Remember the heroes
Keith Small looks back at two previous Cup Final victories to give his own advice to this year's squad...

Que sera, sera, whatever will be?. While these words can be easily associated with Hampden Park as we all think of it; Lion Rampants and Saltires waving, and well worn Tartan Army favourites belting out, Hampden will look and sound, a very different place this coming Sunday. However much the prominence of the Green flag will give Hampden an unfamiliar look though; the sentiment of the above song remains the same. For what will be for the masses of proud Hibernians who will take temporary occupation of the National Stadium on Sunday?

Well the answer can be simplified into two possibilities: Abject, demoralising, gut-wrenching, ignominious failure. Or a famous, glorious, rousing, ecstatic and delightfully improbable victory. In a Cup Final it is all the easier to see things in such black and white shades. Glorious defeat is a sickeningly Scottish trait, so hopefully that makes Livi just as susceptible to that as us. But getting yourselves into winning positions only to let it slip could also be said to be a Hibernian trait if this were the Scottish Cup. But fortunately the curse which has afflicted greater Hibernian sides than this (and that is by no means a slight on this current team I’m sure you’ll agree) in the Scottish Cup has long since been banished when it comes to the League Cup.

This is an important point to be made, and I am sure that the Hibs coaching staff will be doing just that. Because each and every player has the opportunity to write themselves into Scottish Football history, and more importantly to us, Hibernian history. Just as the ’72 and ’91 Cup Winning sides have passed into Hibernian folklore, so too can these young players, and what an achievement that would be to hold such a place at such an early stage in their careers.

These young charges have the opportunity to turn themselves into true Hibs Heroes  (sns)

The 1972 side will be remembered as the team that went to Hampden, outplayed and defeated the greatest Scottish Club side of the modern era. They are rightfully revered as all time Hibernian greats. There are though probably more parallels to be drawn between the current team and that of 1991. They too were somewhat surprising finalists, squeezing past an illustrious Rangers team in what was also a memorable weeknight at Hampden, when Hibernian fans had travelled to Glasgow more in hope than in expectation. And we also knew that it would be non-Old Firm opponents awaiting us in the final.

Unfortunately that is where the similarities end. Dunfermline in 1991 were genuine underdogs, a side fighting relegation even in November, and who had only weeks before been disposed of 3-0 in a league game at The Holy Ground. If only I hear you all saying. Livingston are an accomplished team, who are sitting above us in the league and have already beaten us home and away this season. While their league form is not great at the moment, it is probably still superior to ours. This final will almost certainly be a far less comfortable afternoon than it was in 1991.

But what do you expect? You cannot go into a Cup Final expecting to play a hapless relegation struggler can you? We should just be grateful that we are in the final after the draws we have had. And lets face it, to be offered a Cup Final against another non Old Firm team is a great opportunity. A hard game awaits us no doubt but not nearly as hard as if we were playing Rangers, or even worse Celtic. 

Livingston are a good team, but they are no world-beaters, of course neither are we. But we have beaten better teams than them to get ourselves here. Would it not be poetic if the only team that has beaten Celtic in domestic competition this season went on to lift the trophy? Poetry will not however win us the cup. What will is commitment, determination, unflagging belief, team spirit, and no little skill. All of these we possess. In order to write themselves into the Hibernian history books, the players will have to show all of these traits, and probably more. If they do not, they may well be in one of the first chapters of the Livingston history books as the team they beat to lift their first trophy.

But they have done it before, and if they do it again who knows, someone will hopefully be trying to inspire another Hibs team in years to come by citing the 2004 team. Young lads they may be, but if they can bring the Cup back to The Holy Ground, their names will be spoken along with the likes of ‘Darling’ Willie Groves, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull, Joe Baker, Pat Stanton, Jimmy O’Rourke, Keith Wright, Micky Weir, Franck Sauzee and the others too numerous to mention. If that thought does not motivate them to play the game of their young careers then perhaps the legions of proud Hibernians roaring them on will:

“Och, I long for that hour on the great final day,
When our brave Hibernian Bhoys will carry the badges away,
For, shure as yer living, the Lions will fall,
When Hibernian are cheered by the Irishmen’s call…

 …Such a crowd in ould Scotland has never been seen
As will cheer on to glory the heroes of green”

 (From The Making of Hibernian by Alan Lugton)