1986–87 Hibernian F.C. season explained

Club:	Hibernian
Season:	1986–87
Manager:	John Blackley (to November) Alex Miller (from November)^[1]
League:	Scottish Premier Division
League Result:	9th
Cup1:	Scottish Cup
Cup1 Result:	R4
Cup2:	Scottish League Cup
Cup2 Result:	R4
Prevseason:	1985–86
Nextseason:	1987–88
Highest Attendance:	22,298 (v Heart of Midlothian, 6 January)
Lowest Attendance:	3590 (v Hamilton Academical, 25 April)
Average Attendance:	9,140^[2] (up 5)

During the 1986–87 season, the Scottish football club was placed 9th in the . The team reached the fourth round of both the and the .

Overview

During the 1986 close season, Hibs sold Gordon Durie to Chelsea for £400,000, and brought in Billy Kirkwood, Stuart Beedie, Willie Irvine, Mark Caughey and George McCluskey.^[3] They played pre-season friendlies against Chelsea, as part of the deal for Durie, and Sevilla.^[3] Before the season started, Hibs manager John Blackley hoped to qualify for European competition and to have extended runs in the cup competitions.^[3]

In the opening-day victory over Rangers at Easter Road, after a Graeme Souness tackle on George McCluskey in the centre circle, for which he was sent off, the SFA retrospectively gave 21 players yellow cards for the on-pitch fighting that followed the tackle. Only Hibs' goalkeeper Alan Rough was spared, because he remained in his penalty area, although McCluskey and Mark Fulton successfully appealed against their cautions.^[4]

Despite the win against Rangers, Hibs fell well short of Blackley's pre-season hopes.^[3] Blackley resigned in November and was subsequently replaced by Alex Miller, who at least prevented the club from falling into the relegation zone.^[3] A return game against Sevilla was played in December.^[3]

Scottish Premier Division

See main article: 1986–87 Scottish Premier Division.

Match Day	Date	Opponent	H/A	Score	Hibernian Scorer(s)	Attendance
1	9 August	Rangers	H	2–1	Beedie, Cowan	21,674
2	13 August	Aberdeen	A	0–4		12,918
3	16 August	Dundee	A	0–3		7,216
4	23 August	Motherwell	H	0–0		6,276
5	30 August	Heart of Midlothian	H	1–3	McBride	20,714
6	6 September	Falkirk	A	1–1	McBride	4,956
7	13 September	St Mirren	H	0–1		4,567
8	20 September	Celtic	A	1–5	Beedie	6,453
9	27 September	Dundee United	H	1–1	McBride	5,407
10	4 October	Hamilton Academical	A	4–1	May (2), McCluskey, McBride	3,478
11	8 October	Clydebank	H	3–2	Irvine (2), Kirkwood	5,030
12	11 October	Rangers	A	0–3		38,145
13	18 October	Aberdeen	H	1–1	Chisholm	8,758
14	25 October	Motherwell	A	1–4	Chisholm	4,007
15	29 October	Dundee	H	0–3		4,221
16	1 November	Heart of Midlothian	A	1–1	McBride	22,178
17	8 November	Falkirk	H	1–0	McCluskey	5,574
18	15 November	St Mirren	A	1–3	Kane	3,279
19	19 November	Celtic	H	0–1		15,397
20	22 November	Dundee United	A	0–1		6,862
21	29 November	Hamilton Academical	H	1–3	Collins	4,659
22	3 December	Clydebank	A	0–0		1,356
23	6 December	Rangers	H	0–0		17,639
24	13 December	Aberdeen	A	0–1		11,003
25	20 December	Motherwell	H	0–1		4,714
26	27 December	Dundee	A	0–2		6,238
27	3 January	Falkirk	A	3–1	Bell, McCluskey (pen), Collins	7,007
28	6 January	Heart of Midlothian	H	2–2	Weir, McCluskey	22,298
29	10 January	St Mirren	H	1–0	Mitchell	8,234
30	21 January	Celtic	A	0–1		19,583
31	24 January	Dundee United	A	0–2		7,398
32	7 February	Hamilton Academical	A	1–0	Cowan	3,903
33	14 February	Clydebank	H	4–1	May, Weir, Cowan, McBride	5,236
34	28 February	Rangers	A	1–1	May	36,931
35	7 March	Aberdeen	H	1–1	McCluskey	6,394
36	21 March	Dundee	H	2–2	Rae, McCluskey	4,305
37	24 March	Motherwell	A	1–2	Rae	2,934
38	28 March	Falkirk	H	2–0		4,039
39	4 April	Heart of Midlothian	A	1–2		19,731
40	11 April	Celtic	H	1–4	McCluskey	14,432
41	18 April	St Mirren	A	1–1	Weir	3,456
42	25 April	Hamilton Academical	H	1–1	McCluskey	3,590
43	2 May	Dundee United	A	1–2	Bell	9,301
44	9 May	Clydebank	A	2–1	May, Weir	1,172