Jump to content

Hibernian F.C.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.158.36.0 (talk) at 12:59, 28 July 2006 (→Famous players). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hibernian F.C.
File:Hibernian logo.gif
Full nameHibernian Football Club
Nickname(s)Hi-bees
Founded1875
GroundEaster Road,
Edinburgh, Scotland
Capacity17,462
ChairmanScotland Rod Petrie
ManagerEngland Tony Mowbray
LeagueScottish Premier League
2005-06Scottish Premier League, 4th
There is also a Maltese football club called Hibernians F.C.

Hibernian Football Club (informally known as "Hibs") is a Scottish football club from Edinburgh. Along with city rivals Hearts, they represent Edinburgh in the Scottish Premier League. They are currently managed by Tony Mowbray.

History

The club was founded in 1875 by Irish born football enthusiasts, the most prominent being Canon Edward Joseph Hannan and Michael Whelahan. The team originally played at a ground near the Meadows in the south of Edinburgh's Old Town, moving to its current home, Easter Road in Leith, in the 1880s. They were the first major club in Scotland formed out of the immigrant Irish Catholic population (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 tagged as the World championship decider, due to the two teams' achievements in their respective domestic cup trophies.

Hibs 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.

Hibs were the first British club to appear in European competition, UEFA's European Cup, in its inaugural 1955/56 season. Participation was not through qualification as it is now: Hibernian finished 5th in the Scottish League in the previous season. Playing their first game against German side Rot Weiss Essen, Hibs won 4-0 in Essen and the return tie in Scotland ended in a 1-1 draw. That year, (1955) Hibs went on to reach the semi-finals only to be defeated by a 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. Hibs 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. However, the team's form improved dramatically from here, and a run of 12 wins in a row helped Hibs to the First Division championship, winning a record 89 points, 23 ahead of second-placed Falkirk.

The team colours are emerald green and white. The strip is a green body, with white sleeves, with 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.

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

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 Finals stage of the Scottish Cup where they lost 1-2 to Dundee United, despite taking the lead early in the second half.

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 even 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.

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.

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").

Managers

Current squad (season 2006-07)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Simon Brown
2 DF Scotland SCO Steven Whittaker
3 DF England ENG David Murphy
5 DF England ENG Rob Jones
6 MF Scotland SCO Michael Stewart
7 FW Scotland SCO Scott Brown
8 MF Scotland SCO Kevin Thomson
9 FW New Zealand NZL Chris Killen
10 FW Morocco MAR Abdessalam Benjelloun
11 MF Scotland SCO Stephen Glass
13 FW Northern Ireland NIR Sam Morrow
14 MF France FRA Guillaume Beuzelin
15 DF England ENG Chris Hogg
16 MF England ENG Antonio Murray
17 MF Northern Ireland NIR Ivan Sproule
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF Scotland SCO Jamie McCluskey
19 FW Mali MLI Amadou Konte
20 MF Scotland SCO Steven Fletcher
21 DF Scotland SCO Jonathan Baillie
22 FW Northern Ireland NIR Dean Shiels
23 MF England ENG Kevin McDonald
24 DF Scotland SCO Jay Shields
27 FW Scotland SCO Paul Dalglish
29 DF Switzerland SUI Oumar Kondé
30 GK Scotland SCO Alistair Brown
31 GK Poland POL Zbigniew Małkowski
32 GK Scotland SCO Gordon Marshall
34 MF Scotland SCO Darren Smith
35 FW Scotland SCO Lewis Stevenson
― FW Scotland SCO Ross Campbell

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 and Arthur Duncan, Eric 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:

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 Clark is a season ticket holder at Easter Road. Contrary to the 2006 television adaption of the series, Rebus is not a Hibs fan in the books.

Club records

Honours

1981Template:Fn, 1999Template:Fn

Notes

Template:Fnb1981 and 1999 represent second-tier championships, after the advent of the higher Scottish Premier Division/League in 1976

UEFA Ranking

Current Club Ranking

  • 155 Belgium La Louvière
  • 155 Belgium Excelsior Mouscron
  • 157 Scotland Hibernian
  • 157 Scotland Aberdeen
  • 159 Greece Iraklis Thessaloniki
  • 159 Greece Xanthi FC

Current National League Ranking

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hibernian_F.C.&oldid=66343131"