GARRY O’CONNOR (1983 -

A glut of goals in the Hibernian Under 18 and Under-21 sides catapulted young Garry straight into the Hibernian first team in the summer of 2000. He responded with all four goals in a 4-0 pre-season win at Gala Fairydean.
   A powerful young striker he netted his first competitive strike in a 1-1 draw against Celtic in February 2002. Thereafter he was a frequent scorer, so much so that he was capped by Scotland at full international level before making any appearances at Under-21 or lesser ranks. There was a precedent here as he had been voted Scotland’s Player of the Month in April 2002, without having ever won the young version of this award.
  Some of his goals were stuff of local legend. He hit a real ‘belter’ in a 3-0 win at Partick and scored the famous 90th minute winner against Hearts at Easter Road when Hibs won with only ten men in 2003. He continued to make sound progression and although not great in the air he was both powerful and clever with the ball at his feet. By the time other clubs were circling around Easter Road looking for his signature he had contributed 58 goals in 166 appearances.
  O’Connor was sold to Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow in February 2006 for £1.6m. The terms were magnificent with the young striker reputed to have signed a five-year deal contract earning him roughly £16,000-per-week. But for all that wealth he didn’t really settle in Russia despite being able to produce the goals when needed, including the only one in Lokomotiv's victory in the May 2007 Russian Cup final over FC Moscow in the Luzhniki Stadium.
  His stay in Eastern Europe lasted 15 months before he was signed by Birmingham City of the English Premiership in a £2.65m deal in late June 2007. Birmingham boss Steve Bruce had no doubt been influenced by O’Connor’s successful return to the international fold. He had walked out on Scotland prior to a match in Ukraine, but after a cooling off period, Alex McLeish reintroduced him and he rewarded his former boss with goals against Austria and the Faroe Islands as Scotland pushed towards the 2008 European Championships.

ODDITIES

On New Year’s Day 1940 the BBC planned to broadcast on radio the Hibernian – Hearts clash. One of the clear aims was to boost morale amongst servicemen. However, on the day a thick fog descended on Edinburgh making commentating something of a lottery and largely guesswork. Nevertheless, the authorities insisted that the BBC pressed on  with its coverage and made no mention of the fog, lest this should give the Germans an indication as to weather condition in Edinburgh and the resultant inability of British forces to mount proper defences. The commentator on the day was journalist Bob Kingsley, better known as Rex the football writer with the Sunday Mail.

In 1908 a St. Mirren – Hibs game was played at Barrhead rather than Paisley. This was due to some Saints player and spectator rowdiness at a match against Queen's Park on 10 October 1908 the SFA closed Love Street for two weeks.   The match against Hibernian on 31 October 1908 was played at Dunterlie Park, the home of Arthurlie in Barrhead with Arthurlie charging the then monumental fee of £5.

Only seven Hibernian players scored league goals in the 1949/50 season (Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Ormond, Combe and Buchanan) but between them they had 86 goals !

In the 1923 Scottish Cup final between Hibernian and Celtic the two sides were managed by brothers. Alex was the manager of Hibs whilst Willie was the Celtic boss.

ALEN ORMAN (1978 -

A Bosnian by birth, Alen and his family moved to Austria when civil war erupted in what was then Yugoslavia. He made football his career and earned a contract with Admira Wacker in Vienna. His displays there were sufficiently good to interest Belgian side Royal Antwerp.
  He joined Hibernian in the summer of 2001 and looked a pacy overlapping full back. His stock on the terraces at Easter Road rose considerably when he scored a real ‘screamer’ at Ibrox Park in a 2-2 draw. Never spectacular he was however extremely industrious and showed pace when going forward, so much so that he became the first Hibs player to be capped by Austria when he played against Norway in late 2002.
   A dramatic end to the year followed with Alen suffering an epileptic fit before a match against Rangers, but he quickly recovered and was none the worse for his experience. Never that frequent a ‘pick’ under Bobby Williamson he did better under Tony Mowbray and refound his scoring touch in late 2004.
   By the time he left Hibs he had played 73 matches and scored twice.

WILLIE ORMOND (1927-1984)

Willie Ormond enjoyed what can truly be described as one of the most distinguished careers in Scottish football. As a player he was the outside-left in the renowned Hibernian forward line ‘The Famous Five’. As a manager he took St Johnstone to new heights before winning a nation’s heart as the quietly effective manager of Scotland.
  But Ormond was much more than a soaring success. He was a universally popular figure in the Scottish game. His cherubic looks, beguiling smile and approachable manner made him a favourite wherever he went. Here was a ‘man of the people’ the fans could relate to. When he died in 1984 he was mourned the length and breadth of Scotland.
  Ormond was the only member of the Hibernian ‘Famous Five’ to cost a transfer fee. He actually started his career with Stenhousemuir and joined Willie McCartney’s Hibs in November 1946 for the princely sum of £1,200. That proved a sound piece of business for the Hibees and Ormond stayed at Easter Road for 15 years.
   Willie would score 133 goals for Hibs in 348 matches, including a last minute against Rangers in front of 40,000 in his home Hibs debut. He overcame a catalogue of injuries to achieve those figures. Three leg-breaks, a broken arm and ruptured ligaments were at the top of an appalling list. But in an age before the concept of ‘bouncebackability’ was in vogue Ormond was the archetypal survivor.
   Three championship medals came Willie’s way in his Easter Road career. When Hibs retained their title in 1952 they did so with a 3-1 win over Dundee in which the mercurial Ormond scored twice. He couldn’t add a domestic cup medal however and that wasn’t for lack of trying. Willie played in the 1947 Scottish Cup final and was on the losing side again in 1958. He reached the League Cup final with Hibs in 1950 but once more Lady Luck deserted the Edinburgh men. But the national stadium wasn’t always unkind and he won six caps for Scotland (to go with seven Scottish League caps).
   Willie stayed at Hibs until the summer of 1961 when he moved to Falkirk, but he rather ungraciously returned to Easter Road in October of that year to score both Bairns goals in a 2-2 draw. How Falkirk were glad of that point. Season 61/62 proved a close call for the Brockville men and they stayed in the top flight by the narrowest of margins, finishing ahead of relegated St Johnstone by a single point. Ormond had little more than a year as a Falkirk player (he was the third member of the Ormond family to play for the Bairns; his brothers Bert and Gibby also playing professional football) before becoming joint trainer/coach.
 But it was further north in Perth that Willie really made his mark. St. Johnstone had lost their boss of eight years Bobby Brown to Scotland and when Harold Davis, the former Rangers and East Fife wing-half and Queen’s Park coach, turned the post down they looked to the former Hibee to revive their flagging fortunes.
  Ormond was appointed St Johnstone boss in March 1967. When he walked through the door of the long-gone Muirton Park he arrived full of enthusiasm. Aged just 41 he was helped by the great success his good friend and former Hibernian team-mate Eddie Turnbull had made of the Aberdeen job. Perhaps fortunate to go from trainer to manager of a First Division club in one simple leap he was clearly grateful for the opportunity, as he made crystal clear at the time:-
  “It has long been my ambition to manage a club, and to go to such a well established outfit as St Johnstone is a great honour. I think there are great prospects here.  I have just got to put the confidence into the boys and get them working together. I don’t see why we shouldn’t do well.”
  Ormond was to stay until 1973 and as he fell in love with Perth so Saints fell in love with him. Clever in the transfer market he was equally shrewd when it came to spotting and promoting talented youngsters.
  During his reign he took St Johnstone to new heights. They reached the League Cup final in 1969 and a third place finish in the league the following season gave them entry to the Fairs Cup. Remarkably Saints took to Europe with ease and they despatched the likes of Hamburg and Vasas Budapest in a thrilling run that captivated Perthshire.
  St Johnstone supporters still recall the Ormond years with great fondness. His was the side of Connolly, Hall and Pearson and excitement was always high on the Perth agenda. Just how popular Ormond was is clear when you drive up to McDiarmid Park and see his name emblazoned on the respectfully named Ormond Stand, a sure sign of celebrity status.
   If his spell at St Johnstone marked the high spot of his domestic career then 1974 marked his international high point. In December 1972 Scotland boss Tommy Docherty left to take the vacant Manchester United job. On January 4th, 1973 Willie Ormond, then aged 46, was announced as Docherty’s successor. It was a blow to St. Johnstone but great news for Scotland. Although not instantly!  On February 14th the Scottish FA celebrated its Centenary with a mach against England at Hampden Park, and a stunned crowd saw England romp home by an embarrassing 5-0. It was hardly the bow that Ormond had dreamt of making.
  Yet Ormond turned things around. So much so that they were able to qualify for the 1974 World Cup finals in Germany, returning home unbeaten. Ormond was rewarded with an OBE 12 months later.
   Ormond’s love of Edinburgh was never far from the surface and in May 1977 he became Hearts boss. Sadly that did not work out the way he had hoped and in January 1980 he moved out of Tynecastle. Naturally enough his next port of call was Easter Road, where he worked with Edie Turnbull briefly, before taking over from Eddie in March 1980. Alas poor health had begun to take its toll and his stay in the Hibs hot seat was short-lived. He slipped out of football to concentrate on running his public house in Musselburgh.
  Willie Ormond died in Edinburgh’s Eastern General Hospital on the 4th of May 1984, aged just 59. He was mourned throughout the Scottish game; such was the high esteem with which this highly likeable man was held. To this day his record in the World Cup as Scotland manager remains unsurpassed and mention of his name in both Edinburgh and Perth brings nothing but praise.

JIM O’ROURKE (1946 -

One of the most popular Hibernian players of the Eddie Turnbull management era it is often overlooked that Jim O’Rourke was with Hibernian long before Eddie was appointed boss. Jim joined Hibernian in 1962 from schools football and stayed until 1974. His subsequent career took him to St Johnstone and then Motherwell before he returned to Easter Road as reserve team coach to Eddie Turnbull.
   Brought up as a Hibernian supporter he had watched the team from 1951 onwards. As he once confessed to me “Every game as a Hibernian player was a great occasion for me because for so long I had followed the club from the terraces”.
   His debut came on the 9th December 1962 against Utrecht of Holland in the Fairs Cup. Only 16 at the time manager Walter Galbraith shrewdly delayed telling Jim of his bow until the very afternoon of the match. O’Rourke played well and his career was underway, it flourished when he found the route to goal.
  Quite simply O’Rourke loved scoring goals and he had the good fortune to play in sides that provided him with plenty of opportunities. Playing up front with Alan Gordon was perhaps his zenith, but the partner he most enjoyed was Joe Baker who had been a particular boyhood hero.
   The absolute pinnacle of O’Rourke’s spell at Easter Road was never in any doubt. In an emotional interview Jim once told me “For me the highlight of my time at Easter Road was the 1972 League Cup final when we finally got our hands on the silverware we thoroughly deserved. It was such an important win for the players and for their families. Personally coming from a Hibs family it provided a wonderful sense of achievement.”
  December 1972 and January 1973 were the halcyon days for Hibernian fans, when the team truly delivered the supporters to the football equivalent of ‘the Promised Land’. On December 9th Hibs defeated Celtic 2-1 in the League Cup final and then on the following Saturday not only was the cup paraded around Easter Road but Hibs crushed Ayr United 8-1. With a goal in the final, a hat-trick against Ayr and then a brace in the January 1973 massacre of Hearts at Tynecastle (when 7-0 was scant reward for the most one-sided derby in history) the part played by O’Rourke could never be over-played.
  Jim left for St. Johnstone in 1974, where ex-Hibs coach John Lambie was on the staff, and with a wonderful sense of irony his first goal for the Saints came in a 1-0 win over Hibernian at Easter Road on the 28th September 1974. He would later play with Motherwell but it is as a Hibernian player he is best remembered and his 210 league outings (with 81 goals) were marked by competitiveness and bravery.

In the Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle in November 2003 Hibs lost 0-2. What was unusual about the defeat was that Hibs scored both goals. Alen Orman put through his own goal in the ninth minute and Gary Smith compounded that error by doing likewise in the 67th minute