Season 1978/79

[G B Young]

A random one, but I was checking out our results from that season after being assured by a Partick Thistle fan that they beat us 6-1 at Firhill. I remember that season but must have blanked that result from my mind because it turns out it really did happen. There were only a couple of thousand there to see it according to Wiki but did anyone on here attend that game? We played them again at ER a few days later and won 1-0.

The main reason I remember the season is for our thrice-played Scottish Cup final v Rangers. It dragged on so long that we didn't play our final league fixture of the season until May 31st when we (again!) played Rangers and beat them 2-1 at ER. Only 3.5k at the game so I'm guessing most fans were sick of the sight of the huns by then...

[Iggy Pope]

A random one, but I was checking out our results from that season after being assured by a Partick Thistle fan that they beat us 6-1 at Firhill. I remember that season but must have blanked that result from my mind because it turns out it really did happen. There were only a couple of thousand there to see it according to Wiki but did anyone on here attend that game? We played them again at ER a few days later and won 1-0.

The main reason I remember the season is for our thrice-played Scottish Cup final v Rangers. It dragged on so long that we didn't play our final league fixture of the season until May 31st when we (again!) played Rangers and beat them 2-1 at ER. Only 3.5k at the game so I'm guessing most fans were sick of the sight of the huns by then...

The 6-1 game was very close to the cup final, can’t remember if it was before or after.

[Cat Stanton]

The 6-1 game was very close to the cup final, can’t remember if it was before or after.

My memory was it was just before the cup final - and so they'd dropped half the team. But a quick check shows that's mince - they had two more games after the Thistle game (26th April) before the cup final (12th May).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978%E2%80%9379_Hibernian_F.C._season

[Wakeyhibee]

I was definately at the 2-2 at Cappielow before this and I'm guessing that was a bad winter given the games running up to the final and only 3 league games Jan/Feb.

[Keith_M]

I was definately at the 2-2 at Cappielow before this and I'm guessing that was a bad winter given the games running up to the final and only 3 league games Jan/Feb.


:agree:

[G B Young]

I was definately at the 2-2 at Cappielow before this and I'm guessing that was a bad winter given the games running up to the final and only 3 league games Jan/Feb.

Yes, looks like the new year derby was postponed.

It's funny the memories that are rekindled by football results. Looking at those results I now remember we went unbeaten in the league and League Cup until mid-October before losing at home to Partick. All these years later and I'm pretty sure the headline on the front page of the Pink was 'It's O'Hara and oh Hibs!'

[JeMeSouviens]

Winter of discontent. Baltic!

[scm70nyd1973]

A random one, but I was checking out our results from that season after being assured by a Partick Thistle fan that they beat us 6-1 at Firhill. I remember that season but must have blanked that result from my mind because it turns out it really did happen. There were only a couple of thousand there to see it according to Wiki but did anyone on here attend that game? We played them again at ER a few days later and won 1-0.



The main reason I remember the season is for our thrice-played Scottish Cup final v Rangers. It dragged on so long that we didn't play our final league fixture of the season until May 31st when we (again!) played Rangers and beat them 2-1 at ER. Only 3.5k at the game so I'm guessing most fans were sick of the sight of the huns by then...

Remember it - I can’t forget it. I lived in Glasgow and two of my good mates were PTFC fans and were always winding me up about how superior they were to us. Next day at school was possibly one of the most horrible times I can remember in my teens.

Fellow Glasgow Hibby (I found this out a few years later) went to the game - not me as my dad wanted to take me to the final. He had taken a new stopwatch to the game and timed the first goal to something like 20 seconds in 🤬

[Hibbyradge]

The 6-1 game was very close to the cup final, can’t remember if it was before or after.

I was there as usual and I think Partick were 6 up with most of the game gone when we scored (Ralph Callaghan maybe?). Mike S then gave the never to be forgotten shout of "Come on Hibs, there's still time". :hilarious

Hopefully someone with a better memory than me or access to the stats will be along shortly to confirm or correct that timeline.

[Iggy Pope]

I was there as usual and I think Partick were 6 up with most of the game gone when we scored (Ralph Callaghan maybe?). Mike S then gave the never to be forgotten shout of "Come on Hibs, there's still time". :hilarious

Hopefully someone with a better memory than me or access to the stats will be along shortly to confirm or correct that timeline.

He once said to me, out of his tree at Pittodrie, that we’d batter them 2nd half. We were already well into 2nd half added on time, a couple down and eyeing that ****ing hill. :greengrin

[Ray_]

I was definately at the 2-2 at Cappielow before this and I'm guessing that was a bad winter given the games running up to the final and only 3 league games Jan/Feb.

I remember waking up in London in Feb 78 and noticing we were playing Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park that afternoon, as the Saturday fixtures continued to be decimated in the north [Hibs won 1-0, Ally McLeod].

[Bobby Moore]

Yeah, Thistle beat us 6-1 in the midweek at Firhill (postponed fixture from the winter I think) and we played them immediately on the following Saturday at ER and we won 1-0.

[Hibbyradge]

He once said to me, out of his tree at Pittodrie, that we’d batter them 2nd half. We were already well into 2nd half added on time, a couple down and eyeing that ****ing hill. :greengrin

No fit state to rip your fokkin arms off, then?

[Iggy Pope]

No fit state to rip your fokkin arms off, then?

He could’ve done that any state he was in....

[green with envy]

A random one, but I was checking out our results from that season after being assured by a Partick Thistle fan that they beat us 6-1 at Firhill. I remember that season but must have blanked that result from my mind because it turns out it really did happen. There were only a couple of thousand there to see it according to Wiki but did anyone on here attend that game? We played them again at ER a few days later and won 1-0.

The main reason I remember the season is for our thrice-played Scottish Cup final v Rangers. It dragged on so long that we didn't play our final league fixture of the season until May 31st when we (again!) played Rangers and beat them 2-1 at ER. Only 3.5k at the game so I'm guessing most fans were sick of the sight of the huns by then...

That's brought back a blast from the past. Remember it well, was a midweek game from memory.

[G B Young]

In addition to that mammoth cup final it was also the season which featured the short-lived Hibs careers of our Norwegian duo Refvik and Mathieson - as well as our last appearance in Europe for about a decade.

In the end we finished fifth. I was maybe too young to read the writing on the wall, but did anyone think we were heading towards relegation the next season?

[Mick O'Rourke]

1979
Annus Horribilis.
Well the month of May was for me .

Gubbed at the polls by the Milk Snatcher.
Then gubbed at Wembley 3-1
.....to return two days later to 2nd replay at Hampden and get gubbed again.

Ma dads pal paid for my trip to Hampden that night, as the Wembley weekend snookered me.
He had £100 on Hibs to win. Fair sized bet in '79
He had same bet in two previous games.
As i said.... Horrible month !

[Malthibby]

Seem to remember Tony Higgins in the purple away strip?

[Wakeyhibee]

Yes, looks like the new year derby was postponed.

It's funny the memories that are rekindled by football results. Looking at those results I now remember we went unbeaten in the league and League Cup until mid-October before losing at home to Partick. All these years later and I'm pretty sure the headline on the front page of the Pink was 'It's O'Hara and oh Hibs!'

It is, I was 11 then and watching Hibs in the flesh was a bi annual treat when we came up to visit family. Had to survive on the odd game, vidiprinter, wee red books and Shoot magazine back then.

[G B Young]

It is, I was 11 then and watching Hibs in the flesh was a bi annual treat when we came up to visit family. Had to survive on the odd game, vidiprinter, wee red books and Shoot magazine back then.

The vidiprinter...it wielded so much power to make or break you back then.

[Wakeyhibee]

The vidiprinter...it wielded so much power to make or break you back then.

"Hibs 8 (Eight) Kilmarnock 1" had the house raising the roof. The only time I recall a high score being spelt out for Hibs. They did it as most folk would think it was a typo otherwise.

[delbert]

Seem to remember Tony Higgins in the purple away strip?

If you’re talking about the Thistle game, we ‘played’ in green and I use the term loosely. To say Turnbull put out an experimental line up is putting it mildly, Bobby Smith was our centre half FFS. Perhaps a little known fact is that this was the very first occasion in Scottish Football history when an Edinburgh referee, Douglas Ramsay, refereed an Edinburgh side in a top flight game in Glasgow, not that it did much good although to be honest, God wearing a Hibs strip wouldn’t have saved us that night !

[147lothian]

My memory of the 6 - 1 game was a few Hibs fan's singing "were going down the pub" about half way through the game and walking out, I think Sham69 were in the charts at the time

[Iggy Pope]

Yes, looks like the new year derby was postponed.

It's funny the memories that are rekindled by football results. Looking at those results I now remember we went unbeaten in the league and League Cup until mid-October before losing at home to Partick. All these years later and I'm pretty sure the headline on the front page of the Pink was 'It's O'Hara and oh Hibs!'

If I remember right we started the season like a train including a Willie Temperley winner at Parkhead and finished the first quarter at the top of the league. Didn’t last.
The new year derby might’ve been postponed this season too but I think a season or two before it was postponed about a dozen times before an Ally McLeod winner at the hole settled it.

[IberianHibernian]

Seem to remember Tony Higgins in the purple away strip?Tony Higgins broke his leg/ankle in about March that season and made a miraculous comeback v Meadowbank in East of Scotland Shield as a sub a week before cup final

[IberianHibernian]

If I remember right we started the season like a train including a Willie Temperley winner at Parkhead and finished the first quarter at the top of the league. Didn’t last.
The new year derby might’ve been postponed this season too but I think a season or two before it was postponed about a dozen times before an Ally McLeod winner at the hole settled it.NY Derby might have been postponed or maybe Hearts were not in top division that season . There was one year an East of Scotland Shield Derby was arranged at New Year then postponed on a mild day

[IberianHibernian]

If I remember right we started the season like a train including a Willie Temperley winner at Parkhead and finished the first quarter at the top of the league. Didn’t last.
The new year derby might’ve been postponed this season too but I think a season or two before it was postponed about a dozen times before an Ally McLeod winner at the hole settled it.
If same year I remember a late winner by AM in a midweek Derby about then but think it was still January. Maybe first evening Derby at that time? Was a great goal. We were in decline but still much better than Hearts

[IberianHibernian]

If I remember right we started the season like a train including a Willie Temperley winner at Parkhead and finished the first quarter at the top of the league. Didn’t last.
The new year derby might’ve been postponed this season too but I think a season or two before it was postponed about a dozen times before an Ally McLeod winner at the hole settled it.Yet another reply ! On an old phone . I remember the Temperley ( great player - maybe didn:t have attitude to succeed ?) putting us top of league . Was just before we qualified for next round of UEFA Cip in Sweden with 5 defenders in Norrkopping ( Turnbull still mamager but no longer Tornadoes) . Imcidentally the Pope died that week too .

[G B Young]

"Hibs 8 (Eight) Kilmarnock 1" had the house raising the roof. The only time I recall a high score being spelt out for Hibs. They did it as most folk would think it was a typo otherwise.

The game probably didn't take place on a Saturday but Hearts 0 Hibs 7 (Seven) would have been the greatest ever vidiprinter moment.

[G B Young]

If same year I remember a late winner by AM in a midweek Derby about then but think it was still January. Maybe first evening Derby at that time? Was a great goal. We were in decline but still much better than Hearts

We won 2-1 at Tynecastle on Wednesday 28th March that season so that might be the game you're thinking of.

We also knocked them out of the Scottish Cup at ER earlier the same month.

[Iggy Pope]

If same year I remember a late winner by AM in a midweek Derby about then but think it was still January. Maybe first evening Derby at that time? Was a great goal. We were in decline but still much better than Hearts

I think the game I’m thinking of might have been Jan 1st 77. I was standing at Easter Rd St Clair St with my mate waiting on the No 1 to take us there and we never even got on the bus. It got called off another half dozen times before we scudded them. In 79 if I remember right, the final Tynie derby ended in a 2-2 draw which was the original “We’ll meet again, don’t know where don’t know when......” derby!

Edit....Or it might’ve been 2-1... so many of these games.....

[AndyM_1875]

We won 2-1 at Tynecastle on Wednesday 28th March that season so that might be the game you're thinking of.

We also knocked them out of the Scottish Cup at ER earlier the same month.

That Scottish Cup game was the first match at ER that I can remember. Watching all the Hearts fans fighting each other in the Dunbar End left 8 year old me somewhat bemused.
Apparently Jim McArthur's goal post match was quite a sight with the amount of stuff being thrown from the Hearts end.

[JeMeSouviens]

That Scottish Cup game was the first match at ER that I can remember. Watching all the Hearts fans fighting each other in the Dunbar End left 8 year old me somewhat bemused.
Apparently Jim McArthur's goal post match was quite a sight with the amount of stuff being thrown from the Hearts end.

My first game. I had just turned 9. Badgered my football averse Dad into taking me. To fob me off he said we could go again if Hibs got to a cup final. Little did he know how that would come back to haunt him. :wink:

The Hearts fans fighting each other is about my most vivid memory as well, funnily enough. That, and Hibs having a goal disallowed and the sheer size of the East terrace as was.

[JimBHibees]

If you’re talking about the Thistle game, we ‘played’ in green and I use the term loosely. To say Turnbull put out an experimental line up is putting it mildly, Bobby Smith was our centre half FFS. Perhaps a little known fact is that this was the very first occasion in Scottish Football history when an Edinburgh referee, Douglas Ramsay, refereed an Edinburgh side in a top flight game in Glasgow, not that it did much good although to be honest, God wearing a Hibs strip wouldn’t have saved us that night !

What a staggering stat that is and we are supposed to believe there is no institutional bias at play

[G B Young]

Winter of discontent. Baltic!

When did we get the undersoil heating installed? I thought it was late-70s but it was maybe early 80s.

We were quite pioneering around that time, with the Bukta shirt sponsorship quite a big deal in Scottish football IIRC.

[Peevemor]

When did we get the undersoil heating installed? I thought it was late-70s but it was maybe early 80s.

We were quite pioneering around that time, with the Bukta shirt sponsorship quite a big deal in Scottish football IIRC.

Close season 80/81 I think - we played Man Utd on boxing day 1981 thanks to our "new" undersoil heating making it about the only ground playable in Scotland.

[weecounty hibby]

That was the season that I really got into Hibs. Started going to most home games and some away games. Into the early 80s and it was every home game and most away, mid 80s on was every home and away for seasons. There must be something wrong with me cos I loved every minute of that painful decade

[Kato]

That was the season that I really got into Hibs. Started going to most home games and some away games. Into the early 80s and it was every home game and most away, mid 80s on was every home and away for seasons. There must be something wrong with me cos I loved every minute of that painful decade

Similar pattern to me but started a few season earlier. Went 5 seasons in the 80's without missing a game home or away. Made pals and had laughs during that decade that could never be beaten, unlike the team. Hibs fans, through the pain of the not winning the cup for so long, were and still are a philosophical bunch, which always brings a sharp wit. Still go to the football with the bunch of random guys who met and went together in the 80's, a gang that just gets bigger with wee brothers, offspring. On the double decker we took in 2016 every person knew one another and even then some regulars who missed out.

[G B Young]

That was the season that I really got into Hibs. Started going to most home games and some away games. Into the early 80s and it was every home game and most away, mid 80s on was every home and away for seasons. There must be something wrong with me cos I loved every minute of that painful decade

"His name is Willie Irvine..."

Yep, we'd fallen far from grace as a team, the stadium was a crumbling dump yet for those in their formative years at the time there was still something thrilling about heading to ER.

The decade wasn't all painful. Miller put together a fairly decent side in the latter half and the Archibald and Goram signings gave us a bit of glamour/presence again. That Archibald clincher at Tynecastle remains one of my all-time greatest Hibs moments. Pandemonium!

[Hibbyradge]

Close season 80/81 I think - we played Man Utd on boxing day 1981 thanks to our "new" undersoil heating making it about the only ground playable in Scotland.

Willie Jamieson scored for us in a 1-1 draw.

My mate and I saw him later that night in Tippler's bar in Bread Street. He was on his own playing the puggy.

We spoke to him and congratulated him on scoring. His reply "Goal a game will do me boys" remains in our parlance to this day whenever one of achieves anything.

Not spilling the beer on the way back from a crowded bar..."Goal a game will do me". 😁

Of course, someone with a better memory will probably be along shortly to correct me about the goal scorer that day, but the WJ story did happen after some game or other! :hilarious

[Peevemor]

I started going regularly in 80-81 when we were in the old 1st division then from maybe 83-92 I hardly missed a match home or away apart from 2-3 at the beginning and end of the season due to other (pipe band) commitments. Marriage no. 1 then meant that I started missing a few (though not many) away matches.

Jeez, we watched some pish!

[G B Young]

Willie Jamieson scored for us in a 1-1 draw.

My mate and I saw him later that night in Tippler's bar in Bread Street. He was on his own playing the puggy.

We spoke to him and congratulated him on scoring. His reply "Goal a game will do me boys" remains in our parlance to this day whenever one of achieves anything.

Not spilling the beer on the way back from a crowded bar..."Goal a game will do me". 😁

Of course, someone with a better memory will probably be along shortly to correct me about the goal scorer that day, but the WJ story did happen after some game or other! :hilarious


Brilliant story :greengrin

And yes, Willie was the goalscorer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbN5x6whuA

Love the Bertie Auld cap twirling celebration!

[JeMeSouviens]

Willie Jamieson scored for us in a 1-1 draw.

My mate and I saw him later that night in Tippler's bar in Bread Street. He was on his own playing the puggy.

We spoke to him and congratulated him on scoring. His reply "Goal a game will do me boys" remains in our parlance to this day whenever one of achieves anything.

Not spilling the beer on the way back from a crowded bar..."Goal a game will do me". ��

Of course, someone with a better memory will probably be along shortly to correct me about the goal scorer that day, but the WJ story did happen after some game or other! :hilarious

https://twitter.com/TheHibsAreHere/status/1372248818109014019

Your memory didn't fail you. :wink:

Bertie's bunnet waving pretty awesome also. :greengrin

[JeMeSouviens]

Brilliant story :greengrin

And yes, Willie was the goalscorer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbN5x6whuA

Love the Bertie Auld cap twirling celebration!

That'll teach me not to read to the end of a thread! :rolleyes: