Eddie Turnbull

Eddie Turnbull signed for Hibs from Forth Rangers in 1946. As a player he was physically impressive and had the happy knack of possessing both aggression and creativity. With his excellent work-rate and thunderous shot, he quickly became a fans favourite.

Eddie was seen as the driving force of the Hibs team in the late 40's and early 50's, he forged a strong link with Willie Ormond at outside-left. A measure of his ability was that Manchester United offered a huge sum for his services, however Eddie preferred to stay at Hibs.

Eddie quickly progressed, playing in the 1947 Scottish Cup final, and just two years into his senior career he was a Scotland internationalist making his debut at Hampden in a 2-0 victory over Belgium.

His game was largely based on industry and power and it was as well he had great stamina for he played in the famous Scottish Cup semi-final against Motherwell that ran for 142 minutes, in the days before penalty shootouts.

However, he earned fame for more than his endurance when in February 1950 he scored four against Celtic, including three from the penalty spot (The bravest referee in the world - probably).

Eddie was involved in a most bizarre incident in 1950, while on a pre-season tour of Germany. Willie Ormond had commited an innocuous foul and Eddie jokingly suggested to the referee that Willie should be ordered off for the challenge. The referee, to the amazment of everyone watching, obliged and sent him off!

He evolved into a right-half and by season 1954/55 Eddie was deservedly appointed club captain. Needless to say he loved the role and picked up his last four Scotland caps including three in the World Cup Finals in Sweden, where Eddie was the only Hibs player.

By the time Eddie retired, in 1959, he had collected three Scottish League Championship medals, 8 Scotland caps, 1 Scotland 'B' cap, 4 Scottish League caps and played and (like so many other Hibbies before and since) lost two Scottish Cup Finals.

Eddie, along with Willie Ormond, decided to go into football managment after retirng from the game and, after a brief spell on Hibs backroom staff, he took over at Queens Park.

By 1965 Eddie had become manager of Aberdeen where he went on to beat Celtic in the 1970 Scottish Cup Final after previously losing to them in the 1967 Final.

It was after this that Tom Hart managed to convince him to return as manager of Hibs. This was the birth of the 'Turnbull Tornadoes' as Hibs lost the 1972 Scottish Cup Final but won the 1972 Dryburgh and League Cup Finals. On top of this he took Hibs to Tynecastle on New Years Day 1973 and narrowly scraped a 7-0 win.

The team he built was nearly as spectacular as the one he had played in and he took them to Hampden on another three occassions, winning the Dryburgh Cup again and losing a League Cup final to Celtic 6-3, despite Joe Harper scoring a hat trick.

His final visit to Hampden came in 1979 when after two replays (following two 0-0 draws) he lost 3-2 to Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final. Even then this was after extra-time and only due to a disputed Arthur Duncan own goal (it didn't cross the line!!).

After losing to Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final of 1980, Eddie resigned as manager of Hibs and retired from football altogether after 34 years in the game.