Posted by Tom Brogan on Friday, November 15, 2013 Under: Books
I had the opportunity to go
along to the launch of Shades by Colin Leslie last night. The book is a
biography of Hibs legend Erich Schaedler. A few years ago I wrote an article on
Erich for a football blog called State of the Game. You can read it on the Writing
page. I wanted to write about a player who made an impact on the game, but was
not someone who was widely known. What I discovered when the article went
online was that Schaedler was loved by all who came in contact with him or even
just watched him from the terraces. A Hibs forum picked up the link and soon
Hibs fans were sharing their own personal reminiscences of the left back.
In the
course of his research for his book Colin read my article and kindly mentioned
me in the acknowledgements. The launch at Hibs' Easter Road ground was well
attended with a number of Erich's former team-mates turning up to share their
memories of him. Allan Munro, a team-mate of Erich's at Melbourne Thistle, and his former Hibs colleagues Pat Stanton and Paul Kane all spoke warmly about
him. Jackie McNamara senior was also in attendance. Focus was pulled slightly
by the appearance of new Hibs boss Terry Butcher. The former Rangers man almost
looked embarrassed as he was urged by a roomful of Hibees to win them a Scottish
Cup. He politely posed for photographs and signed copies of the book.
Schaedler should be an example to any youngster who wants to become a footballer. He worked hard to enhance the natural ability he had, he gave full on commitment to every club he played for and was a hero to pretty much everyone who saw him play for their club. You can buy Shades here. Above is a photograph of new Hibs manager Terry Butcher and the man who had the job between 1982 and1984, Pat Stanton. Below is an example of some of the items of memorabilia on show inside Easter Road.
