Name Hugh Shaw Role Football player | Died 1976 | |
Hugh Shaw (died 1976) was a Scottish football player and manager, most notably with Hibernian (Hibs).
Career
Shaw played for Hibs during the interwar period, making his debut during the 1918–19 season. He played as a half-back in the Hibs side that reached the Scottish Cup Finals of 1923 and 1924, losing to Celtic and Airdrie respectively. Shaw left Hibs in 1926 to play for Rangers. He played in 36 league games for Rangers in the 1926–27 season, but then moved to Hearts. Shaw played in a Hearts team that threatened to challenge for the league championship in 1928, but eventually finished fourth. He later played for East Fife, Leith Athletic and Elgin City.
Shaw was hired as Hibs' trainer by Willie McCartney in 1936, after McCartney had been appointed manager. Hibs had fallen on hard times in the early 1930s, having suffered relegation for the first time in 1931 and then struggling to regain and retain Division One status. Through the late 1930s and the Second World War, McCartney built the great Hibs side that would largely dominate Scottish football in the late 1940s and early 1950s. With Hibs on top of the league midway through the 1947–48 season, however, McCartney collapsed during a Scottish Cup match and died later that night. Although Matt Busby was linked with the job, Shaw was appointed as manager within the week, as Hibs faced a match against their main challengers, Rangers. Hibs won that match 1–0 with a goal in the last minute and went on to win the league championship.
Shaw completed the Famous Five forward line by introducing Bobby Johnstone to the team in 1948, with all five playing together for the first time on 21 April 1949. He guided the team to further league championships in 1951 and 1952, while also narrowly missing out in 1950 and 1953. The team also entered the first European Cup competition in 1955–56, reaching the semi-final.
The forward line was broken by the sale of Bobby Johnstone to Manchester City in 1955, and the remaining players were starting to age. Hibs continued to do well in reserve team football, but many of those players failed to impress in the first team, with the brilliant exception of Joe Baker. Therefore Shaw had to take some of the blame for the failure to replace the great side. After the team struggled at the start of the 1961–62 season, Shaw resigned in November 1961. He then had a brief spell as Raith Rovers manager. Shaw died in 1976, aged 80.
In 2003, the Sunday Herald newspaper listed Shaw as 31st in their list of the 50 greatest Scottish football managers, noting his "sense and man-management skills".