Hibs ace eyes 52-year first by joining trio of club legends on World Cup honours board
Undefeated campaign of 1974 was last time an Easter Road favourite turned out for Scots at finals
In a Scotland squad well practiced in the art of making history, it’s tough to stand out. But Grant Hanley is on the brink of joining an extremely select group.
Only seven Hibs players have held the honour of being part of a Scotland squad at a World Cup. Eight if you include the poor lad sent home injured before the 1954 finals could kick off.
Actually pulling on the jersey to represent this proud footballing nation on the biggest stage of all? That’s an honour held by only three previous Hibs superstars – all genuine legends of the game.
No-one has done in 52 years. That’s the sort of historic first Hanley, in contention to start against Haiti in this weekend’s Group C opener, has within his grasp.
As he looks to join the holy trinity of Ormond, Turnbull and Blackley, then, let’s take a look at how Hibs have contributed to previous World Cup campaigns.
An ill-fated start
The original Scotland squad for the 1954 World Cup included three Hibs players, with Bobby Combe and Bobby Johnstone joining Willie Ormond in the travelling party who broke new ground for our national side in Switzerland. But the SFA’s decision to take only 13 players to the finals, despite being allowed to carry a squad of 22, meant Combe missed out.
Johnstone did travel with the squad but picked up an injury before the tournament began. Ormond played in both games for the Scots, who suffered a 1-0 loss to Austria and a 7-0 thumping by Uruguay.
Having declined the invitation to take part in the 1950 finals, Scotland’s misadventures on their debut four years later have become a part of the nation’s footballing folklore. Horrific preparations. The team’s first ever manager, Andy Beattie, resigning after one game. And home without troubling the scorers.
Come the finals in 1958, a slightly less embarrassing debacle, Eddie Turnbull was the only Hibs player included in a squad initially supposed to be managed by Matt Busby. The Munich air disaster put paid to that plan, as the Manchester United boss was still recovering from his injuries.
Turnbull played in all three games as Scotland, under the guidance of trainer Dawson Walker, drew with Yugoslavia before losing to Paraguay and France. Not enough to progress from the group stages.
Undefeated but unfulfilled
After a 16-year wait for qualification, Scotland returned to the World Cup in West Germany in 1974. And they had a couple of Hibs stars in the squad, with John Blackley and Eric Schaedler called up by Easter Road legend Ormond, who had taken over as gaffer the year before.
Blackley played the full 90 minutes in the opening 3-0 win over Zaire but didn’t feature in the draws with Brazil and Yugoslavia. Schaedler didn’t get any game time as the Scots exited the tournament without suffering a defeat.
Small mercies amid national humiliation
There were, perhaps mercifully, no Hibees involved in the debacle that was Argentina ’78, a tournament now rather oddly mythologised as some great adventure. Mainly by those not old enough to carry the scars of the humiliation.
The squad who travelled to Spain in 1982 managed without a Hibs contingent, while Alan Rough – who joined Hibs from Partick Thistle early in season 1982-83 – was a back-up goalie in Mexico in the summer of ’86.
At Italia 1990, the bench was as close as Andy Goram got to featuring. A young John Collins – who was about to join Celtic - was an unused sub as Scotland lost to Brazil in the final group fixture, ensuring that Andy Roxburgh’s boys would come home after, yes, three group games.
There wasn’t a single Hibee included in the Scotland squad who travelled to France the last time we were at a major finals, back in the summer of 1998. Although Collins, Darren Jackson and Gordon Durie gave fans some sort of a link.
It’s been a long wait for everyone in Scotland since that closing defeat to Morocco. An even longer gap for those who call Easter Road their spiritual home.
Should Hanley become the first Hibs player to pick up a Scotland cap at a World Cup since Blackley in ’74, he’ll deserve his place in the history books. Even in a squad full of ground-breaking pioneers.