The possibility that footballing history can be made at any moment is one of the things that keeps us coming back game after game. This was always going to be a noteworthy fixture, simply because it was the first appearance in Scottish league football of Graeme Souness. Quite how noteworthy it would turn out, however, was probably beyond even his imagination.
Souness had arrived at Ibrox in the summer from Sampdoria and had immediately set about breaking the mould of Scottish football by signing top English stars Terry Butcher and Chris Woods. By wielding the financial power of Rangers, Souness clearly intended to make his mark and transform the fortunes of a club which by its own standards had endured a long period of under-achievement.
It was the mark which Souness left on George McCluskey's shin after just 30 minutes of this game which really made the headlines though. Things had not been going entirely according to plan, with Hibs matching Rangers all the way in fluency and threat. Souness's challenge on the Hibs striker was so wild that it immediately sparked a full blown 'stramash' in the centre circle, involving almost every player on the field. Even Chris Woods sprinted fully 50 yards from his goal to get involved, and someone also deemed it necessary to flatten the intimidating physical presence of 5'4" Mickey Weir at the outset.
Souness was red-carded, sending the Hibs support into delirious abandon, and Souness to the stand in utter humiliation. To be disgraced in this way, he later confessed, with his father watching from the stand, 'in his own back yard', was the lowest moment of his career.
For Hibs fans it was practically the high point of their season, complemented by the eventual result, with Steve Cowan and Stuart Beedie netting the goals which defeated Rangers. The team which did the business was: Rough, Sneddon, Tortolano, Kirkwood, Fulton, Chisholm, Beedie, Weir, Cowan, McCluskey and May. Willie Irvine came on after McCluskey was carried off and Gordon Rae came on for Beedie. The majority of the 24,000 fans went home happy, and delighted that forevermore they would be able to tell people: 'Remember the Souness game? I was there'.
