Chapter One

1967/68

Napoli Humbled

Just four weeks after the end of season 1966/67 Hibs set off on a marathon trip to Canada and the USA, where they would play in the North American League. Based in Toronto for 'home' games, the players flew thousands of miles in order to complete their fixture commitments, with the opening tie taking place in New York on 28 May 1967.

Prior to their departure, Hibs had called up Peter Marinello from the youth ranks and brought back John Blackley from Bo'ness United, where the young defender had been farmed out to gain experience, but neither player made it into the tour party.

The North American competition placed Hibs in the Eastern Division along with Aberdeen, Stoke City, Cerro (Uruguay), Glentoran and Shamrock Rovers. The Western Division contained ADO (Holland), Wolves, Sunderland, Dundee United, Cagliari (Italy) and Bangu (Brazil). In that peculiar conference type of arrangement now seen in American football, Hibs found themselves playing teams both within and outwith their own division, and their travels took them to New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Vancouver, Houston and Cleveland.

In that first game in New York, Hibs drew 1-1 with Cerro, thanks to an Allan McGraw thunderbolt. Three days later, it was Aberdeen in Toronto's Varsity Stadium, but Hibs lost to Eddie Turnbull's team by 2-1, with Peter Cormack on target for the Green and Whites. A long flight to San Francisco followed, but the players showed no ill effects, defeating ADO of Holland 2-0 after goals from Joe Davis (pen) and Cormack.

'Home' form deserted Hibs in the next match with Wolves at the Varsity and despite Davis scoring again from the spot the English outfit, eventual tournament winners, ran out 2-1 victors. The unlikely setting of Dallas brought Hibs up against Dundee United and although they were the better team they could only achieve a 2-2 draw, with goals from Cormack and Colin Stein.

It was a punishing schedule, with just three or four days between matches and thousands of miles to travel when playing away, but Hibs seemed to be coping well when they met the crack Italian outfit Cagliari at the Varsity on 18 June. The fans had expected the Italians to play the tight defensive game which was their hallmark. Surprisingly that was not the case, and both sides went for goals, Hibs coming out on top 2-1 with Cormack and Colin Grant on target. Sadly for Cormack he was sent off in highly controversial circumstances as the Italians got more and more physical. The referee was having real problems controlling the players and eventually decided to abandon the game with seven minutes left. There was some satisfaction for Hibs: the score was allowed to stand and the League took action against Cagliari for their unsporting behaviour.

A cross-Canada flight for the next match put Hibs up against Sunderland in the Empire Stadium, Vancouver. Despite going a goal down, the Hibees roared back to win 4-2 with Eric Stevenson getting a double while Scott and Stein also hit the target. One familiar face in the Sunderland team that day was former Hibs striker Neil Martin. A few days later the teams met again, this time in Toronto, and the Black Cats did a little better in securing a 2-2 draw, Stein and a Davis penalty providing the strikes for Hibs after the visitors had gone two goals up.

Game nine took Hibs to Houston for a match against Bangu of Brazil on the famous Astrodome synthetic surface. Cormack got the goal in a 1-1 draw which ensured a continuation of the good unbeaten run over the previous four games. At this stage, Hibs were looking a good bet to top their division, but a 0-2 reversal against Stoke City in Cleveland dented their chances. Cormack (ankle) and Stanton (blistered feet) missed that game and their absence obviously affected the Green and Whites. Two games remained, both in Toronto and both against Irish opposition. Four points were likely to be enough to win the division and therefore a place in the final. They got off to a good start with a fine 6-1 thrashing of Shamrock Rovers, Grant getting a hat-trick and singles coming from Stein, Cormack and Scott (pen), leaving only the requirement to beat Glentoran in the last game at the Varsity. In terrible storm conditions both teams struggled to find any form and an own-goal was all Hibs had to show for their efforts after 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw.

The 12 games in 43 days gave a record of played 12, won four, drawn five and lost three, with 23 goals scored and 17 conceded. Thomson Allan, Joe Davis, John Madsen and Jim Scott were the only players to feature in every game, while Peter Cormack finished top scorer with six goals. A tired Hibs party travelled back to Scotland, where a few short weeks of rest awaited them before they kicked off the new season.

On Tuesday, 8 August, Hibs travelled to the holiday town of Blackpool and it's assumed they entered into the holiday spirit as they were hammered 6-2 with only a Davis penalty and a strike from Stein to bring back as mementos. Four days later it was down to the serious business of competitive football as Hibs visited Dens Park for the first game in a League Cup qualifying group which also included Motherwell and Clyde. First-team regulars Alan Cousin and Eric Stevenson were both missing due to injury and Jim Scott had been transferred to Newcastle, but Hibs dominated for large parts of the game and were unlucky not to take both points, the game finishing goalless.

The fixture list then gave Hibs three home ties in a row, which must have had manager Bob Shankly thinking that qualification was eminently achievable, especially after a good 1-0 win over Motherwell in the first of those games. Just ahead of that match, Hibs offered a trial to a young full-back who turned out for the reserves at Berwick and impressed so much that he was signed. The lad was Mervyn Jones, a product of Edina Hibs and a nephew of the Rangers stalwart John Greig. The game with Motherwell was not as close as the result suggests and Hibs should have had a lot more than a solitary strike from Grant to celebrate.

Around this time the draw for the first round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was made and Hibs were paired with FC Porto of Portugal, the home leg scheduled for 20 September and the return two weeks later.

Prior to that, however, the Hibees had a few other games to play and the first of those was the League Cup tie with Clyde, who had finished third in the League the previous season and so would be no pushovers. In a game tighter than the scoreline suggests, Hibs ran out 3-1 winners with Davis (pen), Cormack and Grant hitting the target and Clyde countering through Hastings. The result kept Hibs at the top of their group but only on goal average over Dundee, who would be next to visit Leith.

In the Dundee programme notes, praise was offered for the record of Joe Davis in his goal attempts from the penalty spot - the full-back had netted 29 out of 34 times since he took the job in September 1965. Joe was to alter the figures to 30 successes in 35 attempts when he scored in that Dundee game, but his goal, together with a strike from Stein, failed to save Hibs from losing 4-2 and relinquishing top spot in the group to the victors. Dundee had been on an incredible run when they had arrived at Easter Road, having gone their previous 25 matches without defeat, and goals from George McLean (2), Jim McLean and Sammy Wilson won the day and both points for Bobby Ancell's men.

Hoping to recover their form in order to stay in with a chance of qualification for the later stages of the League Cup, Hibs travelled to Motherwell needing both points, but returned with none as the Steelmen triumphed 2-1 in a tough match which saw both physios earning their corn. Goals from John 'Dixie' Deans and Lindsay were met by a single response from young John Murphy, scoring on his debut.

By the time Hibs visited Clyde in the final game they already knew that Dundee had won the group and so it was both galling and satisfying that they turned in a fine display at Shawfield in winning 2-0, thanks to goals from Stein and Cormack. Two League games had to be completed prior to the visit of Porto in the Fairs Cup and the first of those saw Hibs heading for Tynecastle to face Hearts.

In what manager Shankly later described as a display of fast, clever football, Hibs thumped their oldest rivals 4-1, Pat Quinn scoring an unforgettable hat-trick and Cormack raising the rafters in the stands with a magnificent diving header which bulleted past the helpless Cruickshank in the home goal. Hearts found small consolation in a Traynor goal. The visiting fans were ecstatic as they poured out on to Gorgie Road. Sadly, a small number took their celebrations a little too far and earned a reprimand from the Hibs chairman, William P. Harrower, who asked that the good name of Hibernian be kept out of the press for any reason other than performing well on the park.

A fine addition to the first-team squad was soon to arrive: prior to the home League match with Raith Rovers, Hibs announced that they had signed Alex Scott, brother of the recently departed Jim, from Everton. Winner of cup medals with Rangers and Everton, Scott also had huge experience of playing in European competition. With the Fairs Cup tie against Porto looming, it was a shrewd piece of business by manager Shankly.

Newly promoted Raith had narrowly lost their opening fixture 2-1 to Dunfermline and with former Hibee Bobby Kinloch and a young Ian Porterfield, who later went on to star for Sunderland and Aberdeen, in their line-up they looked likely to offer Hibs stiff opposition. As it turned out, the home side proved far too strong for the Fifers and a 3-0 scoreline might have been increased but for some fine goalkeeping by...