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BOB MARLEYS DUG
28-12-2015, 06:49 PM
http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/erich-schaedler-s-family-threatened-after-hibs-star-s-death-1-3985360

cabbageandribs1875
28-12-2015, 06:59 PM
is part of the story missing :confused:

Biggie
28-12-2015, 07:06 PM
Tragic story of a great hibs legend.....

Lago
28-12-2015, 09:05 PM
Fortunate to see him play in a great Hibs team, fabulous, courageous fullback.

Bostonhibby
28-12-2015, 09:10 PM
Fortunate to see him play in a great Hibs team, fabulous, courageous fullback.

My second favourite Hibs player from that great side -formidable defender, great athlete - vital to the rest of the side. Lovely guy and a great Hibby as well.

Deansy
28-12-2015, 09:31 PM
is part of the story missing :confused:


Yeah, it's like whoever was working on this had just started on the the bare outlines of the story, left it on their desk and someone's lifted it off their desk and put it into print without checking to see if it was finished or not !!

Bostonhibby
28-12-2015, 09:45 PM
Yeah, it's like whoever was working on this had just started on the the bare outlines of the story, left it on their desk and someone's lifted it off their desk and put it into print without checking to see if it was finished or not !!

Will be Banderson, his ma probably shouted to him that it was his bed time so he had to put his crayons away.

Lago
28-12-2015, 10:20 PM
My second favourite Hibs player from that great side -formidable defender, great athlete - vital to the rest of the side. Lovely guy and a great Hibby as well.
Just loved the guy. He never feared a trip to Ibrox or Parkhead.

Jonnyboy
28-12-2015, 10:21 PM
I've seen hundreds of Hibs players over the years and Erich easily makes my top ten.

jdships
28-12-2015, 11:26 PM
I was with him the day before he died and to this day cannot believe he took his own life
A family friend who is still missed
RIP

lapsedhibee
29-12-2015, 06:09 AM
Mr Schaedler said: “He wasn’t in debt and there was nothing untoward in his love life, as far as I know."

Brother saying nothing untoward, but wasn't the story at the time that he hadn't been able to get over an unwanted divorce or romantic split of some sort? Long time ago, so apologies if I'm misremembering/imagining that.

Forza Fred
29-12-2015, 07:42 AM
Mr Schaedler said: “He wasn’t in debt and there was nothing untoward in his love life, as far as I know."

Brother saying nothing untoward, but wasn't the story at the time that he hadn't been able to get over an unwanted divorce or romantic split of some sort? Long time ago, so apologies if I'm misremembering/imagining that.

That is part of the way I remember it.


Erich was a great guy, who only three or 4 months before signing for Hibs was playing amateur fitba for Melbourne Thistle under 21s.

He was the fittest player around, and his fitness and toughness compensated for a lack of finesse.

surreyhibbie
29-12-2015, 11:07 AM
One of the best in a team full of greats.

Met him once, great character and a lovely guy.

RIP Eric

BSEJVT
29-12-2015, 11:12 AM
I was with him the day before he died and to this day cannot believe he took his own life
A family friend who is still missed
RIP

I didn't know Erich at all, but he was everything I wanted in a Hibs player, brave and utterly committed.

As you grow old you hear of a few suicide's but his is still one that is, albeit at a distance, still incomprehensible to me.

I just never saw any quit in him.

A guy who got absolutely everything out the talent he had

RIP Erich, sadly missed.

As Jonnyboy says easily one of my top 10 Hibs players of the last 40 odd years also

Pretty Boy
29-12-2015, 11:25 AM
I didn't know Erich at all, but he was everything I wanted in a Hibs player, brave and utterly committed.

As you grow old you hear of a few suicide's but his is still one that is, albeit at a distance, still incomprehensible to me.

I just never saw any quit in him.

A guy who got absolutely everything out the talent he had

RIP Erich, sadly missed.

As Jonnyboy says easily one of my top 10 Hibs players of the last 40 odd years also

Guy in my work was a good friend of Erics and absolutely does not accept he took his own life.

He always goes on about ES being as 'strong as an ox' and showed me a picture of him standing in his pub with one of they oversize whisky bottles some pubs collect coins for OAPs in, he's holding this bottle almost full with out stretched arm in one hand.

BSEJVT
29-12-2015, 12:30 PM
Guy in my work was a good friend of Erics and absolutely does not accept he took his own life.

He always goes on about ES being as 'strong as an ox' and showed me a picture of him standing in his pub with one of they oversize whisky bottles some pubs collect coins for OAPs in, he's holding this bottle almost full with out stretched arm in one hand.

I don't know quite why but when I think of Erich's passing it always saddens me, even more than that of others whom I have actually known who have taken their lives.

I was a young boy when the Tornadoes were coming to prominence and maybe its the bit of feeling grown up going to the football with your dad and his mates or maybe its the fact that they were just absolutely brilliant.

Its all open to debate of course but from my perspective if I were picking my all time favourite Hibs team of players I have seen in the flesh it would have an awful lot of the Tornadoes in it.

Certainly

Brownlie
Stanton
Blackley
Edwards
O'Rourke
Gordon
Cropley
Duncan

It would be a very close run thing between Erich & David Murphy but Erich was a particular hero of mine as I saw myself as a cross between him and Paddy Stanton (rather that's what I wanted be rather than was!)

We would definitely have had a different goalie, Goram, (despite the baggage) and Sauzee instead of Black.

Although Black was very underrated IMO and there are not that many others over the years I would have swapped him for.

Latapy could also count himself a bit unlucky to miss out!

Maybe Erich's passing was the end of that era and why it has that effect on me?

This thread has got me a bit nostalgic and reminds me how much I love Hibs, always have and always will.

GGTTH

Speedy
30-12-2015, 10:24 AM
I was with him the day before he died and to this day cannot believe he took his own life
A family friend who is still missed
RIP

My Dad says the same.

jdships
30-12-2015, 11:22 AM
My Dad says the same.

Thank you
I met Erich thro' Tam Preston and became good friends : he was always passing on bits and pieces of Hibs gear to my two children
He visited our house , two days before his death, with his usual Christmas presents for my son and daughter then in their late teens
Was in good fettle and appeared really happy and at ease !!

Lucius Apuleius
30-12-2015, 12:21 PM
That is part of the way I remember it.


Erich was a great guy, who only three or 4 months before signing for Hibs was playing amateur fitba for Melbourne Thistle under 21s.

He was the fittest player around, and his fitness and toughness compensated for a lack of finesse.

You sure FF? I remember him playing for the Albion fir a fair while before signing fir us. These were the days when I was a Hibby without the bus fare.

Golden Bear
30-12-2015, 12:29 PM
You sure FF? I remember him playing for the Albion fir a fair while before signing fir us. These were the days when I was a Hibby without the bus fare.

I think Willie Mcfarlane signed him from Stirling Albion?

Lucius Apuleius
30-12-2015, 01:15 PM
That's what I recall GB. Spent a fair bit of time at Annfield and Shades was always one of my favourites. His move galvanised me into getting enough money to get to ER.

Bostonhibby
30-12-2015, 01:26 PM
That's what I recall GB. Spent a fair bit of time at Annfield and Shades was always one of my favourites. His move galvanised me into getting enough money to get to ER.

:agree: Erich signed from Stirling Albion in 1969.

hhibs
31-12-2015, 08:52 PM
I've seen hundreds of Hibs players over the years and Erich easily makes my top ten.


Could not agree more ,what a player to have in your team,sadly missed.

madsen5
31-12-2015, 08:59 PM
Could not agree more ,what a player to have in your team,sadly missed.
Great player fantastic drive and spirit sadly missed.RIP.

MKHIBEE
01-01-2016, 12:29 PM
If I remember correctly Erich started his career with Tweeddale Rovers in Peebles. I am not sure if he then played for Peebles Rovers, I can just remember my dad saying that Rovers had missed out on a cut of any future transfer fee when a fee was paid for him, either by Stirling Albion or Hibs. It's all a bit hazy now but I remember him well from his days in Peebles.

NAE NOOKIE
01-01-2016, 01:03 PM
The kind of player who could lift the crowd with a crunching tackle and could near enough reach the far post with a throw in as I recall.

I worked for the DHSS back then and had to process Eric's death certificate .... by that time it had just turned from 85 to 86 and needless to say I made a doc of the process by putting his death date into the records as 86 instead of 85 ..... I was never a very good civil servant :greengrin

Lago
01-01-2016, 01:09 PM
My final thoughts on this, when he died it came as a great shock to those of us who had been privileged to watch him play for Hibs, so much so that I as an individual felt that it was a family member who had died. Such a sad sad day.

skankomcphee
03-09-2023, 11:32 AM
New article regarding Shades in today’s Sunday Times:

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle %2Fmystery-of-tragic-hibs-star-erich-schaedler-with-demons-off-the-pitch-62c9dz96q

Bostonhibby
03-09-2023, 11:39 AM
My final thoughts on this, when he died it came as a great shock to those of us who had been privileged to watch him play for Hibs, so much so that I as an individual felt that it was a family member who had died. Such a sad sad day.
Unfortunately the articles behind a paywall.

But very similar thoughts here, I buck a few trends when I say he was my favourite Hibs player of the ones I've actually watched.

What we'd give for a defender, leader and Hibs man like that today.



Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

Bridge hibs
03-09-2023, 11:46 AM
New article regarding Shades in today’s Sunday Times:

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle %2Fmystery-of-tragic-hibs-star-erich-schaedler-with-demons-off-the-pitch-62c9dz96qThe full story is behind a pay wall, any chance of a copy and paste please 👍

skankomcphee
03-09-2023, 11:55 AM
The Times and The Sunday Times

Mystery of Erich Schaedler, the tragic Hibs star with demons off the pitch
Theories still swirl over footballer’s death at 36. What issues could the hardman not tackle?

Erich Schaedler died of a shotgun wound in 1985. He was known for his uncompromising style of play

Marc Horne

Sunday September 03 2023, 12.01am, The Sunday Times


He was the playboy son of a German prisoner-of-war who was selected to represent Scotland at the 1974 World Cup.

Erich Schaedler’s short life was remarkable, but his tragic and perplexing death remains shrouded in mystery.

“Shades” was a womaniser, a weightlifter, a hard-tackling Hibernian legend, an accomplished hunter, a hedonist and a gregarious host behind the bars of his two Edinburgh bars.

Editor’s Choice – Scotland The biggest stories from The Times and Sunday Times Scotland, every Saturday. Sign up with one click
At the peak of his football career he spawned countless headlines but, incongruously, his sudden death — at a Borders beauty spot on Christmas Eve, 1985 — generated only a few sparse sentences.

Although the 36-year-old left no note, detectives swiftly concluded he had turned his own shotgun on himself and closed the case, meaning there was no fatal accident inquiry.

The Registrar of Deaths records the cause of death as “Shotgun Wound of Head”.

However, John Schaedler, the last known person to have seen his brother alive, remains far from convinced by the official explanation and believes he may have been murdered.

Almost 40 years later, tantalising new theories have also emerged which suggest that Schaedler had suffered from emotional turmoil and depression — over his personal life and finances — before his death.

There are claims that he was being hounded by gangsters over debts, that male lovers had threatened to expose images which would disclose his bisexuality and unsubstantiated rumours that he had been diagnosed with HIV - which, at that time, was considered to be a death sentence

John Schaedler insists his mother received anonymous calls telling her that something had happened to her son before he had even been reported missing.

The joiner and glazier, who continues to work at the age of 75, says he was warned he could end up “dead in a ditch” if he continued to demand answers about his sibling’s death.

What is not in dispute is that Schaedler, who was then playing for Dumbarton, was found dead in his silver Volkswagen Passat convertible in dense forest between Cardrona and Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, on December 27, 1985.

“I still have doubts over what happened to Erich,” his brother said.

“Almost 40 years on we are still waiting for answers. We’re stuck in a book that doesn’t have an ending.”

He cannot forget the final hours they spent together on Christmas Eve at the Park Hotel at Peebles.

“Erich said he would give me a hand with the work I was doing, but he spent the time chasing the chambermaids around and flirting with them,” he said.

Schaedler insisted his brother had been exuberant and upbeat that day.

“Erich wanted me to go out for the day with him, but I said I couldn’t because I still needed to buy some presents for the kids,” he said.

“He said: ‘Oh well, I’ll head back to Edinburgh, but I’ll come back and see you and mum tomorrow for Christmas’.

“He gave no suggestions that he was about to take his own life.”

Christmas morning turned into a nightmare when their mother claimed to have received anonymous phone calls suggesting her son, a much-loved and well-known figure, had come to harm.

When the police found him, two days later, there were suggestions that Schaedler’s car had been partially concealed with branches and foliage.

His brother was also perturbed by the state of the vehicle which only had two tiny holes, which looked like they could have been made by darts, in the roof fabric.

The family’s suspicion was further fuelled when Schaedler’s permanently messy bachelor flat in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, was pristine and appeared to have been deep cleaned.

He claims that a close friend of his brother, a CID officer, had been ordered to stop investigating the case and alleges that he received a bizarre and chilling warning from a well known figure in his hometown,

“He looked at me and said: ‘John, I don’t want you going back to Edinburgh asking questions about Erich’,” he said.

‘He added: ‘I wouldn’t want to hear about you being found dead in a ditch’.

“He then handed me a Bible. It was beyond weird.”

Erich Senior was brought to a POW camp in Lanarkshire after his boat was captured off the French coast.

At the end of the war he remained in Scotland and married a local woman rather than return to Moenchengladbach, where he had once played for the famous football club Borussia.

His son, a gifted left back, went on to represent Stirling Albion, Dundee, Dumbarton and Scotland, but is best known for his two spells with Hibs, where he made almost 350 appearances between 1969 and 1985.

“Whenever Erich got the ball you would hear a murmur of anticipation going through the crowd,” his brother recalled.

“They felt, instinctively, that he was going to do something special. The opposing players were scared to tackle him.”

He added: “I also remember Hibs having problems with pigeons so Erich turned up at the stadium with my shotgun.

“He was some boy. Everywhere I go people still tell me that Erich was their hero.”

Alex Edwards, now 77, once described his former Hibs team-mate as the “hardest of the hard”.

“He was the guy you ran a mile from at the five-a-sides,” he recalled.

Schaedler, front left, and team-mates at the recording of Scotland’s 1974 World Cup songSchaedler, front left, and team-mates at the recording of Scotland’s

Andy Grierson, a lifelong Hibs fan, also idolised him. “My father used to take me to the Four In Hand pub in Easter Road before games and there was a caricature of Erich on the wall,” he recalled.

“I could never pronounce his name properly and he seemed really exotic.”

Years later he started researching the life of his late hero for a documentary, which was never completed.

“Nobody ever really knew who Erich Schaedler was,” he said. “He had this David Bowie-like aura around him. Erich was a quiet country lad who enjoyed shooting and walking the dogs, who would become this glamorous George Best figure who would roll up to London and effortlessly pull a succession of beautiful women.

“He was something different and that’s what drew me to him.”

Friends and contemporaries recall a man with a complex personality and a tangled web of a private life.

They say his pubs; Shades Bar and the Victoria Bar, were encountering financial difficulties at a time when his football career was nearing its end and his second marriage had collapsed.

“There were all manner of lurid theories going around,” one said.

“There were suggestions that he was being extorted by organised criminals who were demanding ‘protection money’.

“There were also rumours that Erich attended sex parties at an Edinburgh gym and various stories about him being bisexual and the possibility of that coming to light via photographs.”

Another said: “For a while there was talk that Erich had been diagnosed with HIV, but it was never corroborated.

“At that time Edinburgh was the Aids capital of Europe and there was a huge amount of stigma surrounding it.”

Others believe it far more likely that Schaedler was actually suffering from depression and bipolar disorder which, if untreated, triggers extreme mood swings and is often accompanied by reckless and compulsive behaviour.

“Former team mates say Erich would be sitting in the corner of the changing room not saying anything one minute and then, all of a sudden, he’d be running around and putting them in wrestling holds,” said Grierson, who now works in the field of mental health and suicide prevention.

He does not believe that his boyhood favourite was murdered.

“The reason why Erich ended his life doesn’t matter,” he said. “What is important is that he felt he couldn’t talk to anyone and believed that taking his life was the answer.”

A decade ago Colin Leslie, a journalist and author, published ‘Shades: The Short Life and Tragic Death of Erich Schaedler’, which first outlined the theory he may have been killed.

He too now believes his hero had suffered in silence.

“People who knew him well spoke of his unconditional kindness and sense of humour, but said he was occasionally affected by low mood and at times would prefer to be left alone with his thoughts,” he said.

“Manic and hyperactive one day, brooding the next, it may well have been the case that he suffered from bouts of mental illness.

“That would not have been an easy thing to talk about, or seek help, in the era that he lived.

“Whatever the circumstances were, and I fear we will never know, Erich deserves to be remembered for the special man and footballer he was.”

Back in Peebles his brother, forlorn but defiant, confirms he has heard all of the theories, from the mundane to the outrageous.

“Some of them I believe and some of them I don’t,” he states.

“There is only one person who could answer all the questions we have but, sadly, he is no longer with us.

“I’m still alive and kicking and hoping that the truth — the full truth — will come out some day.”

skankomcphee
03-09-2023, 11:55 AM
The full story is behind a pay wall, any chance of a copy and paste please 👍
Now done

Bridge hibs
03-09-2023, 12:39 PM
Now done

Thanks mate, wow thats some read 😵

heretoday
03-09-2023, 01:05 PM
Let him rest in peace for goodness sake.

Crammond Hibee
03-09-2023, 04:12 PM
Thanks mate, wow thats some read 😵

Circled the wrong player

Bridge hibs
03-09-2023, 04:16 PM
Circled the wrong player

Not sure what you mean

Crammond Hibee
03-09-2023, 04:41 PM
Not sure what you mean

In the picture accompanying the story they have circled the wrong player

Eedjits

BILLYHIBS
03-09-2023, 04:43 PM
Picture in The Times article looks like Roy Barry ?

Bridge hibs
03-09-2023, 04:46 PM
In the picture accompanying the story they have circled the wrong player

EedjitsAh sorry mate, I see it now 👍

Crammond Hibee
03-09-2023, 04:58 PM
Picture in The Times article looks like Roy Barry ?

Roy Barry
Middle row
Third from right next to John Fraser
The player circled is Alec EDWARDS

WoreTheGreen
03-09-2023, 05:09 PM
When o was a kid training Tuesday and Thursday nights at ER
Eric would turn up with his mate who was a black belt in judo and
Join in a great man and mad as a brush

Cheshire Hibby
03-09-2023, 05:09 PM
What a player in a team of super players, full of skill and hard work. Entertainers all. Eric was a no nonsense footballer and I feel privileged that I got to see him play. Still shocked at his untimely death.

Crammond Hibee
03-09-2023, 05:16 PM
Picture in The Times article looks like Roy Barry ?

Roy Barry
Middle row
Third from right next to John Fraser
The player circled is Alec EDWARDS

BILLYHIBS
03-09-2023, 05:21 PM
Roy Barry
Middle row
Third from right next to John Fraser
The player circled is Alec EDWARDS

Still can’t see it

I was referring to the Hibs player tackling Kenny Aird

Must be my browser

Crammond Hibee
03-09-2023, 05:26 PM
There is a team pic in The Times

McD
03-09-2023, 09:24 PM
What a player in a team of super players, full of skill and hard work. Entertainers all. Eric was a no nonsense footballer and I feel privileged that I got to see him play. Still shocked at his untimely death.



Sadly I never got the chance, however I can hear the excitement in my Dad’s voice whenever Shades is in conversation