Priceless goal netted Hibs hero just £90

Published on Friday 13 June 2008 10:48

BOBBY KINLOCH made himself an instant Hibs hero with the penalty kick which knocked Barcelona out of the Fairs Cup in almost 50 years ago.

But the 73-year-old admits that, even though this summer's pre-season re-match will bring back a lot of happy memories, he can't recall much about the dramatic winning goal he scored from the penalty spot in 1961.

Pep Guardiola's modern-day superstars will travel to Scotland next month to take on both Hibs and Dundee United as part of their pre-season schedule and the footballers on show will draw massive crowds to Murrayfield, Tannadice and their base at St Andrews.

However, their match against Mixu Paatelainen's side on Thursday, July 24 is unlikely to be as dramatic as their last competitive meeting in the Fairs Cup, a two-legged affair which Hibs eventually won 7-6 on aggregate.

The competition was the forerunner to the UEFA Cup, and the double-header will without doubt go down among the greatest nights in the Edinburgh club's history. An unbelievable 4-4 draw in the Nou Camp – Hibs had led 4-2 until the closing minutes – saw the tie evenly poised going into the return leg at Easter Road where an even more explosive clash would take place which would eventually be dubbed "the battle of Easter Road".

Joe Baker had given the Hibees a deserved lead with a header only for Barcelona to put themselves right back into the tie with two quick-fire goals.

But Hibs refused to let their heads drop and hit back with a strike from Tommy Preston midway through the second half.

That set up a tense finale to the end-to-end encounter although there was even more drama to come when the home side were awarded a late penalty which Kinloch converted to seal a historic victory.

Kinloch said: "It's been a few years now but this game has remained pretty much in focus in everyone's memories and the reason for that is that it was such a massive, massive result for the club.

"To be honest, I don't remember much about the goal, apart from the fact that it hit the back of the net.

"A lot of great players who played for Hibs won much less than they should have through the years but that one result really raised the profile of the club."

Unbelievably, it was the one of the first spot-kicks Kinloch had ever taken and he insists that it was something he never practised in training: "To this day I haven't got the slightest idea of what the other players or the supporters thought when they saw me walking up to take the penalty.

"I scored a few goals in my career, more overseas really, but I must have scored over 20 anyway.

"I took a few more penalties after that but I hadn't taken any before that.

"I never practised penalty kicks. I don't think it is possible to practice them because it is the precise moment that you are walking up to take the penalty kick that decides what you are going to do.

"You can't second-guess how you are going to be feeling at that point in time.

"The only thing that I would always stick to is that I would never hit it along the ground, it is absolutely essential that you don't try to put it low into one of the corners. "The best thing is to get the ball four feet or so off the ground and bang it into one of the corners because 90 per cent of those hit the back of the net.

"To be honest, I was in an enviable position because no-one around me expected me to score because I had never taken a penalty before. If I had missed it no-one would have been surprised.

"I was a relatively unknown player, stepping up to take the penalty that would win a European tie against Barcelona. I had nothing to lose."

Kinloch went on to play for many more years at home and abroad, including spells with Morton and in Canada and Asia but no matter how far he has travelled, there are always Hibs fans waiting to congratulate him on that historic strike.

He said: "Since the game I have spent four years in Rio, three years in Malaya and ten years in Singapore. But every time I came back – and even now – people are still coming up to me and asking me about that game and about that goal.

"Everyone I talk to says they were at the game or that their father was at the game. By my calculations there must have been a crowd of about 456,000 at the match that day."

The game is remembered almost as much for the scenes in the build-up to that winning goal being struck as the result, with the match delayed for almost 13 minutes as the referee struggled to restore order.

Furious Barcelona players, angered by the penalty award, chased referee Herr Malka around the Easter Road turf, jostled with opposition players and even kicked in the referee's changing room door after the full-time whistle.

Police officers were required to give the official an escorted exit from the stadium and restrain furious Barcelona players and officials. On their return to Spain, Barcelona were so ashamed by their actions that they agreed to travel back to Scotland for a charity match against Hibs at their own expense.

Of course the Catalan stars nowadays could more than afford to pay their way, but Kinloch and Co were on much smaller bonuses for pulling off such a shock result against the Nou Camp side.

He and his team-mates pocketed less than 100 for their efforts and Kinloch added: "I see that cricketers will get something like 1million if they win the Twenty/20 and that some footballers were getting 600,000 to reach one of the European finals recently.

"We got 90 for beating Barcelona and that was the first time in my life that I had been paid in an envelope that was stuffed full of brand new 5 notes.

"Lawrie Reilly, who still lives just two doors away from me, never once earned more than 20 a week when he was a player with Hibs.

"There is a big misconception about football and big money right now because there is only a tiny percentage of footballers in the UK these days who are earning really big money. It's only really the Premier League and one or two others who are earning really big money. There are not many people out there getting the phenomenal money that is talked about everywhere."

And Kinloch believes that players from his era may not have been given the opportunity to play first-team football at all if the current trend for buying foreign stars had been popular in the 60s and 70s: "Few if any of the guys of my time would have played for a big club today because of the influx of foreign players to the British game. Buying the best available players worldwide has had an enormous impact on football in this country. It seems to be the done thing to bring in players from abroad rather than bring boys through.

"That might change now that Hibs have their training facility out at Tranent. My grandson is in the Under-21s right now and the training he gets now is phenomenal. In my day 'training' was simply about fitness. It was picking up a medicine ball and running round Arthur's Seat until you made yourself ill.

"It was more about getting fit than working out moves. I honestly can't remember working on set-pieces or moves. It was really left to the players themselves to use their own skills and vision, rather than someone telling you to play 4-4-2 or 4-2-4."

Kinloch will be in the crowd for Barca's latest trip to Scotland and tickets for the match are available from the ticket centre or by visiting: www.hibernianfc.co.uk or www.scottishrugby.org.

Catalans' night of shame that kicked off at Easter Road

WHEN Bobby Kinloch stepped up to take what would prove to be a decisive penalty kick during the second leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie with Barcelona in February 1961, the Hibs man had little inclination that his actions were about to turn Easter Road into a battleground.

A fiercely-contested tie was nearing its climax, with the scores level at 2-2 on the day and 6-6 on aggregate following a 4-4 draw in the Nou Camp. Hibs were handed their big chance when German referee Johannes Malka pointed to the spot in the closing stages.

Kinloch duly fired the Edinburgh outfit ahead. However, no sooner had the ball hit the net than anarchy broke out as the Barca players lost the plot. Four players, led by Luis Suarez, then the European footballer of the Year, raced towards Malka in fury at his decision. They knocked the official to the ground and were poised to continue their attack when dozens of policemen poured onto the field to save the referee.

Undeterred, the Barcelona players set about the policemen instead who eventually managed to usher them away from Malka. Even some of the Hibs players had by now taken it upon themselves to try and save the beleaguered German. When play finally restarted after a seven-minute delay, Hibs held on to triumph 7-6 on aggregate.

When Malka finally blew for full time, he did so standing next to the sideline and some policemen in order to make a quick escape. One of his linesmen was less fortunate, kicked to the ground.

Kinloch believes Fletcher could thrive at a top club

HIBS legend Bobby Kinloch believes that the club's supporters will only find out how good Steven Fletcher is when he moves to a better league.

The former Easter Road star still gets along to every home game and is a huge fan of the young striker, who has been attracting the attentions of Spanish side Real Madrid.

Kinloch would love to see the young hitman stay with his old club, but concedes that Fletch is too good to remain in the Scottish League long term. And he believes that a move to La Liga playing alongside some of Europe's top stars could make a massive difference to the 21-year-old.

Kinloch, who was promoting next month's friendly clash with Barcelona at Murrayfield, said: "I'm still a Hibs fan and get along to see all of the home games. Steven Fletcher is a fabulous player – a great young talent.

"One of the things that we have got to realise is that, however good they appear to be here, if he was playing at a higher level he could be a significantly better player than he is here at the moment.

"If you have got people like Ronaldinho or similar stars in La Liga playing alongside you and feeding you the type of balls that you really thrive on you could make a tremendous impact.

"I honestly don't know how good Steven is and I don't think anyone else can say that they do either. He will only show his real potential when he moves to a better league.

"I am a big Hibs supporter, but Steven has the potential to be a real star. I like him very much. He is just a young boy and, if he gets an opportunity to go, then you wouldn't stand in his way.

"The advantage of going to someone like Real or Barcelona is that they can take you from being a player with potential to an excellent player. At the minute Steven shines in a fairly average team, but if he was in a better side, in a better league then he could be significantly classier."