Hibernian F.C.

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Hibernian F.C.
Image:Hibernian logo.gif
Full name Hibernian Football Club
Nickname(s) Hi-bees (High-bees), Hibs
Founded 1875
Ground Easter Road
Leith
Edinburgh
Midlothian
Capacity 17,462
Chairman Scotland Rod Petrie
Manager Scotland John Collins
League Scottish Premier League
2005-06 Scottish Premier League, 4th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
　
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
　
Away colours
For the Maltese football club see Hibernians F.C.

Hibernian Football Club (informally known as "Hibs") are a Scottish football club from Edinburgh. Along with city rivals Hearts, they represent Edinburgh in the Scottish Premier League. The club is currently managed by John Collins with Tommy Craig as his assistant.

Contents

[edit] History

The club was founded in August 1875 by members of the St Patrick's RC Church based on the Cowgate. The club's principal founders were Canon Edward Joseph Hannan, and the head of the local Catholic Young Men's Association, Michael Whelahan, who became the first club captain. The team originally played, like all other teams of the time, on the Meadows, a park towards the south of Edinburgh's Old Town. The club moved to a purpose built ground in 1880, named Hibernian Park, which stood where Bothwell Street in Leith stands today. The club moved to its present ground at Easter Road in 1891, just a stone throw away from their first home.

Hibs were the first major club in Scotland formed by members of large Irish Catholic population of the time. The club's name reflects its Irish roots, (hence the name, from Hibernia, the Latin name for Ireland). A strict translation of the name Hibernian FC would be "Irishmen Football Club." As the first such team, their example led to the creation of Dundee Hibernian (now Dundee United) and Celtic, who when they were formed were nearly called Glasgow Hibernian. The club is seen as being less of a Catholic institution now than it was in the past, and geography rather than religion is the primary reason that association fans support the team (Hibernian being the club for East Edinburgh).

On August 13, 1887, Hibernian defeated Preston North End in a match co-billed by the FA and SFA as the Association Football Championship of the World decider, due to the two teams' achievements in their respective domestic cup trophies.

Hibernian introduced white sleeves to their shirts on 13 August 1938 against Hamilton Accies after a major brightening up of Easter Road had taken place. The harp and shamrocks at the entrance had been repainted as had the stand and the wall round the pitch and the terracing barriers had all been painted white. The goalposts had been replaced with oval ones with green nets. On that day, Harry Swan addressed the large crowd over new loudspeakers about "the brighter Easter Road" before the team appeared in their new strip.

Hibernian were the first British club to appear in European competition, in its inaugural 1955/56 season. Hibernian's participation had little to do with qualification as they accepted the invitation to European competition that was declined by the four teams that finished above them in the Scottish League. Playing their first game against German side Rot-Weiss Essen, Hibernian won 4-0 in Essen and the return tie in Scotland ended in a 1-1 draw. Hibernian went on to reach the semi-finals, only to be defeated by a Stade de Reims side inspired by the great French footballer Raymond Kopa.

The last major trophy won by the club was the 1991 League Cup, when they defeated Dunfermline in the final. They also reached the League Cup final in 2004, losing to Livingston. Hibernian have not won the Scottish Cup since 1902. Their last appearance in the final was a 3-0 loss to Celtic in 2001.

Hibernian's most recent relegation to the First Division came at the end of the 1997-98 season. They immediately won promotion back to the SPL, however, in the 1998-99 season, helped by a run of 12 wins in a row on as they were crowned First Division champions. They earned a record total of 89 points and finished 23 points ahead of second-placed Falkirk.

The team colours are emerald green and white. The strip has a green body, with white sleeves, a white collar, and green cuffs. The shorts are white, and the socks are green with white tops. For the 2004/2005 season the colour of the shorts was changed to a green which matches the shirt colour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the club's 2-0 win over Real Madrid, as this was the kit originally worn for this friendly match.

[edit] Tony Mowbray era

Tony Mowbray was appointed Hibs manager on 24 May 2004, replacing the unpopular Bobby Williamson[1]. His appointment came as a surprise because the media had been speculating about many other possible candidates, such as John Gorman [2], David Hay and Tommy Burns [3].

Mowbray placed an emphasis on playing attacking, passing football, despite the relative youth of the team and the pressure for results.

The Mowbray era ended on 12 October 2006, when he left Hibernian to become manager of West Bromwich Albion.

[edit] 2004/05 season

These policies were rewarded with a 3rd place finish in Mowbray's first season as manager (2004/05), and a place in the UEFA Cup for the following season (2005/06). Hibs reached the semi-final stage of the Scottish Cup where they lost 1-2 to Dundee United, despite taking the lead early in the second half.

[edit] 2005/06 season

In the 2005/06 season, Hibs got off to an excellent start, winning 10 of their first 14 league games. This form led to speculation by some commentators that they could put in a challenge for the championship, but Tony Mowbray played down the club's chances, pointing to the lack of squad depth and the much higher budgets of Rangers, Celtic and Hearts. Some injuries and the sale of Garry O'Connor to Lokomotiv Moscow exposed this lack of depth. After a largely disappointing second half of the season, Hibs finished 4th in the SPL and qualified for the Intertoto Cup.

Hibs were beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Ukrainian club FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the first round [4] of the UEFA Cup. They showed promising signs in the Scottish Cup, beating Arbroath 6-0, Rangers 3-0 and Falkirk 5-1, but they were defeated 0-4 by rivals Hearts in the semi-finals.

[edit] 2006/07 season

The competitive football started early in 2006/07 for Hibs due to their qualification for the Intertoto Cup. They beat their first opponents Dinaburg on a comfortable 8-0 aggregate, but were eliminated on the away goals rule by Danish team OB in the third round.

Hibs got off to a slow start in the new league season, taking eleven points from the first nine matches. The highlight of the league season so far was a 2-1 win over Rangers on September 17, but this was then followed with two disappointing losses against Falkirk and St. Mirren, both by 1-0.

On 7 September 2006, Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus signed new 12-month rolling contracts that were due to come into force in July 2007. However, shortly after signing the deal, Mowbray departed to become manager of West Bromwich Albion. Mark Venus, Mowbray's assistant at Hibs, joined him at West Brom in the following week. John Park (previously director of football) and Mark Proctor (previously a first team coach) took charge on a caretaker basis.

[edit] John Collins takes over

Following media speculation about Falkirk manager John Hughes, Cowdenbeath manager Mixu Paatelainen and Nottingham Forest coach Ian McParland, it was announced on 31 October 2006 that John Collins will be the new manager, with Tommy Craig as his assistant[5].

Since then Hibs results have been promising and they remain unbeaten under John Collins, recently beating Motherwell 6-1.

[edit] Building for the future

On May 22, 2006, Hibs announced they had secured 36 acres of land to build a training complex. [6] The facilities are to be built on a farm in East Mains, a 20 minute drive from Easter Road. The complex will be called the 'East Mains Training Centre'. The site will include:

  • Up to 10 full size grass pitches
  • Specialist training areas (eg goalkeeping)
  • Gym
  • Changing facilities
  • A treatment area
  • An indoor short-sided synthetic pitch
  • Players lounge
  • Coaches’ rooms

The project is said to cost the club £3m. Hibs will be one of a few clubs in Scotland to have their own facilities, the others being Rangers, Celtic and Ross County. Tony Mowbray repeatedly complained about the poor quality of facilities the club has at their disposal, as the club use public areas in Edinburgh and Musselburgh. The centre is said to be completed by pre-season of the 2007-2008 season, and has received planning permision from East Lothian Council.

[edit] Nicknames

The team are known by their fans by the nickname "the Hibees" (pronounced "high-bees"). The club's name is almost universally shortened to Hibs. Hibs supporters are known as "Hibbies" (singular: "Hibby"). Also many fans call them "The Cabbage", as per the Cockney Rhyming Slang "The Cabbage And Ribs" after which the pub in Albert Street, Edinburgh is named.

[edit] Managers

[edit] Current squad (season 2006-07)

No. Position Player
1 England GK Simon Brown
2 Scotland DF Steven Whittaker
3 England DF David Murphy
4 Morocco MF Merouane Zemmama
5 England DF Rob Jones
6 Scotland MF Michael Stewart
7 Scotland MF Scott Brown
8 Scotland MF Kevin Thomson
9 New Zealand FW Chris Killen
10 Morocco FW Abdessalam Benjelloun
11 Scotland MF Stephen Glass
12 Netherlands DF Shelton Martis
13 Northern Ireland FW Sam Morrow
14 France MF Guillaume Beuzelin
No. Position Player
15 England DF Chris Hogg
17 Northern Ireland MF Ivan Sproule
18 Scotland MF Jamie McCluskey
20 Scotland MF Steven Fletcher
21 Scotland DF Jonathan Baillie
22 Northern Ireland FW Dean Shiels
26 Scotland DF Lewis Stevenson
29 Switzerland DF Oumar Kondé
31 Poland GK Zbigniew Małkowski
32 Canada MF Keegan Ayre
34 Scotland FW Ross Campbell
35 Scotland MF Sean Lynch
41 Scotland GK Andrew McNeil

[edit] Players out on loan

No. Position Player
51 Scotland GK Matthew Curtis (at Dundee United)
–– Northern Ireland DF Dermott McCaffrey (at Queen of the South)
23 England MF Kevin McDonald (at Airdrie United)
30 Scotland GK Alastair Brown (at Ayr United)
24 Scotland DF Jay Shields (at Dundee)


For recent transfers, see the "Transfer Deals" section of 2006-07 in Scottish football.

[edit] Famous players

Famous players have included: The Famous Five - Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond; in the seventies Pat Stanton, Alex Cropley, Alex Edwards, John Blackley, Des Bremner and Arthur Duncan, Erich Schaedler, in the 1980s Alan Rough and Gordon Durie, and in the 1990s John Collins, Andy Goram and Jim Leighton. Turnbull also managed the team in the seventies, and at that time his team was nicknamed the "Turnbull's Tornados". In the early eighties former Manchester United legend George Best played with the club for half a season: he played 22 games and scored 3 goals.

Other more recent noted players include:

[edit] In literature

The club has been mentioned in many works of literature, mainly by local authors.

The works of author Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) contain several references to Hibernian, presumably due to his being a native of Leith. The team is often mentioned in casual conversation and is the team most of his characters support. There are many references to Hibernian's firm support. Visual references to the Hibs are noticeable in the films adapted from his works. More observant persons would have spotted many images of Hibernian in Danny Boyle's film, Trainspotting. During the famous baby on the ceiling/detox scene, many posters and pictures of Hibernian can be seen.

In the final short film in the trilogy The Acid House, with the same title as the movie, Coco Bryce, a boy from the "Hibs firm", is struck by lightning while under the influence of LSD in a Pilton park only to have his soul transferred to the body of an unborn child from one of the more affluent areas of Edinburgh. The final scene of the movie is that of Coco in the baby's body strapped to his mother's back with a Hibs top in the pub chanting "Oo to, oo to be, oo to be a Hibee".

Hibernian are also frequently referred to in the Inspector Rebus detective series by Ian Rankin. In the later books, Rebus's colleague DS Siobhan Clarke is a season ticket holder at Easter Road. Contrary to the 2006 television adaptation of the series, Rebus is not a Hibs fan in the books.

[edit] Club records

[edit] Honours

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b 1981 and 1999 represent second-tier championships, won after the creation of the Scottish Premier Division in 1975 (and latterly the Scottish Premier League in 1998).
  2. ^ a b These two competitions were won when the League Cup was completed in the first half of the season. The competition changed format in 1999, meaning that the semi finals and final are now played in the second half of the season. Therefore the League Cup was not won by anyone in the calendar year of 1999.
  3. ^ The Summer Cup was contested in place of the Scottish Cup (which was not contested at all between 1939 and 1946) in 1942.

[edit] UEFA ranking

Current club ranking

Current national league ranking

[edit] External links

Football in Scotland
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National association National team List of venues List of clubs
League system Seasons Champions History
Competitions in Scottish football
Premier League First Division Second Division Third Division
Scottish Cup League Cup Challenge Cup Junior Cup

Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee United | Dunfermline | Falkirk | Hearts | Hibernian |
Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Kilmarnock | Motherwell | Rangers | St. Mirren
Scottish Premier League seasons

2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07
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