The answer, at least 24 times over the season, was Yes.  This was the season when Willie Irvine, one of Pat Stanton's first signings, just couldn't stop scoring.  Well, not for a while, anyway.  Following a poor start to the league campaign, with straight defeats from Celtic, the Jambos and Dundee United, Stanton's managerial honeymoon seemed to be over.  However, wins in the next three games, with Irvine scoring in each one, convinced me it might be worth keeping some newspaper cuttings again, starting with the home game against Aberdeen.

It was a dreich day as we stood on the windswept, still-uncovered terracing, which had had its top section taken away in the summer.  The loss of a goal in the 14th minute, scored by big Doug Rougvie of all people, seemed to signal a return to losing ways.  But the Hibees refused to give in, got the upper hand in the second half, and clinched a savoured victory with a headed double from Irvine in the 70th and 88th minutes.  This was one of only four defeats suffered by the European Cup Winners Cup holders over the season.

More changes were seen around Easter Road at that time.  Towards the end of the previous season, George Stewart and Jimmy O'Rourke had resigned from their coaching positions, and Pat Stanton had tendered his own resignation, but was persuaded to stay by chairman Kenny Waugh.  Early in the new season, John Blackley returned as a player-coach, using all his experience in the sweeper position.

Having lost 3-2 at Tynecastle in the first derby match for over 4 years, Hibs failed to gain revenge at Easter Road in what turned out to be a damp squib of a game on 5th November, in front of a crowd of 22,000.  They failed to build on a Bobby Thomson opener, so we shouldn't have been surprised when a deflected shot from "young John Robertson" gave the promoted Jambos a share of the points.  The match programme included a run-down on the Jams' squad, which is worth a read-through.

Hibs reached Christmas at the top of the mid-table pack of teams, and looked forward to
the visit of the Currant Buns, who were lying a point and two places below us, with some optimism.  However, we took a 2-0 defeat in a nasty game, which saw Jimmy Nicholl sent off on his debut for a repeated scything down of Ralph Callachan.  This was also a debut game for Nicky Walker, signed by Jock Wallace from Motherwell.  Off the field, the ongoing work on the terracing provided ample ammunition for a battle between rival factions in the crowd of 18,521.  I seem to remember that the rubble was left handily lying around the segregation gap for most of the season.  You just don't get facilities like those nowadays.

A tough holiday programme continued with the visit of Celtic on Hogmanay.  The result was a 1-0 defeat, through a John Blackley own goal, but the match programme did feature Pat Stanton on the cover, and a profile of the Celtic team inside, describing young Paul McStay as - you guessed it - having "great potential".  Marvellous!

The real programme treat for this season comes from the Ne'erday game at Tynecastle, which was played on 2nd January.  Just have a look at that natty lineup from the cover!  No further comment is needed...  As for the match, it was played in a quagmire in front of 23,499 hardy souls.  Donald Park opened the scoring off a post (shame on him), but goal machine Willie Irvine equalised with a clinical low drive in front of the Hibby support at the Gorgie Road end.  Although he was managing to make scoring look easy that season, he couldn't manage it again on that day.

The rest of the season gave us few highlights.  Only four more goals from Irvine (two of them penalties) and four more wins were just enough to keep the team in a safe mid-table position.  It would have been much less safe if Willie Jamieson hadn't hit a brief run of scoring form when moved forward from his then regular position in central defence, helping us to three straight wins.  One plus was the performance of some emerging young talent in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox.  Stanton was forced by injuries to field the youngsters in that game, and Robin Rae (in goal), Kevin McKee (right back), Brian Rice (at sweeper) and Paul Kane (on the wing) earned praise in the Daily Record, no less.   Earlier in the season, 16-year-old Gordon Hunter had made his debut in a League Cup defeat at the hands of First-Division Kilmarnock.  

The last derby game of the season was back at Easter Road, and ended goalless.  The programme is worth a look, though, with pictures from the Tynecastle meeting in September, and a profile of 19-year-old Craig Levein - "a player for the future" - whose first derby had been the New Year mudbath.

The resilient spirit of the team was shown, though, when they all but gained an unlikely victory at Pittodrie on the penultimate weekend of the season, on the day that their hosts paraded the championship trophy.  Only a baffling decision by Mr Controversy, Alan Ferguson, allowed a last-minute equaliser for the Dons to stand, when Rough had been impeded.  Gordon Strachan watched from the stand, with his transfer to Manchester United only days away.

Our interest in the Cup that season didn't last beyond January.  A 0-0 draw with East Fife was followed by an even worse 2-0 defeat in the replay.  Ah well, there was always next season.

Scottish Premier League Table 1983-84

                Pld  W  D  L   F  A  Pts
 1 Aberdeen     36  25  7  4  78 21  57
 2 Celtic       36  21  8  7  80 41  50
 3 Dundee Utd   36  18 11  7  67 39  47
 4 Rangers      36  15 12  9  53 41  42
 5 Hearts       36  10 16 10  38 47  36
 6 St Mirren    36   9 14 13  47 51  32
 7 HIBERNIAN    36  12  7 17  45 55  31
 8 Dundee       36  11  5 20  50 74  27
 9 St Johnstone 36  10  3 13  26 81  23
10 Motherwell   36   4  7 25  31 75  15

FAB Home Page              Results Listing 1983-84