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View Full Version : Hibs player you wish you had seen play at Easter Road



gloryglory1875
18-06-2013, 09:36 AM
Everybody has their favourite player they have seen play at Easter Road. For me it was Frank Sauzee. Skill, bravery, grace, everything a footballer should have. However the player I wished I had seen play at Easter Road was Joe Baker. My dad says he was the most complete forward ever and could score goals for fun. So for what ever reason you didn't see the player at Easter Road (not born, to young, etc.) What player do you wish you could have seen?

Pretty Boy
18-06-2013, 09:55 AM
Gordon Smith every day of the week.

Never heard anyone describe him as anything less than world class.

Joe Baker is a good shout as well. Played in the same team as my Grandad and was a bit special by all accounts!

JimBHibees
18-06-2013, 10:01 AM
Gordon Smith every day of the week.

Never heard anyone describe him as anything less than world class.

Joe Baker is a good shout as well. Played in the same team as my Grandad and was a bit special by all accounts!

That would be mine also when someone like Sir Stanley Matthews is saying he was the best player he had seen then you know he must have been something special. He was my dad's favourite player with stories of him running down the line keeping the ball up with his head.

Saw Joe Baker on his return and while he was still an excellent player his mobility wast quite as good I am assuming but still looked a real player.

Who was your grandad if you dont mind me asking? No probs if you dont want to say. :greengrin

Killiehibbie
18-06-2013, 10:03 AM
The Famous Five and Joe Baker.

bigwheel
18-06-2013, 10:15 AM
Gordon Smith

Andy74
18-06-2013, 10:24 AM
I'd be interested in seeing any of the great 50's, 60's and 70's teams.

I think it's really difficult to try and think about how good these guys were and who they really compare to these days in Scottish football or world football, if they really were world class.

Was world class then equivalent to world class now or is world class then probably below what we'd be used to seeing now even in Scotland?

It'd be interesting and I've never really had anyone who seen some of these players be able to clearly compare them to anyone that I'd be able to match them up to from recent times.

Treadstone
18-06-2013, 10:24 AM
Gordon Smith, Lawrie Reilly or about five players from the tornadoes.

A wee bit leftfield but watching a DVD of the tornadoes and was struck with the amount of goals Alan Gordon scored which is the hardest part of the game.

bigwheel
18-06-2013, 10:35 AM
Gordon Smith, Lawrie Reilly or about five players from the tornadoes.

A wee bit leftfield but watching a DVD of the tornadoes and was struck with the amount of goals Alan Gordon scored which is the hardest part of the game.

Alan Gordon was my hero as a youngster ..I was amazed to see he only played around 90 games for us ..he was a great goal scorer during his time at Hibs

Scouse Hibee
18-06-2013, 11:18 AM
George Best at ER or anywhere simply so I could see for myself if he was as good as everyone claims.

EVENTUALLY
18-06-2013, 11:21 AM
Gordon Smith.

40 years ago I once asked my old man how good he was compared to players of the time that I was familar with and quick as a flash he replied "He was better than Pele for starters"...not a bad yardstick!

The_Exile
18-06-2013, 11:25 AM
Shades :agree:

vercol36
18-06-2013, 11:57 AM
Probably the Famous Five, but I would also have loved to see Cropley play

Squealing pig
18-06-2013, 11:58 AM
Stanton

Hibs Class
18-06-2013, 12:01 PM
Any of the Famous Five, but Gordon Smith in particular. Joe Baker too. All came before my time, but I also have some regret that players like Stanton and O'Rourke were still playing when I started watching Hibs, so although I saw them play I was too young to really register how good they were.

Albanian Hibs
18-06-2013, 12:03 PM
Stanton

PeeJay
18-06-2013, 12:10 PM
I'd be interested in seeing any of the great 50's, 60's and 70's teams.

I think it's really difficult to try and think about how good these guys were and who they really compare to these days in Scottish football or world football, if they really were world class.

Was world class then equivalent to world class now or is world class then probably below what we'd be used to seeing now even in Scotland?

It'd be interesting and I've never really had anyone who seen some of these players be able to clearly compare them to anyone that I'd be able to match them up to from recent times.

Interesting point - what if the guys from back then had the same facilities, training regimes, lightweight balls, boots, perfect pitches to play on and cash rewards that today's "world -class" players have: would they be just as good or perhaps even better? Conversely, what if today's top players had to make do with heavy, laced, leather footballs on muddy pitches, with a day job, etc: would they be just as good? I'd like to have seen the young Joe Baker - I saw the "old" one when he returned to ER against Aberdeen (white boots and all), but the young Joe Baker must have been really something....

heretoday
18-06-2013, 12:13 PM
I saw Baker playing for Arsenal and also in his second spell with Hibs but after a great start he wasn't so good. Smith was playing for Dundee when I saw him. Also not so good by that time. Wish I'd been born ten years earlier!

lord bunberry
18-06-2013, 12:14 PM
I would love to have seen the famous five and joe baker. I would also have liked to have seen willie hamilton as everyone says he was a great player.

Mark79
18-06-2013, 12:37 PM
Brian kerr. Never seen him play.

JMac
18-06-2013, 12:52 PM
Frank Sauzee, I missed him by one season. Seen him manage :rolleyes:

Teapot
18-06-2013, 01:39 PM
Sauzee. Realistically i could have seen him play but unfortunately my first game was Bobby Williamsons first game in charge. Think we beat St Johnstone 3-0?

Pat Stanton is the other player I wish I could have seen. Heard so much about him and from the clips I've seen he looked fantastic.

Bearders
18-06-2013, 01:56 PM
Famous Five and Willie Hamilton

hibsfan7
18-06-2013, 03:19 PM
The famous five willie hamilton sauzee latapy

PatHead
18-06-2013, 03:31 PM
Benny Brazil, turned up often enough but never saw him play, missed his hat-trick game

Godsahibby
18-06-2013, 03:36 PM
Gordon Smith for me, while I would have loved to have seen Sir Pat the stories I used to hear about Smith from my grandparents and from stories in books where he mentioned one of his biggest regrets n football was not scoring a goal with his head (he wasnt talking about a header, he used to try and get the ball on the halfway line a dribble with the ball on his head and score), claims he did it in training but never in a match. Just for that alone for the skill t would be like watching Messi today!

West Upper
18-06-2013, 03:43 PM
The Famous Five

heretoday
18-06-2013, 03:48 PM
The famous five willie hamilton sauzee latapy

Willie Hamilton. I watched him all right. Amazing. He was ahead of his time.

patch1875
18-06-2013, 04:05 PM
Kuqi

Golden Bear
18-06-2013, 04:10 PM
The Famous Five

:agree:

It was a privilege and a joy to watch the Tornadoes but from all accounts it would have been brilliant to see the Famous Five in action.

ancient hibee
18-06-2013, 06:17 PM
George Best at ER or anywhere simply so I could see for myself if he was as good as everyone claims.

He wasn't I'm afraid.I would describe him as a circus act lasting 5 minutes.A great,great player with no legs is a sad sight.He was idolised by many fans but did little for the team couldn't be relied on got the manager sacked and wasn't a patch on Ally McLeod.

eastterrace
18-06-2013, 07:17 PM
He wasn't I'm afraid.I would describe him as a circus act lasting 5 minutes.A great,great player with no legs is a sad sight.He was idolised by many fans but did little for the team couldn't be relied on got the manager sacked and wasn't a patch on Ally McLeod.

yes totally agree he was way past his best, probably played half pissed as well, was a great player but no with us.

Jonnyboy
18-06-2013, 07:20 PM
The Famous Five and their six team mates :greengrin

Eyrie
18-06-2013, 09:14 PM
Gordon Smith.

Had the good fortune to see Sauzee and Latapy, but not the Famous Five or the Tornados.

Leithenhibby
18-06-2013, 09:18 PM
Gordon Smith. Willie Hamilton. Just missed out on Eric Stevenson and heard so many stories from my Dad about so many cracking players I'd be here all night, well, with us being the big team now and all that :na na:

heidtheba
18-06-2013, 09:28 PM
Mickey Weir - my first match was Hibs 3 Rangers 4 at the end of 92/93 and I started following Hibs then. Mickey Weir had, I think, been badly injured and never really found the form he had had before, esp in that cup run in 91 so I always wanted to see him do what everyone around me talked about.
Tommy McIntyre for the same reasons and because the person who introduced me to Hibs had strong loyalties to him as a person - again I saw him play but with him n Weir neither were at their best due to injuries.

Viva_Palmeiras
18-06-2013, 09:35 PM
Gordon Smith.

If you've not read his autobiography Prince of Wingers by his son Tony when you do it may just sway you to voting for him if you've not already ;)

Teapot
18-06-2013, 09:38 PM
yes totally agree he was way past his best, probably played half pissed as well, was a great player but no with us.

I've always had an image of one of the greatest players ever, in his pomp, scoring goals for fun in front of a packed out 1970s Easter Road, every man and his dug with long hair and flares on.

Image shattered. :greengrin

Miguel
18-06-2013, 10:40 PM
Best was past his, er, Best, but he was better than some people are making out. His brain was still intact and some of his passing was superb - problem was most of his team mates weren't good enough to make the runs needed to tak advantage.
Didn't see Baker, or Willie Hamilton, but the footage exists is enough to convince me they must have been something else.
But given the chance, it would have to have been Gordon Smith. The best footage I have seen of him is from an old Sportscene on YouTube, playing for Dundee when they beat Rangers 5-1 at Ibrox. The thing that struck me was how modern a player he looked, although he was past his best. Talking of which, if only they'd started the European Cup a few years earlier than they did, we could have had a star above the badge!

frazeHFC
18-06-2013, 11:06 PM
Joe Tortolano, I see him mentioned so much. :greengrin


Would have loved to have seen Turnbull's Tornadoes or The Famous Five but gonna go for Joe Baker in this instance. :agree:

blaikie
18-06-2013, 11:10 PM
Matty Jack ... Things I have heard about the guy are short of magical!

matty_f
18-06-2013, 11:21 PM
The Famous Five, Pat Stanton, George Best.

O'Rourke3
19-06-2013, 12:28 AM
Any Hibs team from about 1948 to when I started watching them in 1970. So, Famous 5 plus 6 (C) Johnnyboy. Young JB, the teams that beat Real, Barca and Napoli.

In a similar vein to some other posters, any of Bertie Auld's teams....

allezsauzee
19-06-2013, 11:59 AM
All of the Tornadoes at their best. Saw Arthur Duncan, Sloop and Shades towards the end of their careers. Shades was still a hero to me even at that stage. :hibees

JohnStephens91
20-06-2013, 12:02 PM
Pat Stanton, he was one of my granddad's favourite players, I've had the honour to meet Pat and talk to him about how highly my granddad used to rate him.

I'd also like to have seen Cropley, the Famous Five and Best.

Smiggy 7-0
20-06-2013, 01:43 PM
The Famous Five and their six team mates :greengrin

Got that right mate, would also have loved to have seen Joe Baker during his first spell, although saw him second time around he still had it......TRUE LEGEND