Stanton's impact still holding sway

Famous victories against European giants such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool in the 1960s and 1970s were no doubt personal highlights, but that was only the tip of the iceberg for Stanton and for the Hibs supporters he played in front of for more than a decade.

He ensured his place in the hearts of the Easter Road faithful by lifting the League Cup, playing his part in the 7-0 New Year's Day win over arch rivals Hearts and by scoring a goal in the 5-0 home win over Napoli in the Fairs Cup.

Add the facts that he was captain of club and country, won a league and cup double with Celtic and followed his career on the park by becoming manager of his beloved Hibs in the early 80s, and it's clear why he still holds such a special place in the hearts and minds of so many on the Easter Road terraces.

A Craigmillar boy born and bred, Stanton came to Hibs from the school side of Holy Cross Academy - the same team which had earlier give Hibs Jimmy O'Rourke - at the same time as Davy Hogg.

It could all have been so different though if Jock Stein - who was later to manage Hibs himself - had managed to convince a young Stanton to sign for Dunfermline.

Having impressed then Pars boss Stein with his performances for Salvesen Boys Club, he was invited for a trial at East End Park. But he was already training with Hibs, and his love of the green and white drew him back to Easter Road.

From the minute Stanton signed for Hibs - Walter Galbraith brought him to Easter Road in 1963 - there was an air of inevitability about the fact that he would go on to become club captain. After all, a distant relative of his, Michael Whelahan, had been named the first-ever Hibs skipper when the club was formed in 1875.

Stanton made an instant impact after joining the club, scoring on his debut against Motherwell, a that match ended in a disappointing 4-3 defeat for the Easter Road side. But it was the start of something special for Stanton.

He started his Hibs career at inside left but was quickly moved to sweeper and was so impressive that former Scotland boss Tommy Docherty once claimed that he was better than England's World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore.

Whether that was indeed the case is probably still being debated in the many pubs dotted around Leith, but whatever the case, within a year of signing for the club he supported as a boy, Stanton was playing his part in a thrilling 2-0 victory over the mighty Real Madrid.

It may have simply been a challenge match, but to see the stars of Real at Easter Road is something the man himself will never forget.

He later said: "Jock Stein had just taken over as manager at Easter Road and he decided to stage a big European challenge match. Who better to get than Real Madrid?

"It turned out to be a really magical night and it was some feeling just to be out there on the pitch, standing just yards away from them before kick-off. Even we stopped warming-up to watch with the crowd as they came out of the tunnel.

"They looked like gods, all dressed in white, but they were soon brought back down to earth."

While Stanton's contribution to that win was not insignificant itself, he picked out team-mate Willie Hamilton as the outstanding player that night - and, indeed, the best player he ever had the privilege to line up with. He added: "When they got a late corner, Willie came back into the box - a rare event in itself.

"I thought 'what's he doing in here?' - I thought he might be having a rest somewhere else. The fans probably though Willie was coming back to encourage the younger lads to hold on and keep calm, but he just strolled up and said: 'Hey Pat, they tell me you get a watch for playing this lot'.

"He was right, I still have mine, but that just about summed him up.

"Willie Hamilton was one of the best I ever played with and Stein thought he was something else too," Stanton told author Simon Pia for his book 'Sunshine on Leith'. He added: "When I was at Celtic, Tommy Burns and Roy Aitken once asked me who was the best I'd played with, and I said Willie. They didn't really know who he was but just then, big Jock came dripping out the shower. He had overheard the question and had come to back me up."

So impressive had Stanton's performances been in the three years since he joined Hibs that he earned his first call-up to the Scotland side in 1966, a match that ended in a disappointing 3-0 defeat, and he went on to make a further 15 appearances for his national side, captaining them on three occasions.

A year later saw Stanton play a key role in one of the most memorable games ever staged at Easter Road, the 6-4 aggregate win over Italian side Napoli when the odds had been stacked against them.

Nothing had gone to plan on that trip to the Stadio Fuorigrotta in Italy, their only goal in a 4-1 defeat coming from Colin Stein, and it looked as though there would be no way back. However the tie was turned on its head when Bobby Duncan, Pat Quinn and Colin Stein hauled Hibs back into contention.

Peter Cormack sent the 22,000 supporters wild with the fourth, only for Stanton to send them into a further frenzy with the fifth of the night to put a seal on the victory.

When he was named captain of the club, succeeding Joe Davis in 1970, it seemed a natural progression. Two years later he went on the lead the club to a 2-0 League Cup win over Celtic, scoring one goal and setting up the other in an outstanding individual performance.

He followed that up with the 7-0 victory over Hearts on new Year's Day, though the list of highlights could go on and on.

Stanton has never tried to hide his sorrow at leaving Hibs, his Easter Road career coming to an end in 1976 after a fallout with Eddie Turnbull when he switched to Parkhead in a swap deal which saw Jackie McNamara move in the opposite direction.

However, that would have been tempered by the fact that he went on to add the final pieces of silverware to his personal collection, winning the Scottish Cup and League title with the Glasgow side.

As a result he's now one of the few Hibs players who can say that they have the full collection of domestic medals on offer in Scotland, although he played fewer than 50 games for Celtic as a result of an injury on the first day of the 1977-78 season that meant he never played another game for the Parkhead side.

Forced to quit the game he loved to play, he moved into management in 1978. First he was assistant to Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen, then he went to Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline before finally moving back to Hibs to become the successor to Bertie Auld.

His spell in the manager's chair was not to provide him with a fairytale ending to his love affair with Hibs though, and he resigned in 1983. He has not been involved with senior football since.

THE FACTS

September 13, 1944: Patrick Gordon Stanton is born in Edinburgh.

1963: Signed for Hibs from Holy Cross by Walter Galbraith and goes on to score on his debut for the club in the 4-3 league defeat to Motherwell.

1966: Earns the first of his 16 caps for Scotland in a 3-0 defeat to Holland at Hampden Park.

1967: Scores in one of the most memorable nights Easter Road has ever seen, the 5-0 Fairs Cup win over Napoli, which overturned a seemingly-unassailable 4-1 first leg lead the Italians had established.

1970: One of the highlights of Stanton's Easter Road career as he succeeds Joe Davis as Hibs captain, following in the footsteps of relative Michael Whelahan, the first-ever captain of the club.

1971: Follows that honour by being named Scotland captain for the 1-0 defeat to the USSR, and goes on to skipper the national side on a further two occasions.

1973: Stanton helps Hibs record a remarkable 7-0 win over city rivals Hearts in the New Year's Day derby at Tynecastle.

1976: His playing career at Easter Road comes to an end when he is sold to Jock Stein's Celtic by then-manager Eddie Turnbull and goes on to win a league and cup double in his first season at Parkhead.

1977: His Celtic career comes to an untimely end when he suffers an injury on the opening day of the season and he never plays another game for the club.

1982: Returned home to Easter Road, this time as manager, replacing Bertie Auld in the hot seat.

1984: Resigned as Hibs manager.