Fans to come together and say goodbye to Eddie Turnbull

The sudden death of the former Hibs and Scotland forward stunned everyone at the club, chairman Rod Petrie visibly moved as he broke the sad news minutes after Saturday's match against St Johnstone.

Turnbull had been at Easter Road - where he won silverware both as a player and manager - only a few days earlier, taking in Hibs' game with St Mirren and chatting with current boss Colin Calderwood.

A key member of the Famous Five forward line that won the league three times in five years, Turnbull was also the first British player to score in European club competition in 1955.

But he also enjoyed success as a manager, regarded as one of the game's most far-sighted coaches, guiding Aberdeen to Scottish Cup glory before returning to Hibs where his "Turnbull's Tornadoes" lifted the Scottish League Cup and won the Drybrough Cup twice.

As such, the meeting of the two clubs at Easter Road a week on Saturday is seen as the ideal opportunity for fans of both Hibs and Aberdeen to pay their own respects to Turnbull.

Details have yet to be finalised, but officials of both clubs, along with Turnbull's wife Carol, daughter Valerie and other family members, will be discussing over the coming days just how his passing should be marked.

Pre-deceased by Willie Ormond, Gordon Smith and Bobby Johnstone, the loss of Turnbull leaves Lawrie Reilly as the sole surviving member of the most iconic quintet in Scottish football history.

Reilly led the tributes to the man who remained a close friend and, until his health failed in recent years, was a regular golfing partner.

"I heard the news when I was at Easter Road for the Hibs game on Saturday and it's very sad," Reilly said.

"The last time I had seen Eddie was at Hibs' previous home game. He was sitting in the directors' box and gave me a wave.

"He was a great man and a good friend. The first time I met him was when he played his first game for the club, in the reserve team against Queen of the South down in Dumfries. He played at inside-left that day and I was at outside-left. You could tell right away that he was a terrific player and, of course, we both progressed to the first team.

"When Hibs signed him, he came with a reputation as a crack shot. And boy, could he hit the ball. His shooting was tremendous and he scored some fantastic goals for Hibs."

According to Reilly, the demanding nature that would characterise Turnbull's time in coaching and management was also in evidence during his playing career.

"Eddie wouldn't stand any nonsense on the park," added Reilly. "He knew the game inside out, he was a really intelligent player who knew how to bring the best out of his team-mates. And if any of us were not doing what we should in a match, Eddie was never shy in letting us know about it."

As the last man standing of the Famous Five, it is an especially poignant time for Reilly, who is able to offer the most insightful analysis of Turnbull's role in the feared forward line. "We were five completely different players," he says.

"I'd have to say, and I know Eddie would have no problem with me saying so, that Gordon Smith was the top man as far as the Famous Five was concerned. He was the greatest. But Eddie's contribution was crucial. He was strong, a great leader, while Bobby Johnstone in the other inside forward position was smaller, a slight and more skilful guy.

"Willie Ormond was an excellent winger and I managed to get by in the middle. It was a collection of players who just got on tremendously well with each other and complemented each other on the park.

"Obviously it's particularly sad for me that all four of them have gone now. I used to play golf with Eddie every Sunday, up until not that long ago, and I'll miss him a lot."

Former team-mate and long-standing friend Tommy Preston was similarly shocked.

He said: "I was in the boardroom after the game on Saturday when Rod Petrie told me Eddie had died. I was shocked. I'd seen him the previous weekend at the ground and he seemed brand new. He'd even phoned me the day after his 88th birthday to complain I hadn't sent him a card.

"But on the pitch I learned so much from him, so-much-so that when I was getting him to autograph a copy of his book for one of my family, he signed it "from his mentor".

Jackie McNamara, who saw Turnbull in hospital just hours before his death, was signed by him in 1976 in the deal that took Hibs favourite Pat Stanton to Celtic.

Under Turnbull's tutelage, McNamara's own career was revitalised as he overcame the initial scepticism of the Hibs supporters to become club captain and a hugely popular player.

Although McNamara played under Jock Stein at Celtic, he unequivocally regards Turnbull as the finest coach he encountered during his career.

"Eddie was outstanding, he taught me the game," he said. "In fact, I'd say he did that with every player lucky enough to play for him. In training, he would put you in situations and tell you how to deal with them. Then in the game on a Saturday, you'd come across exactly the same situation and be able to handle it. It was uncanny.

"His football intelligence was second to none. Tactically, he was absolutely brilliant. I remember Hibs went to Celtic Park in 1978 and won 1-0. He played me as a sweeper that day behind two central defenders in Ricky Fleming and George Stewart. He had Arthur Duncan and Ally Brazil as the full-backs, but they were really wing-backs. It was five at the back, but not overly defensive, long before anyone else came up with it and Celtic couldn't handle it that day.

"Eddie really was ahead of his time as a coach. He had a reputation as a hard man, a disciplinarian, and that was true to an extent. But personally, I always found he was very fair. I'll miss him a lot. He deserves every eulogy that comes his way."

Calderwood, while admitting his knowledge of Turnbull was limited, said: "In the Captains' Lounge at Easter Road there is a big picture of him doing a star jump, which is probably appropriate. He was, is and always will be a star here.

"I spoke to him after the St Mirren game and wished him well. I'd really hoped for an opportunity to speak to him because of his outstanding knowledge and experience."

Stanton, who was captain of "Turnbull's Tornadoes," insisted the success he had enjoyed as both player and manager would ensure Turnbull's place in Hibs' history.

He said: "Eddie's part as a member of the Famous Five, then as manager of Hibs make him unique. I think everyone would agree we were a team which should have won more than we did but the fact was that with Jock Stein's Celtic there were two great teams around at the same time.

"Even so, the fact people still talk about Turnbull's Tornadoes all these years later means we must have done something not too badly."

Joe Harper, who played for Turnbull with Aberdeen and Hibs, said: "I loved Eddie Turnbull as a son loves a father, so I've found it hard to handle the news of his death.

"Eddie was a hard man, right to the very end.

"I was fortunate to spend 45 minutes with him at Pittodrie last month, when he was a guest at Aberdeen's game against Hibs.

"Eddie was in great spirits and seemed particularly keen talk about the good times we enjoyed together at Pittodrie.

"I've since found out that Eddie knew then that his time was limited because he was battling cancer.

"He gave no hint of that during our chat though.

"It's 45 minutes I will cherish for the rest of my own life because I owe so much to Eddie, who signed me for Aberdeen from Morton in 1969."

Hibs have laid aside an area outside the main stand at Easter Road where supporters can leave their own personal tributes to Turnbull, whose funeral is expected to take place in Edinburgh next Monday.