The 5 best Hibs goalkeepers of the last 50 years

The first in a series we are running this week looking at the five best Hibs players of the last 50 years for each position

We start the look back at the best Hibs players in each position – goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders, forwards – since 1970 with the men between the sticks:

Andy Goram

“After a split second of silent wonder the maroon end of the ground erupted in a long burst of applause as they chanted the keeper’s name.” A line from an Evening News report of an Edinburgh derby in 1991. Hearts had won 3-1, but the team’s supporters were applauding the mind-blowing performance of Hibs goalkeeper Andy Goram.

Andy Goram is still seen as one of, if not the best goalkeeper in the club's history. Picture: SNS

That is how good the player was. This squat stopper could, in a split second, turn himself into both the finest gymnast and best high jumper. Goram was incredible. Across more than 130 appearances for the club he left an astounding number of opposition fans cursing their luck at facing such a capable and astute goalkeeper. He had a habit, throughout his career, of just appearing in the bottom left corner, top right corner, flying, twisting, turning through the air.

When you talk about match winners, it is usually a striker or creative player. Goram falls into the category of goalkeeper who summons that magic to produce those match-winning moments as he did so for Hibs time and time again. In addition, he scored for the club as well, netting from inside his own box against Greenock Morton.

Jim Leighton

In the 90s, Hibs can count themselves as having two of the very best goalkeepers Scotland have ever produced. A couple of years after Andy Goram’s move to Rangers, arrived Jim Leighton as he looked to steady his career which had rocked since leaving Aberdeen for Manchester United with spells at Reading, Sheffield United, Arsenal and Dundee.

Jim Leighton has said his four-year spell at Hibs was his best football in his career. Picture: SNS

Moving to Easter Road saw Hibs not only pick up an extremely talented goalkeeper, but it gave Leighton, then aged 35, the platform to get back into the Scotland fold and rack up more international caps.

The Hibs faithful got to witness a goalkeeper who, more than anything else when it came to the responsibilities of the man between the sticks, simply saved shots, and was good at it. Leighton has since expressed his love for the club and revealed that the four years in Leith were the best of his career in terms of the consistency of performances as he missed just one league match.

Alan Rough

Hibs, in the early to mid 80s, straddled a fine line between mid-table mediocrity and relegation battlers. It could be argued that they have one man more than any other to thank for avoiding dropping back into the First Division which they won in 1981. Alan Rough was a decisive figure in goals for the Easter Road side.

Alan Rough played a key role at Hibs during his time at Easter Road. Picture: SNS

Keeping a team from the trap door was something which he had become accustomed to while at Partick Thistle for more than a decade. Doing so at Hibs ensured he earned fans’ favourite status and he is still remembered fondly around Easter Road for his assertive goalkeeping displays. Supporters want to feel comforted by the man between the sticks. Rough brought that serenity to proceedings. An unusual thing to say for a goalkeeper, but he did everything at his own pace.

One of his most memorable games came at Ibrox in the run to the 1985 League Cup final as Hibs beat both sides of the Old Firm on the way, including an aggregate win against Rangers in the semi-final. In the encounter in Govan, Rough produced a significant performance with one of those displays where a forcefield seemed to be protecting the visiting goal.

John Burridge

There have been few bigger, brighter and more colourful characters to have pulled on a Hibs shirt than John ‘Budgie’ Burridge. He arrived at Easter Road not far off his 40th birthday but any concerns about his age were soon dispelled as his arrival saw a positive run on the field.

There have been fewer bigger characters in football than John Burridge. Picture: SNS

The larger than life character injected more personality into the team and it came to the fore ahead of the Skol League Cup semi-final with Rangers in 1991. The Ibrox side were full of monied stars but Burridge took it upon himself to rattle a few cages ahead of kick-off. He warned Mark Hateley about coming into his box before taking Ally McCoist down a peg or two. Such a ballsy attitude may have rubbed off on his team-mates with Hibs running out 1-0 winners before they defeated Dunfermline Athletic in the final to win their first trophy since 1972.

He may not quite have had the starring quality of Goram, Rough or Leighton, but he had that persona which fans really enjoyed. An eccentric soul who will always have a place in the Hibs history books.

Jim McArthur

Turnbull’s Tornadoes are revered at Easter Road. They had goals, creativity and panache aplenty. But they also had to have protection. That’s what they got from JIm Herriot then Jim McArthur. The latter considers the former as the ‘Tornado’, but McArthur was an enduring presence at Easter Road for more than a decade.

It could be argued that he should have been part of a side which won the Scottish Cup for the club back in the late-70s, keeping two clean sheets in the final, only to eventually lose to Rangers in the second replay. Over the course of 11 years he amassed nearly 300 appearances for the club, a longevity which owed to reliability, consistency and simply being good.

McArthur played in some huge matches for the club, including against Leeds United in Europe despite breaking his finger on the day of the game and would often start attacks from the back rolling the ball out to the defence rather than blootering it forward which was, at times, the norm.