4th. In the quarter-finals we were drawn to play at Ibrox, and a 3-1 defeat illustrated that the team was still some way short of being ready for the Premier League.
Before the start of the season, the
Club had gone ahead with the installation of undersoil heating (the first
in Scotland, of course), and this paid dividends in its first year, during
a heavy winter. Hibs also suggested a restructuring of the league,
from the existing 10-14-14 setup which had been in existence for 5 years,
to two divisions of 16 and 22 teams. There were at that time only around
nine full-time teams in the country, and they couldn't bear the financial
burden of repeated seasons away from the Premier League. The fear factor
produced a lot of defensive games in the top division, and the restructuring
plan was reported to have a good deal of support, but in the end the issue
was shelved for the time being. It would raise its head again five
years later.
George Best played his last game for the Club on 11th October 1980, in a 2-0 home win over Falkirk, before leaving to join San Jose Earthquakes in the North American Soccer League. Of the previous term's side, skipper George Stewart (to Cowdenbeath) and Tony Higgins (to Partick) had already left in the close season. Craig Paterson took advantage of this season in the lower division to establish himself in defence. Willie Jamieson broke into the team and was a successful striker in the First Division. Over the following seasons his goals dried up, and he had a spell at centre-half before eventually being released and going to Hamilton. (From there, his career went rapidly downhill until he ended up at Tynecastle... :-))
John Connolly was a treat to watch. The tricky thirty-something ex St Johnstone and Newcastle winger ran rings around many a full-back, and also packed a cracking shot, so he bagged quite a few goals in the season. Similar to Russell Latapy in some ways, the more rugged surroundings of the Premier League turned out to be too much for him. This could have been something to do with ball players getting less protection in those days.
Billy McLaren, an experienced centre-half, was bought from Morton and took over the captaincy for the season, despite playing as a part-timer. As far as I remember, he did the job very well for the season and then retired at the end of it. Alan Sneddon was signed from Celtic, and took over the left full-back position from Arthur Duncan, who was pushed further upfield again. Gary Murray was one of Bertie Auld's first signings, if not his first. The powerful young forward was bought from Montrose. His non-stop running obviously appealed to Auld, and the fans couldn't fault his workrate. But he never scored as many goals as he might have with a better first touch. Brian Rice was signed from Whitburn, got his first games as a substitute, and looked a bright prospect.
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