Euro dreams

[Jonnyboy]

Folks the all singing, all dancing new .net set up will be here soon but until it is ...........

There’s many a thread on the messageboards just now that highlight the fact that we Hibs fans may all be part of the Hibernian Family but that doesn’t mean we agree about all things all of the time! In my book that’s healthy as otherwise life would be pretty boring and the messageboards would otherwise resemble the stands at Tynecastle on Europa League days.

It’s the subject of the Europa League I’d like to look at as despite a pretty horrendous run of results over the past few months the players of Hibernian Football Club have done enough over the course of the whole season to warrant their place in that competition and they’ve done so with manager John Hughes at the helm. To say that the Hibs.net community is split in its view of whether Yogi is the man for the job would be an understatement but what cannot be denied is that he has steered Hibs into fourth place and should surely be commended for that feat. To achieve a Europa League qualifying spot in his first full season is admirable and whilst some posters fear for us in that particular competition, worried that we might be embarrassed by some apparently lesser team it is surely the most important thing that we are there and there by right?

It is highly likely that the group of players that achieved their target will not be together when the time comes to begin the Europa League adventure. Almost certainly some will have moved on whilst other new players will have arrived and so it’s pretty pointless in a way to worry at this time about how we might do because we can only base any hopes and fears on the current squad and its abilities.

For some fans this will be their first adventure into Europe and for many more it will serve to rekindle memories of Easter Road European nights gone by, mostly good with just the odd disappointment in terms of results. In fact Hibs have a pretty good European record at Easter Road having faced and beaten some of that continents top clubs. In the past the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon, Napoli, Porto, AEK Athens and Hamburg have played and lost at Easter Road and I’d like to focus briefly on two of those ties in an attempt to rekindle the excitement of the events.

In November 1967 Hibs welcomed Italian cracks Napoli to Easter Road for the second leg of a Fairs Cup tie having gone down 4-1 in the first leg and been written off by all and sundry in terms of turning the tie around and going through on aggregate. Hibs Boss Bob Shankly was resolute in his view that his men could do what no other British team had managed before and that was to come from behind in a Euro tie against an Italian team. A light mist hung over the ground as the teams took the park with Hibs in their customary green and white and Napoli in light blue jerseys, white shorts and blue socks. In goal for the visitors was Dino Zoff who would go on to both play for and manage his country but that night he was bombarded by a Hibs side playing like men possessed, conceding five goals to Bobby Duncan, Pat Quinn, Peter Cormack, Pat Stanton and Colin Stein. At the other end, Willie Wilson did not have one direct shot at goal to deal with such was Hibs’ dominance.

In more recent times, September 2001 to be exact Hibs faced AEK Athens in Greece and were unlucky to lose 2-0 in the first leg, the second goal coming very late in that game and once again they fancied their chances of turning it around in the home tie. Easter Road was jumping for the second leg and to the strains of Sunshine on Leith Hibs set about their task with a vengeance. Two headed goals by Paco Luna cancelled out the visitors’ advantage and with the Polish referee looking at his watch a ball was flung into the box for Luna to get a head to but agonisingly his effort just cleared the bar and so extra time was needed. By that stage Franck Sauzee who was playing though injured had to be replaced and the Greeks seemed to take heart from that as they slammed home two goals of their own in extra time. Hibs now needed three more to get through but despite a quite wonderful strike by David Zitelli the green and whites could not add to their three goals and had to bow out.

Those two games were quite magical and it seems that every European tie has the capacity to be that way so I’m guessing that you’ll be just the same as me in both looking forward to this latest venture and hoping for a few cracking games along the way.

[Bayern Bru]

Superb read John, as always and spot on with your opinion of things.

[Aubenas]

Thanks Johnny Boy -

for reminding us what a great team we support

for pointing out how much enjoyment and excitement Hibs have given us over the years

for helping us realise how privileged we are to support such a grand old team with tradition and standing in the world of football

for reminding us of how well served Hibs have been by the current Board and owner - so that European nights will be with us again next season.


Supporting Hibs is great; dunno why so many posters lose sight of that form time to time

[Leithenhibby]

How the mind boggles.....

[Wembley67]

few spelling mistakes, must try harder ;-)

[HibbyAndy]

Always a great read Jonnyboy

[Jonnyboy]

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few spelling mistakes, must try harder ;-)

Wil doo

[McHibby]

Definately looking forward to my first away trip to Europe with the Hibees. I got a new part time job today (I am a student) which is perfect timing - gives me a couple of months to get saving I was too skint to go to Dnipropetrovsk so I want to make sure I can get to this one.

[GreenCastle]

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Folks the all singing, all dancing new .net set up will be here soon but until it is ...........

There’s many a thread on the messageboards just now that highlight the fact that we Hibs fans may all be part of the Hibernian Family but that doesn’t mean we agree about all things all of the time! In my book that’s healthy as otherwise life would be pretty boring and the messageboards would otherwise resemble the stands at Tynecastle on Europa League days.

It’s the subject of the Europa League I’d like to look at as despite a pretty horrendous run of results over the past few months the players of Hibernian Football Club have done enough over the course of the whole season to warrant their place in that competition and they’ve done so with manager John Hughes at the helm. To say that the Hibs.net community is split in its view of whether Yogi is the man for the job would be an understatement but what cannot be denied is that he has steered Hibs into fourth place and should surely be commended for that feat. To achieve a Europa League qualifying spot in his first full season is admirable and whilst some posters fear for us in that particular competition, worried that we might be embarrassed by some apparently lesser team it is surely the most important thing that we are there and there by right?

It is highly likely that the group of players that achieved their target will not be together when the time comes to begin the Europa League adventure. Almost certainly some will have moved on whilst other new players will have arrived and so it’s pretty pointless in a way to worry at this time about how we might do because we can only base any hopes and fears on the current squad and its abilities.

For some fans this will be their first adventure into Europe and for many more it will serve to rekindle memories of Easter Road European nights gone by, mostly good with just the odd disappointment in terms of results. In fact Hibs have a pretty good European record at Easter Road having faced and beaten some of that continents top clubs. In the past the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon, Napoli, Porto, AEK Athens and Hamburg have played and lost at Easter Road and I’d like to focus briefly on two of those ties in an attempt to rekindle the excitement of the events.

In November 1967 Hibs welcomed Italian cracks Napoli to Easter Road for the second leg of a Fairs Cup tie having gone down 4-1 in the first leg and been written off by all and sundry in terms of turning the tie around and going through on aggregate. Hibs Boss Bob Shankly was resolute in his view that his men could do what no other British team had managed before and that was to come from behind in a Euro tie against an Italian team. A light mist hung over the ground as the teams took the park with Hibs in their customary green and white and Napoli in light blue jerseys, white shorts and blue socks. In goal for the visitors was Dino Zoff who would go on to both play for and manage his country but that night he was bombarded by a Hibs side playing like men possessed, conceding five goals to Bobby Duncan, Pat Quinn, Peter Cormack, Pat Stanton and Colin Stein. At the other end, Willie Wilson did not have one direct shot at goal to deal with such was Hibs’ dominance.

In more recent times, September 2001 to be exact Hibs faced AEK Athens in Greece and were unlucky to lose 2-0 in the first leg, the second goal coming very late in that game and once again they fancied their chances of turning it around in the home tie. Easter Road was jumping for the second leg and to the strains of Sunshine on Leith Hibs set about their task with a vengeance. Two headed goals by Paco Luna cancelled out the visitors’ advantage and with the Polish referee looking at his watch a ball was flung into the box for Luna to get a head to but agonisingly his effort just cleared the bar and so extra time was needed. By that stage Franck Sauzee who was playing though injured had to be replaced and the Greeks seemed to take heart from that as they slammed home two goals of their own in extra time. Hibs now needed three more to get through but despite a quite wonderful strike by David Zitelli the green and whites could not add to their three goals and had to bow out.

Those two games were quite magical and it seems that every European tie has the capacity to be that way so I’m guessing that you’ll be just the same as me in both looking forward to this latest venture and hoping for a few cracking games along the way.

This is an interesting point as you do wonder that the summer could make or break Yogi. If he continues to bring in names we know and can play then there may be good times ahead - if he struggles then he could be gone by xmas.

Let's hope there are more good times than bad

[Hibby D]

A wonderful read as always Jonny

[DaveF]

Good stuff John