Hibernian Football Club was formed at a meeting at St Mary’s Street Hall in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh on 6 August 1875.
Members of the Catholic Young Men's Society (CYMS) had for some time sought to start a football club and that night, permission was granted by Limerick-born Cannon Edward Joseph Hannan of nearby St Patrick's Church who became the Club’s first manager.
The players were recruited from the CYMS which insisted they were all teetotal and practising Catholics and Michael Whelehan was appointed captain.
Initially there was some resistance to an Irish team participating in Scottish football from the SFA however common sense prevailed and the first game took place on Christmas Day of that year against Heart of Midlothian.
Initially games were played at The Meadows before the Club moved to Powderhall, then to Mayfield and later to the first Easter Road which was situated a few hundred yards south of the current stadium.
The Club quickly established themselves as a force and became the first side from the east coast of Scotland to win a major trophy, the 1887 Scottish Cup which was secured with a 2-1 victory over Dumbarton.
This was followed by a victory over top English side Preston North End in a contest billed as the Association Football Championship of the World decider.
The Club continued to play charity matches for the benefit of a number of causes which inspired the creation of other clubs throughout Scotland including Celtic.
However, this contributed the Club’s downfall. Celtic signed several of the Hibernian players through offering financial inducements which, coupled with mismanagement over the next few years, led to the Club becoming homeless and ceasing operating in 1891.
But the Club returned to action two years later at the current site with a new board of directors who decided that the Club should be ‘non-sectarian’ and open to all.
The Scottish Cup returned to the Easter Road Board room in 1902 when Hibernian beat Celtic 1-0 and the following season, manager Dan McMichael led the team to their first league championship.
Football was halted during the first world war and a number of Hibernian players fought in the campaign.
The 1920s is best remembered for back to back Scottish Cup final defeats to Celtic in 1923 the Airdrieonians in 1924 and also the redevelopment of the Easter Road stadium which had been financed by means of debentures
But by the end of the decade Hibernian were in severe financial difficulty and suffered their first relegation in 1931.
The debenture holders demanded, and were granted, a say in running the Club and Harry Swan, a businessman of some repute, was nominated to join the board becoming the first non-catholic to hold that position.
Less than a year later he resigned, accusing his fellow directors of failing to match his ambitions for the Club, but the following year he was again elected to the board as chairman, boldly prophesising that given 10-years, he would make Hibernian great again.
World War 2 hampered these plans although during the conflict a number of top players guested for the Club including Matt Busby who later manged Manchester United to European Cup glory.
Following the war Swan led the Club during its most successful periods, winning the league three times in five seasons.
The forward line of Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull (above) and Willie Ormond was considered to be one of the finest in the land and their attacking style won admiration throughout the world. This resulted in summer tours to Europe and Brazil.
Such was the popularity of the Club at that time that plans were produced to increase the capacity of the stadium to 100,000.
Swan was known as a visionary and his achievements included installing pylon floodlights at the four corners of the stadium.
The floodlights coupled with the Club’s reputation resulted in an invite to take part in the inaugural European Champions’ Cup which Swan accepted.
Hibernian, the only British team in the competition, defeated German champions Rot Weiss Essen and Swedish champions Djurgaardens before losing in the semi-final to Rheims.
The Club later became the first from Scotland to take part in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup with a team featuring the young Joe Baker whose ability was such that he was capped for England as a teenager.
Baker would subsequently be sold to Torino for £65,000 before returning to the UK to enjoy success at Arsenal.
During the 1960s, Hibernian regularly enjoyed unforgettable nights of European football at Easter Road hosting top clubs including Barcelona, Roma, Porto, Napoli, Leeds and Liverpool under the lights at Easter Road.
For a short period the inimitable Jock Stein who would go on to unprecedented success with Celtic managed Hibernian to Summer Cup success and orchestrated the 2-0 defeat of the legendary Real Madrid in a friendly at Easter Road in October 1964.
The next period of success at Hibernian was masterminded by Eddie Turnbull who was appointed manager in July 1971.
Turnbull built a wonderful attacking side nicknamed the Tornadoes which is still revered to this day.
The team went on to win the League Cup in December 1972, defeating Celtic 2-1 at Hampden, the first major cup triumph in 70-years.
The Tornadoes also lifted two Drybrough Cups in successive years and inflicted rivals Heart of Midlothian’s biggest ever home defeat, 7-0 on New Year’s Day 1973.
During the Club’s centenary year, the team was captained by Pat Stanton (above) – a distant relative of Hibernian’s first ever captain, Michael Whelahan.
During Turnbull’s tenure in charge of first team affairs, Hibernian locked horns with European giants Juventus, Sporting Lisbon Leeds United and Liverpool in the UEFA Cup and reached the 1979 Scottish Cup Final – narrowly losing to Rangers in a second replay.
Relegation arrived the following season however despite the signing of former European Footballer of the Year George Best.
Edinburgh Bookmaker Kenny Waugh took over from Tom Hart and redeveloped the stadium by reducing the size of the east terracing and building a roof.
Waugh subsequently sold his shares which resulted in a series of events culminating in a hostile takeover bid by Heart of Midlothian chairman Wallace Mercer.
It took a supporters’ campaign from a group known as Hands off Hibs led by Kenny McLean to fight off the bid and Leith businessman Sir Tom Farmer eventually bought the Club.
Coincidentally Sir Tom’s grandfather and great uncle had been instrumental in saving the Club 100 years earlier.
The following year, manager Alex Miller led Hibernian to their first silverware in almost 20-years, beating Dunfermline 2-0 in the final of the Skol/League Cup having disposed of Rangers in the semi-final.
Sir Tom then set about redeveloping the stadium and built new stands at either end on the pitch. The north stand was subsequently named after the Famous Five. He later replaced the west stand and east terracing.
Season 1997/98 ended in relegation, but Hibernian bounced straight back under new manager Alex McLeish who managed to attract former European Cup winner and French international Franck Sauzee and Trinidad and Tobago legend Russell Latapy to the Club.
McLeish was subsequently lured to his boyhood heroes Rangers and after a period of stagnation, a golden generation of youngers emerged and lifted the CIS League Cup with a 5-1 victory over Kilmarnock under manager John Collins.
But one trophy eluded the Club, the Scottish Cup. Final defeats to Aberdeen in 1946, Clyde in 1958 Celtic in 1972 and Rangers in 1979 were followed by another to Celtic in 2001.
Back-to-back defeats to Hearts and Celtic in 2012 and 2013 added to the frustration and worse was to follow in 2014 when the Club suffered another relegation following a play-of defeat to Hamilton Academical.
Terry Butcher was replaced with Alan Stubbs who built an impressive side with shrewd buys including David Gray and John McGinn.
Then on 21st May 2016 Stubbs’ side finally won the Scottish Cup beating Rangers 3-2 in the final with two goals from Anthony Stokes and a 92nd minute header from David Gray.
An incredible 150,000 people took to the streets of Edinburgh to cheer the team on during their open top bus victory parade the following day.
Stubbs left for Rotherham and was replaced by Neil Lennon who led the Club back to the top flight and brought European football back to Easter Road.
In 2019 Ron Gordon became Hibernian’s majority shareholder when a company he established for the purpose, Bydand Sports LLC, bought the shares of Sir Tom Farmer and Rod Petrie.
Ron developed a long-term vision and plan for the Club based on creating sustainable success on and off the pitch through improved commercial performance.
His vision aimed to deliver consistent sporting success, better match day experience for fans, and a Club rooted in its community.
Sadly Ron passed away in February 2023 and his family retain control of the Club.
