‘Hibs Through and Through – the Eric Stevenson Story’ is launching in the Gallery Suite in the West Stand of Easter Road tonight at 6.30pm with all supporters welcome to attend.
The book, written by Eric Stevenson and Club Historian Tom Wright, traces Eric’s wonderful career in the beautiful game.
Few (if any) players provided the Hibs’ supporters with more entertainment in the 1960s than Eric. Equally capable on either wing, his close ball control consistently got the better of the opposing full back, but he also had an eye for goal, scoring an impressive 79 times and creating many more in his 390 games for the club during 11 memorable years.
After a controversial spell on Hearts’ books which culminated in the club being fined for a contract irregularity, Eric turned down Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United to join his boyhood heroes. He starred in numerous famous games for Hibs before personal reasons saw him move to Ayr United where he was famously fined for missing a game to watch Hibs win the League Cup.
Eric retired prematurely to concentrate on his business interests in Bonnyrigg but he remains a ‘weel-kent face’ at Easter Road and four years ago he was deservedly inducted into the Hibernian Hall of Fame.
Eric recently told the Edinburgh Reporter: “I have so many great memories playing for Hibs and in particular I loved playing against Hearts. Their supporters really hated me as I had been on their books as a youngster and there would be crowds of 40,000 at Tynecastle for the derbies.
“One game in particular stands out when I scored twice and we were 4-0 up after only 10 minutes. If we had kept going it could have been double figures, but we took our foot off the pedal. I still feel guilty as I started to take the mickey with flicks and back heels which the Hibs’ fans loved, but I think that if Eddie Turnbull or Jock Stein had been in charge then they would have insisted that we go for more goals. Bob Shankly was the manager at the time but he was more laid back.
“The European nights under the floodlights at Easter Road were also special and we played against some great teams such as Hamburg with Uwe Seeler and Willi Schulz who played in the 1966 World Cup Final, Porto and Naples who had Dino Zoff in goals but even he couldn’t stop us scoring five goals that night.
“I was absolutely delighted and honoured to be nominated for the Hibernian Hall of Fame in 2012 and the fact that that my trophy was handed over by Lawrie Reilly meant as much to me as actually being inducted.”
Eric and Tom will also be signing copies of the book in the Hibernian Clubstore between 12pm and 1.30pm on Saturday ahead of the match with Dumbarton, with Andy McVannan in store between 1.30pm and 2pm signing copies of his book ‘We Are Hibs’.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
