Hibs player and fan Murray relives memories of the east terrace

It was, after all, where he grew up supporting his boyhood heroes, taking a step closer to that hallowed turf as he served as a ball boy and then fulfilling that dream of not only pulling on a green and white jersey but leading the team out.

The memories will all come flooding back again tomorrow as he runs out to face St Johnstone for what will be the final match before the bulldozers move in to begin preparing the way for an ultra-modern new stand.

But, while insisting the time is right for the final piece of the redevelopment of Easter Road, one which will take capacity to 20,250 early next season, Murray admitted he'll be joining the fans in an afternoon of nostalgia.

He said: "I remember as a youngster being taken to watch games from the "Cow Shed" where the Famous Five Stand is now but it was the East Terracing where I wanted to be.

"I'm not sure what the attraction was, possibly because it seemed to be the noisiest place, the bit of the ground where all the fun seemed to be happening and the only area where you could still stand but, I suppose, there was always the danger of getting lost if you wandered off in the crowd.

"I must have been seven or eight when we eventually went there, one of my earliest memories is watching Murdo MacLeod score with a header. The great thing was you could go to whichever end Hibs were attacking and, if there was a penalty, you could quite easily run to the other end to see it."

The East Terracing became the East Stand as Easter Road became an all-seated stadium in 1995 with the building of the existing Famous Five and South Stands but the unique atmosphere created remained.

Murray knows from experience that all players, Hibs stars included, can find themselves the target for barbed comments although, having returned in the colours of Rangers, the 28-year-old realises just how intimidating it could all prove to be.

He said: "Some of the comments could be cutting, some highly amusing and many pretty close to the bone. There are parts of every ground where you know you are going to get it as a visiting player and at Easter Road that's the East Stand.

"You'll always get someone shouting at you, that's part and parcel of the game but visiting wingers and full-backs know that, for the 45 minutes you are on that side of the ground, you'll get it far more than, say, the West Stand."

Recalling how Didier Agathe always seemed to find it difficult to cope with playing in front of those self-same fans who acclaimed him in the green and white of Hibs but subjected him to torrents of abuse following his move to Celtic, Murray commented: "I think Didier found it difficult coming from a different background and culture.

"I watched Karim Benzema come on for Real Madrid at Lyon, his previous club, in the Champions League last week and you'd have thought he had scored as the home crowd went bonkers when he came on.

"Here as an ex-player it doesn't matter what you have done for a previous club you know what to expect when you return and I think Didier was perhaps surprised by the reaction he got every time he came back to Easter Road."

And Murray is convinced that little will change when the new 6400-seater stand opens early next season. He said: "It's always been a special place with a reputation for housing, shall we say, the more raucous of our supporters.

"It's where the atmosphere within the ground seems to come from and, I am sure, it will be the same when the new stand is in place.

"I'm sure quite a few fans will get quite emotional at the sight of it being ripped down because everyone will have their own particular memories and many of them will have stood or sat in the same place alongside the same people for years.

"But it's probably the right time to get the stadium completed and, when it is, I am sure Easter Road will be looked upon as probably the third best after the Old Firm.

"In the current financial climate I don't think there are many clubs who could pick and choose when to embark on such an ambitious project so it is fantastic we are able to do so. I remember Franz Beckenbauer praising what Easter Road had to offer when Bayern Munich played Raith Rovers here in the UEFA Cup.

"To be honest, you walk into the away dressingroom at Easter Road and see what the opposition enjoy compared to what we are subjected to at some grounds.

"It will be nice to think that, in future years, teams will come from elsewhere and not only remember the great facilities but also that they played not a bad team."

And bringing back the big European nights is, Murray insisted, what will be driving John Hughes and his players over the final few weeks of the season as they aim to hang onto third place in the SPL table.

Their lofty position, and with it a place in next season's Europa League, has been put under threat by three successive defeats by Rangers, St Johnstone and Motherwell, a run Murray is determined to end tomorrow.

He said: "I played that memorable night against AEK Athens when the whole place was rocking from the first minute to the last, it still has the hairs standing on the back of your neck when you think about it.

"It was a fantastic atmosphere with Hibs fans having the whole of the ground apart from one wee pocket of Greek supporters, terrific passion.

"We are all desperate to be in that arena again next season.

"We haven't had a particularly great week, I don't think any of us would have been happy with three points from nine far less failing to pick up a point.

"I know the fans will be particularly disappointed, not least with the 5-1 defeat by St Johnstone although, hopefully, we can prove tomorrow that was just one of those nights.

"But, while it's not been a good run of results, I think if you'd offered our fans third in the League at the end of February and a place in the last eight of the Cup they would have bitten your hand off."