Two local charities benefited by several thousand pounds each thanks to Hibs’ legend Pat Stanton’s birthday celebration at the Usher Hall last night.
The Hibernian family turned out in numbers to pay tribute to Pat and were rewarded with a night full of wonderful memories of his time as one of the giants of Scottish football.
The event was organised by Paul Kane and Willie McEwan and hosted by Hibs’ fan Grant Stott in a ‘This is your life’ format.
Pat came onto the stage to a lengthy standing ovation from the audience and the evening started with a short video of his career.
Pat then discussed his childhood in Niddrie and watching his hero Joe Baker before playing junior football with Bonnyrigg Rose after being farmed out by manager Walter Galbraith.
Former team-mate and SFA Hall of Fame legend Allan McGraw joined Pat on stage and reminisced about playing alongside him in Hibs’ famous 5-0 victory over Naples.
Bobby Duncan then described his opening 70-yard goal that night then regaled the audience with a hilarious memory of Hibs tour of America in the late 60s.
Willie Hunter who later became a team-mate of Pat at Easter Road recalled playing against Pat on his debut against Motherwell.
John Fraser who was unable to attend due to a prior engagement appeared on video and introduced himself as Pat’s chauffer and Pat explained how john used to pick him up in his ‘pig van’ which he used to collect pig swill from hotels throughout the city.
A number of Pat’s team mates from the 60s including Colin Grant, Kenny Davidson and John Murphy joined him on stage.
The arena erupted when several members of the legendry ‘Turnbull’s Tornadoes’ appeared including John Brownlie, John Blackley, Alex Edwards, Alex Cropley and Jimmy O’Rourke.
A film of the 1972 League Cup victory over Celtic was followed by the ‘greatest game in history’ the 1973 new year’s day humiliation of Hearts at Tynecastle with the fans cheering every goal including Pat’s opener at Hampden and Hibs’ sixth against Hearts when Pat intercepted the ball in his own half and ran 60 yards through the Hearts’ defence before sliding the ball past Kenny Garland only for Jimmy O’Rourke to knock it into the net from 18 inches.
During the break, the goals from Hibs Drybrough Cup win over Celtic were shown along with a number of Pat’s goals.
Comedian Eric Davidson, brother of Hibs’ Kenny entertained the fans with a hilarious routine and an amended Beatles song about Pat.
Video tributes were received from George Stewart, Alan Rough, The Proclaimers, Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove.
Jackie MacNamara returned from his home in Spain to speak about his move to Hibs as part of the deal that took Pat to Parkhead and whilst Pat was being given a standing ovation by the Celtic fans he was being booed at Easter Road before he had even kicked a ball.
Tony Higgins recalled the famous Uefa Cup tie against Italian giants Juventus and had the audience in stitches when he described an Eddie Turnbull team meeting.
Ralph Callachan recalled scoring for Hearts at Tynecastle in an Edinburgh derby only for Pat to equalise in the last minute after ‘the pubs had opened’ at 5pm.
Jim McArthur recalled how in his eleven years at Easter Road he was never on a losing side against Hearts but moaned that Pat had freed him when he became manager and replaced him with Alan Rough.
Ally MacLeod bemoaned the fact that he didn’t get to spend enough time with Pat before his move to Celtic and Pat expressed his delight that the players who had scored the two best goals he had ever seen were present, Bobby Duncan, whose goal against Naples was now standing at 85-yards and Ally for a special effort against Dundee.
Other team-mates from the 70s including Lindsay Muir and John Hazel joined Pat on stage.
Grant then moved to his managerial career and Sir Alex Ferguson appeared to a standing ovation.
The pair joked about their time together at Aberdeen but ‘Fergie’ couldn’t hide his admiration for Pat and his contribution to the team’s success.
The affection between the pair was evident as they shared their memories and three of that team joined them on the sofa, Alex McLeish who later managed Hibs, Gordon Strachan who idolised Pat from the Easter Road Terracing and Stevie Archibald to scored the winning goal at Tynecastle during a period of Hearts’ dominance in the late 1980s.
After leaving Aberdeen Pat managed Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline before returning to Easter Road where he brought a number of young players through and several of that team appeared including John Collins, Mickey Weir, Gordon Hunter, Paul Kane, Robin Rae, Alan Sneddon and Gordon Rae.
Pat described the lack of funds available at the time and how the board were reluctant to pay bus fares for John Collins who was commuting from Galashiels.
Former Hibs’ captains John ‘Yogi’ Hughes and Ian Murray paid tribute to Pat as did Irvine Welsh, Fish former director Alan Munro and journalist Simon Pia who wrote Pat’s biography ‘the Quiet Man.’
Alan told how he managed to persuade Pat, Joe Baker and Lawrie Reilly to become hosts in the hospitality in the newly opened Famous Five stand and how the guests were overawed in the presence of three Hibernian greats.
Simon recalled being sent to cover a Manchester United game at Old Trafford but there was a mix up with his accreditation and he only gained entry after telling Sir Alex Ferguson that he was a friend of Pat’s and then spent the day in the company of Pat Crerand and Denis Law in the hospitality boxes.
The evening ended with Pat’s family joining him on stage where he was presented with a Hibs jersey with the number 75 and Stanton on the back and a Hibs’ birthday cake as the fans sang ‘Happy Birthday to You’
At then end of the night an emotional Pat thanked everyone for attending and claimed that had the cake been bigger he would have given everyone slice.
Everyone left the arena with a smile on their face after what was a fitting tribute to arguably Hibernian’s greatest ever player.
Apologies to anyone who attended but was not mentioned.
This event supported charities Children with Cancer and Leukaemia Advice and Support for Parents (CCLASP) registered charity no. SC047235 and also Muirfield Riding Therapy Registered charity no. SC028674*
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.
