Hibs are Here

Ian Colquhoun

Description

The Hibs are Here is the follow up to Ian Colquhoun's previous book on Hibernian Football Club: From Oblivion to Hampden. That culminated in the club's successful League Cup winning season in 1991/92. This next volume is subtitled Miller to Millennium and charts the period from 1992 through to 1999. With fresh insight via exclusive interviews with a number of the club's players, coaches and managers, Colquhoun threads these together with a fan narrative and analysis of that iconic decade. He relives the joy of a UEFA Cup run, reaching another cup final and an historic third-placed finish in the Scottish Premiership; the highs and lows of an instant promotion following relegation; and the heartbreak of losing that final and two semi-final defeats. From the pen of a passionate Hibs fan who was there for it all, The Hibs are Here is a wonderful trip down memory lane for any Hibernian supporter.

Sujets

• Edimburgo
• Escocia
• Edinburgh
• Scotland
• Édimbourg

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 29 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785319150
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Ian Colquhoun, 2021
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Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781785318290
eBook ISBN 9781785319150
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Author s Note
Foreword
Forever and Ever
1. Prologue: Sit Down
2. Sound
3. Waltzing Along
4. Say Something
5. Born of Frustration
6. Ring the Bells - Season 92/93 - Part One
7. Runaground - Season 92/93 - Part Two
8. She s a Star - Anderlecht Away
9. Hymn from a Village - Season 92/93 - Part Three
10. Just Like Fred Astaire - Off-Field Stuff
11. Laid - Season 93/94
12. Come Home - Season 94/95
13. I Know What I m Here For - Straiton
14. Destiny Calling - Bosman
15. Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) - Season 95/96
16. We re Going to Miss You - Season 96/97
17. Tomorrow - The Jocky Scott Years
18. Sometimes - Season 96/97 Continued
19. Bitter Virtue - Season 97/98
20. La Petite Mort (Gone Baby Gone)
21. Moving On - The Great Adventure
22. Nothing But Love - Hibernian Forever
23. Interviews
Photos
From little towns and Scotland s capital we came To save the Hibs from a world aflame In little towns and in Scotland s capital we sleep, and trust that club we saved, for you to keep
DEDICATION
In memory of former Garda Chief Superintendent John Courtney, Co. Kerry, 1928-2017. RIP
F at j stitia ruat c lum
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOR THEIR help, advice, encouragement, kindness and general inspiration over the last five years and in writing this book and others, I should like to thank the following people.
My family, my friends, Tony the Fish, Maggie, Ralph, Stephanie and Jessica, Bobby Sinnet, Jillian, Mark Strachan, The Coonster, Gerard Gough, Pitch Publishing, Sir Tom Farmer, Martin Ferguson, Jim Duffy, Keith Wright, Graham Mitchell, Kevin McAllister, Steven Tweed, Chris Jackson, David Farrell, Mark McGraw, Darren Jackson, Frank Dougan, John Campbell, Leeann Dempster, Maurice Dougan, Kieran Power, Ted Brack, Dougie Macleod, Andy MacVannan, St Patrick s Branch HSC, Paul Larkin, Elspeth, Gary Kerr, Spire Healthcare, David Hardie, the staff at my local gym, George Henry, Francesca, The Hiblogs, Alison the Hibby, Lawrence Fitzpatrick, Thomas Jamieson, Heather, Donnie Hill, Gemma, Garry O Hagan, Tom McManus, Tommy McIntyre, Amanda, Jess, Eugene Gilligan, Ian Murray, Sarah, Mariyln Harkins, Coonster s dog, the late Bradley Welsh and all of the other Hibernian spirits in the sky .
AUTHOR S NOTE
THIS BOOK is written in a fan narrative, for fans. The interviews with ex-Hibees contained herein are completely separate from the main book - the legends were all kind enough to give me their time without actually reading my work first. So, if I ve made a pig s ear of anything or have written something that any readers disagree with, it s my fault not theirs. Same goes for current Hibs employees and staff. They were kind enough to support me in this book s production but didn t have any say on my wee book s content. Two other wee things: if you want to read my account of the first half of Alex Miller s Hibs reign, from 1986-91, that book is called From Oblivion to Hampden . Lastly, I have the utmost respect and admiration for Alex Miller, Jocky Scott, Jim Duffy, Alex McLeish and every other Hibs person mentioned in this wee book. To me, all are legends. Thank you.
FOREWORD BY BOBBY SINNET
A WISE woman once told me that you can never have too many books about Hibs. Up until now, there wasn t a book about one of the most fascinating periods in Hibernian Football Club s history - the 1990s. I m pleased to be able to report that respected fan and author Ian Colquhoun has turned his attention to this period with his latest book. Unlike the Hibs books I grew up on in the 1980s, this book covers an era that I remember and in which I attended games.
Commercialism, which had eked its way into football in the 1980s, was now in full-blown takeover mode and the people s game was to change - rightly or wrongly, and we all have opinions on this - forever. One thing I m sure we can all agree on is that there was nowhere quite like the East Terrace, and, despite the wonderful stadium we now have at Easter Road, a part of me still hankers after a more old-fashioned setting. The 1990s was a period of great change for stadiums of course, and not just Easter Road. The terrible Hillsborough disaster of 1989 set in motion a chain of events that saw the refurbishment of football grounds all over the United Kingdom - grounds that often were little changed over the previous 50 years. Hibs started the decade with terraces and ended it with a much reduced all-seated stadium and two completely new stands built in 1995 as the club sought to comply with the demands of Justice Taylor and his report. Of course, around this time Sir Tom Farmer investigated the possibility of moving Hibs away from their home of nearly 100 years and to Straiton in Midlothian. It never happened, but such were the financial considerations of the stadium development that every avenue was explored by Sir Tom Farmer and Douglas Cromb, in the interests of Hibernian FC. The Sir Tom Farmer era has of course now ended, and the reins have been passed to Ron Gordon to take the club forwards. The 90s were the period that Tom Farmer picked up the carnage that had been left by David Duff, and Wallace Mercer, and put the club back on a stable footing and nurtured the business back to a position of health and sustainability. There were some ups, and there were some downs, but this period was critical in providing the base for the club to re-establish itself as one of the top teams in Scotland. Largely there was progress, and Hibs were in a far better position on all fronts by the end of the 90s than they had been coming into the 90s. The 1990s was of course also the beginning of the Sky era , although in Scotland it had been slightly less heralded with a live football deal with BSB. This was an age when traditional football was under attack and Saturday 3pm kick-offs went from the norm to being much less usual as fans became accustomed to having their scheduled fixtures lists obliterated by the demands of television. Some chose to watch games on television, and rarely returned, even to this day. And then there was the little matter of the Belgian Jean-Marc Bosman affair, which led to the abolition of transfer fees for players out of contract. Bosman had made an unremarkable appearance at Easter Road for Royal Liege, in a game remarkable for Keith Houchen s missed penalty. Bosman s impact on the game has been likened to the shockwaves that were caused in the 1890s when the game moved from amateur to professional. By the late 90s, the predominantly Scottish squad that Hibs had utilised for a number of years gave way to a much more cosmopolitan blend, which eventually saw players from nearly all the different continents of the world wear the green. But there were still guys like Barry Lavety, too.
The 70s might have been scintillating for Hibbies and gave way to the post-modern bleakness of the 80s, and the false dawns. The 90s, though, were a time of renaissance for Hibs and the team gave the fans something that was close to being back in the upper echelons of the Scottish game. The 90s were a time of great change and turbulence - one such example being the job of Hibs manager. Hibs went from a team that rarely sacked managers, and managers having lengthy periods in the hot seat, to turning over managers frequently in search of that elusive blend, the opening six years of the decade under Alex Miller giving way to Jocky Scott, Jim Duffy and Alex McLeish in quick succession. But, if we thought that was chop and change, it was nothing compared to what we would see in the future. I ve known Ian for a number of years and collaborated with him in the past. His work is insightful, thorough and captures a raw energy about what really happened that you often don t really capture from reading news reports or watching YouTube video clips. Ian is able to draw out elements of the storyline that would otherwise be lost. You might want to search out the YouTube clips after reading this, as it takes you for a pleasant meander down memory lane, if, of course, you were fortunate to be there. Jim Leighton, Darren Jackson, Keith Wright, Kevin McAllister to Thorsten Schmugge and Juha Riippa. It s all here. There were some great games of football, some great cup ties, some fantastic European games and some great goals. There were some great victories and some painful defeats. Some laughs and some tears. Some oh so nears. It was never ordinary. One thing you learn as a Hibs fan, life is never ordinary.
Bobby Sinnet | @ihibs
FOREVER AND EVER
MY FIRST Hibs game was our 4-1 win over Chelsea at Easter Road in 1986. My first ever Hibs interview came on Tuesday, 6 October 1992, aged 14, in the Weir Toyota Lounge at Easter Road.
As part of a SCOTVEC course on work studies at high school, two school friends and I had to arrange a day observing a workplace of our choosing. We wrote to Hibs and asked if we could do i