Callachan's class won fans over

Stephen Halliday

TWO decades have passed since Ralph Callachan last played in an Edinburgh derby, but the man who wore the colours of both Hearts and Hibs with distinction is never too far from a reminder of what it meant when he crossed the city's football divide.

"I still get a lot of stick from the Jambos I meet," smiles Callachan. "They tell me I was a far better player for Hearts than I ever was with Hibs."

Followers of the Easter Road club, naturally enough, would disagree. In his eight years in green and white, Callachan's elegant midfield performances eventually banished all reservations about Eddie Turnbull's decision in August 1978 to sign a player who had left their greatest rivals for a deeply unhappy spell with Newcastle United little more than a year earlier.

It is that kind of acceptance from the Hibs supporters which Michael Stewart, the latest to make the cross-city switch from Gorgie to Leith previously undertaken by such as Alan Gordon, Roy Barry, Jim Brown, Malcolm Robertson and Callachan, can begin to gain if he performs well in tomorrow's eagerly anticipated derby at Tynecastle.

Callachan, who still cuts an instantly recognisable lean figure at the age of 50, will be among the visiting support in the Roseburn Stand and knows the fate which awaits Stewart as he returns to the ground where he spent last season as a Hearts player.

"He's going to take a fair bit of abuse from the Hearts punters and he'll just have to accept it," says Callachan. "He will be aware of it at the start of the game, when he gets his first few touches of the ball and is given the treatment, and there will be the inevitable comments if he goes to take a throw-in or corner. Once the game gets into its stride, however, he probably won't notice it. He will be focused on trying to play well and I'm sure he will handle it okay.

"Michael will be more concerned about impressing the Hibs fans than about any stick he gets from the Hearts punters. I know when I first joined Hibs, the fans were suspicious about me as a former Hearts player and it took a bit of time to win their approval."

For Callachan, who uniquely played in Scottish Cup finals for both Hearts (1976) and Hibs (1979) as well as scoring in derbies for both clubs, there is no question of divided loyalties these days. No longer directly involved in football, he is a regular at Easter Road and also follows Hibs to many away fixtures.

"My Dad was a Hibs man and I was a Hibee as a kid," he says. "It didn't affect me as a footballer, though. I just wanted to become a professional and it was Hearts who came in for me. I enjoyed my time at Tynecastle and I think any Hearts supporters who watched me would say I did well for them."

Callachan, a teenage debutant at Hearts under John Hagart's management, made his first derby appearance on New Year's Day 1975 in a largely undistinguished goalless draw in front of the last attendance of over 30,000 recorded at Tynecastle. In all, he played in six derbies for Hearts without tasting victory. The closest he came was in November 1975 when he had opened the scoring, only for Pat Stanton to equalise in what he still ruefully recalls as "about the 15th minute of injury time".

His move to Newcastle in February 1977 for £90,000, then a huge fee which Hearts were unable to resist, turned into the unhappiest experience of Callachan's playing career.

"It was a mistake," he says. "Newcastle didn't have a manager at the time, it was the chairman who signed me, but Hearts were happy to take the money. I was still only 21. Eventually, Bill McGarry was appointed manager and he just didn't take to me as a player. My time down there knocked the guts out of me, I hardly played and was also out for a long time with an ankle injury.

"There were rumours that Hearts wanted to take me back to Tynecastle, but nothing came of it. Sheffield United were interested but then I got a phone call from Hibs. Eddie Turnbull wanted to sign me and, after talks with Tom Hart and Tommy Younger, I agreed to join. I didn't really have any reservations about it, although I realised it wouldn't go down well with the Hearts fans. I was just desperate to play regularly again and I also knew how chuffed my Dad would be."

After making his Hibs debut in a goalless draw at home to Rangers, fate decreed that Callachan's second appearance would be against Hearts at Tynecastle on 26 August 1978. It was an explosive return to Gorgie, referee Ian Foote attacked by a supporter after he sent Hearts duo Donald Park and Jim Jefferies off with Ally McLeod's last minute goal earning a 1-1 draw for Hibs. Police made 50 arrests as the home support vented their fury.

If all the controversy had removed the spotlight from Callachan during the match, it was not long before the consequences of his conversion from maroon to green became apparent.

"The game was fairly quiet for me personally, apart from a few shouts from the Hearts fans when I was taking a throw-in," he says, "but afterwards I made the mistake of walking into town for a pint with a mate. A couple of Hearts punters spotted me and one of them gave me some real verbals."

Callachan went on to help Hibs knock Hearts out of the Scottish Cup at the quarter-final stage that season and also scored in a 2-1 victory when they returned to Tynecastle on league business in March 1979. They were the only two successes he had in derby matches, albeit the fixture was absent from the calendar for four years while both clubs spent time in the First Division.

"I always enjoyed the games, with both Hearts and Hibs, but my record wasn't great in them," he says. "When Hearts came back up in 1983, they started on a long unbeaten run against Hibs and I was never on the winning side again."

Callachan is hopeful Hibs can build upon the success they enjoyed against their rivals last season in tomorrow's showdown which he views as one of the most intriguing for many years.

"There are some really positive noises coming out of Tynecastle at the moment with all the new players they have," he says, "and by all accounts they played well at Kilmarnock last week. Hibs were not at their best against Dunfermline, but they will be right up for this one. I'm impressed with what Tony Mowbray is doing and last season was the most enjoyable I have had watching Hibs for a long time. I think both clubs fancy their chances of achieving something significant this season, so we could be in for a classic on Sunday."

Taken from the Scotsman