Legends
Series - John Blackley
Sloop John B - pure class -
JOHN CAMPBELL
NICKNAMES
WOULD APPEAR TO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF FOOTBALL and the mere fact that
you are a Hibernian Legend does not exempt you from having one!
Some nicknames have an obvious origin, such as Lawrie Reilly being
known as "Last Minute Lawrie" in testimony to a late equaliser he once
scored for Scotland at Wembley or Pat Stanton being known as "Niddrie"
because that's where he hailed from.
Today's
Hibernian Legend is John Blackley who rejoiced in the nickname of
"Sloop" which owes its origins to the Beach Boys song, "Sloop John
B" that having been released in the early to mid Seventies, which is
when John graced the turf at Easter Road.
Joining Hibs from Gairdoch United he was a youngster who was to go
on and fulfil the promise shown in those early years as he notched up
countless fine displays for Hibs in a twin centre half role alongside Jim
Black in the Turnbull's Tornadoes side.
Introduced
into the side sparingly by Dave Ewing, Sloop claimed virtually permanent
ownership of the No. 6 shirt once Eddie Turnbull arrived from Aberdeen but
was still a young laddie when Hibs faced up to Celtic in the 1972 Cup
Final. A
crushing 6 - 1 defeat made Hibs all the more determined to exact revenge
when, later that year, they faced Celtic at Hampden in the final of the
Drybrough Cup and Sloop excelled in a stunning 5 - 3 victory over Jock
Stein's men.
Blackley
looks on as Jim McArthur is first to the ball
More
importantly, later in 1972, Sloop helped Hibs beat Celtic 2 - 1 to lift
the Scottish League Cup.
Seven days later Hibs demolished Ayr United 8 - 1 at Easter Road
and some weeks later, on New Years Day 1973 to be precise, they nearly
reached that total again but had to settle for only the seven at
Tynecastle!
Much is made and rightly so of the attack and the prolific
goalscoring of Messrs O'Rourke, Gordon and Duncan but praise is also due
to a fine defence, superbly marshalled by the dashing John Blackley.
Another
Drybrough Cup in 1973 with Celtic again the vanquished, looked set to have
Hibs challenging for honours once more but the leg break to John Brownlie
allied with lengthy absences through suspension of Alex Edwards, saw
Blackley and his co-defenders conceding more goals than they would have
liked and so further honours eluded them.
Once
Joe Harper arrived and the Turnbull's Tornadoes side started to break
up, Sloop found himself in a side, which struggled more often than not,
and crowds began to dwindle as a consequence.
Over the next few seasons, players were sold, to keep the Club
afloat with the likes of Alex Cropley, Jim O'Rourke and Alan Gordon
moving on and it was only a matter of time before, in 1977, a similar need
to bring in revenue resulted in Sloop being transferred to Newcastle
United.
In
1983, Sloop returned to Easter Road as Assistant Manager to his former
team-mate and Club Captain Pat Stanton and then in September of that year
he took the hotseat himself when Pat resigned.
Things were a bit up and down for John over the next few seasons
with League form patchy but some good results in, particularly, League Cup
ties. In
1986/87, however, a run of only 3 wins in 17 League starts saw Sloop
tender his resignation and he dropped out of the game for a little while
before taking up the post of Assistant Manager to Paul Sturrock at St.
Johnstone.
Today's
opponents arrive with Sloop as their Assistant Coach, after he'd joined
United along with Sturrock some years ago.
Of course Sturrock has moved on but the by now silvery haired John
Blackley can still be seen and heard in the Terrors' dugout.
We welcome the Legend that is John Blackley back to Easter Road and
hope he enjoys his short visit - but not too much! |
