Leith diehard Frank’s trip to Italy turned

ITALIA 90 earned Frank Dougan a fly bevvy on the back of Joe Baker and 30,000 signatures for Margaret Thatcher demanding Hands off Hibs.

The Easter Road diehard and World Cup veteran made pilgrimages to West Germany, Spain, Mexico and France but events of 30 years ago remain freshest in his mind.

A week before Scotland’s fateful defeat by Costa Rica, news broke of the audacious bid by Hearts owner Wallace Mercer over Hibs to make the capital a one-club city.

Edinburgh United, the Great Waldo publicly declared. But the Hibs faithful knew this would be a brutal, merciless takeover of their club.

Dougan watched his first Hibs game as an 18-month old in 1951, against Partick Thistle, and couldn’t bear to see his club die.

A Tartan Army stalwart, he had already booked his trip to Italy with a bunch of like-minded pals from g.ralston@dailyrecord.co.uk

Leith but the trip turned into a rally behind the club for fans from all over Scotland.

Dougan said: “Some of the lads didn’t come on the trip as they were really concerned about Hibs but we decided to take our message to Italy.

“We printed 300 ‘Hands off Hibs’ t-shirts and handed them out to locals outside the grounds where Scotland were playing.

“We drove over there with stacks of papers for a petition and so many people wanted to sign them we had to photocopy hundreds more.

“In total, the Hands of Hibs movement put a petition into Downing Street with 300,000 signatures on it and 30,000 of them must have come from Italy.

“Every person in every cafe and bar we passed was happy to sign, including Scotland fans from Brora to Stranraer – and many, it has to be said, from Hearts.

“We even roped in the locals too. Okay, most of them didn’t have a clue what they were signing but they gave us their support at such a worrying time for Hibs.”

Fearful of hooliganism, Turin had declared itself dry for the duration of the tournament.

But it was former England striker Baker, a Hibs legend, who got the taps flowing in one backstreet bar.

Dougan said: “We were walking around Turin before the game and came across a bar but the owner declared there was no alcohol for sale. We settled in for coffees and cokes and the talk turned to football when he heard our accents.

“He was a massive Torino fan and I said, ‘You’ll know a friend of mine, Joe Baker?’ Joe, of course, had been a big idol there when he played in the early sixties.

“The guy’s eyes lit up, ‘Jose! How is he? What a player!’ In the end, he couldn’t have fed us more alcohol if we’d asked. The police even turned up at one point but after a chat with the bar owner they simply laughed and walked on.

“At that time the Record printed a picture of Joe kissing the Easter Road pitch at a ‘Hands off Hibs’ rally and we went back later and presented the paper to the owner.

“He framed the image and hung it behind the bar.”

At least 10,000 fans from Scotland invaded Italy for the tournament and

GARY RALSTON