Hibs great and ex-Liverpool star Peter Cormack dies at 78

The Edinburgh-born footballer also played for Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, before going into management with Partick Thistle, Anorthosis Famagusta, Botswana, Cowdenbeath, and Greenock Morton. He also spent time on the coaching staff at St Mirren and Hibs as Alex Miller's assistant. 

In a statement confirming Cormack's passing, Liverpool wrote that the club was, 'Deeply saddened by the passing of former midfielder Peter Cormack, aged 78. The Scot – a league, UEFA Cup and FA Cup winner during a four-year spell with the club between 1972 and 1976 – died on Thursday night.

“Signed by Bill Shankly from Nottingham Forest, the skilful Cormack would go on to be a key figure in the successes of the legendary manager’s final seasons in charge of the Reds. The thoughts of everyone at Liverpool FC are with Peter’s family and friends at this very sad and difficult time."

Hibs also paid tribute to Cormack, a Hall of Fame inductee in 2017, on social media, posting: "Everyone at Hibernian FC is deeply saddened by the passing of former Hibee Peter Cormack at the age of 78. Rest in peace, Peter."

Early years - and brief spell with Hearts

Born in Edinburgh Cormack began his career with Tynecastle Boys Club and actually signed for Hearts as a 15-year-old, but a dispute led to a swift exit, with Hibs moving quickly to snap him up in 1962, and he went on to make a name for himself as a skilful but tenacious midfielder with a proclivity for diving headers - but his fitness and versatility saw him deployed to other positions including, on more than one occasion, stand-in goalie. He memorably shut out St Mirren for 75 minutes in a League Cup game after 'keeper Willie Wilson was forced off through injury early on.

A young Peter Cormack pictured ahead of the 1964/65 season (Image: SNS Group) Given his first-team opportunity under Walter Galbraith, Cormack scored on his debut - a header, naturally - in a 2-1 defeat by Airdrie midway through the 1962/63 season. He made a further three appearances under Galbraith, with his fifth competitive outing for Hibs coming in a 1-0 home win against St Mirren in March 1964. Galbraith had already resigned before this game and was replaced by Jock Stein, with Cormack keeping his place under the new manager. 

His last act of the 1963/64 season came in early September, as he scored one of the three goals in a 3-1 victory over Aberdeen in the replayed Summer Cup final. Jim Scott and the mercurial Willie Hamilton were also on target. 

Cormack was a regular under Stein as Hibs lost just 13 games in all competitions, but Stein left for Celtic to be replaced by Bob Shankly in the spring, not long after the famous 2-0 victory over Real Madrid in a challenge match at Easter Road, with Cormack volleying home a cross from Neil Martin. He continued to feature under Shankly, and played every game of Hibs' brief dalliance as Toronto FC in the North American League during the summer of 1967. 

He made his European debut against Valencia, followed by Porto against whom he scored twice in the first leg and was sent off in the second. He missed the first leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup second-round tie with Napoli through suspension but scored in the astonishing 5-0 victory at Easter Road. He played in both legs against Leeds United and also played against Olimpija Ljubljana, Lokomotive Leipzig, and Hamburger SV, in his final European outing for Hibs. 

Known for his fiery and fiercely competitive playing style, Cormack saw red four times for Hibs - five, if you count his dismissal in a bad-tempered 2-1 victory over Cagliari that local newspaper reports headlined, 'Soccer riot in Toronto'. 

Relegation with Forest and rebirth with the Reds

Cormack's final game for Hibs came at Easter Road against St Johnstone; a 4-1 win for the hosts in which he scored and won a penalty for Joe McBride's hat-trick. Having been sent off in a goalless draw with Hearts on New Year's Day 1970 for a clash with Peter Oliver, earning himself a two-week ban, he was sent off again in a 3-3 draw with St Mirren at Love Street, seeing red with just over half an hour played after scoring in the 11th minute. This came with a three-month ban but Cormack never served it, with Hibs selling him to Nottingham Forest who were managed by another Scot in Matt Gillies. 

He scored 20 goals in 86 games for Forest, who suffered relegation in 1972 after finishing second bottom of the league, and he joined Liverpool that summer just days before his 26th birthday, with Reds boss Bill Shankly telling Cormack he was the 'final piece in the jigsaw' of his Liverpool side. 

At Anfield, Cormack shone as a priceless member of the midfield, helping the club win two league titles in 1972/73 and again in 1974/75; the UEFA Cup in 1973, and the FA Cup in 1974. Shankly retired in the aftermath of the FA Cup win and was succeeded by his assistant, Bob Paisley.

Peter Cormack, second left, scores the opening goal for Liverpool against Leeds United in a 1973 Division One clash at Anfield (Image: PA) Injuries began to limit Cormack's game time and although he featured in the club's run to the 1976 UEFA Cup final including playing in both legs of a 3-2 aggregative win against former club Hibs, he wasn't fit for the final. In fact, his final game for the Reds came on December 27 1975, in which he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win against Manchester City - but he still picked up a second UEFA Cup winners' medal.

Bristol City and return to Hibs

After 26 goals in 178 games for Liverpool, Cormack moved onto Bristol City in November 1976, playing 67 league matches and scoring 15 goals as he helped the Robins stave off relegation on the final day of the season. He scored the winner in the first leg of the Anglo-Scottish Cup final, a 2-1 win against Alex Ferguson's St Mirren, and a 1-1 draw in the second leg meant more silverware for Cormack. 

Peter Cormack returned to Hibs for a second spell as a player in 1980 (Image: SNS Group) At the age of 33, Cormack returned north to Hibs in February 1980, joining a Hibs team that already had George Best in its ranks, but not even the return of Cormack and the presence of Best could prevent Hibs from suffering relegation. He played 20 times for Hibs in his second spell, scoring once in a 2-0 Division One victory over Stirling Albion in August 1980. He played his final game for Hibs in October 1980, a 2-0 extra-time home defeat by Ayr United in the second leg of the League Cup quarter-finals that knocked Hibs out of the competition after a 2-2 draw in the first leg. 

Management career

Cormack would leave Hibs in the December, in a swap of sorts with Bertie Auld, to become manager of Partick Thistle, with the former Celtic defender taking the reins at Easter Road and leading the team back to the top flight. 

The Jags finished sixth in the Premier Division at the end of Cormack's first season but suffered relegation the following season, finishing ninth, and they missed out on promotion in the following two seasons as they finished fourth and third respectively. Cormack pulled his boots back on for one game in the 1983/84 season, coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 defeat by Brechin City at Glebe Park as Partick struggled with injuries and suspensions. 

He left Firhill at the end of the 1983/84 season but quickly found a new job as manager of Anorthosis Famagusta in Cyprus until 1986. A brief spell as manager of the Botswana national team followed before he returned to Scotland as assistant manager to Alex Miller at St Mirren. Miller of course quickly moved to Hibs with Cormack taking charge of two Buddies matches as interim manager before following Miller to Easter Road for his third spell in Leith. 

In late 2000 he was appointed manager of Cowdenbeath, replacing Craig Levein who had taken the reins at Hearts, but he lasted just ten days without taking charge of a match amid reports of a player revolt, and was sacked at a burger bar near the Forth Road Bridge. A Herald report of the time quotes Cormack as saying: "'I've been made to look a fool. While I was away watching a game, a football equivalent of a coup d'état took place and I'm at a loss how they can justify getting rid of me."

Peter Cormack during his time in charge of Morton (Image: SNS Group) His final stint in the dugout came at Cappielow, as he took charge of Greenock Morton in the summer of 2001 with the club in disarray. There were no players on the books and limited money to sign a new team. Unsurprisingly, the Ton struggled and Cormack stepped down the following March with the side facing relegation to the third division. 

International football

Selected by Scotland at under-23 level for games against Wales and England, Cormack won his first senior cap while at Hibs - and still eligible for the under-23s - lining up against a Brazil side containing the likes of Gilmar, Pelé, Jairzinho, and Gérson in a warm-up game for the 1966 World Cup at Hampden. Celtic's Stevie Chalmers scored in the first minute before Servilio equalised on the quarter-hour mark, and Cormack swapped jerseys with Gérson at full-time. 

Peter Cormack attempts to get the better of Bobby Moore during a Home Championship International between England and Scotland at Wembley in 1971 (Image: Getty Images) In an interview with The Scotsman in 2015, Cormack revealed that he been 'fortunate enough to have played with and against some of the greats - Pelé, Eusebio, Puskas, Di Stefano, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, and Georgie Best - but Willie [Hamilton] was some player, too'. 

He won a further eight caps while at Hibs and Nottingham Forest but despite winning a place in the 1974 World Cup squad, he got no game time in West Germany with Davie Hay picked ahead of him for all three games that the Scots played.