Hibs in 1970/71: From Fairs Cup to UEFA Cup as club experiences continental shift

This time 50 years ago, Hibs were preparing to face Rangers in a Scottish First Division clash at Easter Road.
Arthur Duncan scores in the 6-0 drubbing of Malmo in the final Fairs Cup season of 1970/71Arthur Duncan scores in the 6-0 drubbing of Malmo in the final Fairs Cup season of 1970/71
Arthur Duncan scores in the 6-0 drubbing of Malmo in the final Fairs Cup season of 1970/71

The hosts went on to win the match 3-2, courtesy of a Jim Blair brace and a Johnny Graham strike. It would be their last win of the year, their next victory coming against Aberdeen in January.

It was the only time Hibs managed to defeat the Ibrox side in six meetings across three competitions that season.

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The league game in Glasgow finished in a 1-1 draw but the Gers triumphed in the League Cup quarter-finals, winning both legs 3-1 to record a 6-2, and after a goalless draw, knocked Hibs out of the Scottish Cup at the semi-final stage by way of a 2-1 victory in the replay.

There was no shortage of action off the pitch that term. Manager Willie MacFarlane, a former Easter Road player who had led Hibs to a third-place finish the previous campaign; signed Jim Black, Arthur Duncan, Johnny Graham, and Erich Schaedler among others, and converted John Brownlie from centre-back to marauding full-back was sacked just before the club faced Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Chairman William Harrower, who had appointed MacFarlane as Bob Shankly’s successor in 1969, had sold his majority holding in Hibs to Tom Hart in September and it was the latter’s attempt to influence team selection that prompted MacFarlane to resign in December 1970.

MacFarlane knew which line-up he wanted to play in the first leg against the English side but the players that took to the Easter Road turf were Hart’s pick. The new chairman had scored a victory but so did Liverpool; John Toshack converting Steve Heighway’s cross on 75 minutes for the only goal of the game.

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The Reds won the second leg 2-0 at Anfield to produce a 3-0 aggregate scoreline, and Hibs' Fairs Cup journey came to an end at the last-eight stage.

Just as there had been plenty of talking points off the pitch, on-field matters were also noteworthy this season, primarily because the second leg against Liverpool ended up being Hibs’ last-ever involvement in the tournament.

From 1955 until 1971 the competition had been led by the Fairs Cup Committee, comprising senior FIFA officials, and as such there was no need to gain approval from international governing bodies.

Originally set up to promote international trade fairs, matches were at first friendly encounters between teams from cities hosting the events. Eventually it morphed into a full-blown competition with participants chosen based on location of trade fairs rather than league position.

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Hibs took part in the tournament no fewer than seven times in ten years.

They reached the semi-finals in 1960/61 after a walkover result against Lausanne of Switzerland and an astonishing 7-6 aggregate win against Barcelona featuring a 4-4 draw at the Nou Camp. After a 2-2 draw in Edinburgh and 3-3 draw in Italy, Roma triumphed 6-0 in the "third leg" of the semi-final to record an 11-5 success on aggregate.

The following year Hibs defeated Belenenses of Portugal before losing to Red Star Belgrade in the second round and in 1962/63 saw off Staevent of Denmark and Utretcht before succumbing to Valencia in the quarter-finals.

As luck would have it, Hibs' first-round opponents in their fourth Fairs Cup appearance were Valencia and the Spaniards triumphed once more.

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In 1967/68 Porto were knocked out 4-3 on aggregate, and Napoli 6-4 after a stunning 5-0 win at Easter Road, until Leeds narrowly edged the quarter-final encounter 2-1 after a 1-1 draw in the Capital and a home win at Elland Road.

The next year's competition saw Hibs eliminated on away goals for the first time. German outfit Hamburg were the victorious opponents after Hibs had won 2-1 at Easter Road but lost the second leg 1-0 following wins against Olimpija Ljubljana and Lokomotive Leipzig in the first and second rounds respectively.

Hibs' final dalliance with what is largely agreed to have been a precursor of sorts to the UEFA Cup and current Europa League competitions saw them dish out a 6-0 drubbing to Malmo at Easter Road and a 3-2 win in Sweden to progress to a second-round meeting with Vitoria de Guimaraes of Portugal. Depite a 2-1 loss in the away leg, Hibs' 2-0 win at Easter Road was enough to send them through to meet Liverpool in the last 16. The Reds were knocked out themselves in the semi-finals by Leeds United after seeing off Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

By the end of the 1970/71 competition, UEFA had started to take notice of the Fairs Cup and effectively took control of it and relaunched it as the UEFA Cup in 1971/72.

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Not that the rebrand hampered Hibs in any way: they were participants in the competition five times in six years as Eddie Turnbull’s side became regulars on the continent – ironically containing a number of players signed by, or brought on by MacFarlane such as Brownlie, Black, Duncan, Schaedler, and more.

Snce then the Capital club has made eight appearances in the UEFA Cup or Europa League, with half coming in the last decade.

It would be somewhat fitting if the club was to record its best finish since 2004/05 and qualify for European competition to coincide with a brand new tournament – the Europa Conference League – being introduced in the summer of 2021.

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