Everything about Willie Ormond totally explained
William 'Willie' Esplin Ormond OBE (
23 February 1927 -
4 May 1984) was a
Scottish football player and manager.
Playing career
Born in
Falkirk, Ormond signed for
Hibernian in November 1946 from
Stenhousemuir. An outside-left, he played for Hibs over a fifteen year period. He was one of the "Famous Five", the Hibs forward line during the
1950s, one of the strongest group of players ever in Scottish football . (The others were
Bobby Johnstone,
Lawrie Reilly,
Gordon Smith and
Eddie Turnbull). They all scored over 100 goals for the club, he scored a total 193. During his playing career, he won the Scottish League Championship three times with Hibernian and won six
Scotland caps. He was the last member of the Five to leave Hibs, signing for hometown
Falkirk in 1961.
Managerial career
After he retired from playing, Ormond became assistant trainer at Falkirk. In 1967, he was appointed as manager of
St. Johnstone. He led the club to the 1969
League Cup final and third in the League one year, ahead of Rangers, taking them into Europe for the first time, a serious achievement for a Scottish club outside the major cities.
When the
Scottish Football Association wanted someone capable of bringing stability to the job of Scotland manager after
Tommy Docherty left, Ormond was a natural choice and he was appointed in 1973. He was blessed with a talented squad and steered them to the
1974 World Cup Finals in
West Germany. Although Scotland didn't lose any of their games and came back as the only unbeaten team in the tournament, they were eliminated after the first round. This was actually the best ever performance by a Scotland team in a World Cup.
Later, minor breaches of player discipline accumulated and after four years the SFA came to believe it wanted a more forceful and charismatic figure as manager. In May 1977 he resigned and was appointed as manager of
Hearts - the arch rivals of his old team, Hibs. Many Hearts fans at the time were less than happy given Ormond's background but he soon won them over before being sacked in
1980, whereupon he moved to Hibernian as assistant to his old Famous Five colleague Eddie Turnbull. When Turnbull resigned, Ormond took over but his health wasn't good and forced him to retire soon after.
Trivia
- The South Stand at McDiarmid Park, St. Johnstone's ground since 1989, is named in his honour.
- His brother Gibby also played League football, for semi-professional Cowdenbeath in the mid 1960s.
Further Information
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