Peter Cormack

Hibernian A product of Tynecastle Boys Club the young Peter Cormack was signed by Heart of Midlothian directly from school. He was the first ground staff boy at Tynecastle Park since Hearts all-time great Tommy Walker in the 1930s. However Cormack left following an incident in which a grass cutting machine damaged a perimeter wall. Cormack was quickly signed by cross city rivals Hibernian who he joined in 1962. After impressing in the reserves he scored on his first team debut in November 1962 against Airdrieonians. Stein was replaced by Bob Shankly with whom Hibs finished fourth in the league and lost in the Scottish Cup semi final to Dunfermline Athletic. Cormack played regularly with Hibs in Europe but was unable to progress past the quarter final stage. The most significant of Cormack's wins in Europe with Hibs was the November 1967 6-4 aggregate success against S.S.C. Napoli featuring Dino Zoff. They were eliminated 2–1 on aggregate in the quarter final by Don Revie's Leeds United. Cormack scored 75 goals in 182 league games for Hibs in this spell. He was sold in 1970 when after a second sending off in a short period of time he was given a three-month suspension by the authorities in Scotland. Nottingham Forest Aged 23, in March 1970 Cormack was signed by Matt Gillies at Nottingham Forest. Forest started the season well with Cormack being unbeaten and fourth in the league after six games. They were unable to retain this and slid down the table to finish in 16th. In his two seasons at the City Ground, he scored 15 times in 74 league games of that Liverpool team and he became an integral part of the Liverpool midfield as the Anfield club won their first trophies of the 1970s with the League championship and the UEFA Cup. Cormack made his Reds debut on 2 September 1972 in a league fixture at the Baseball Ground in a 2–1 defeat to Derby County. His first goal came the following week at Anfield in a 4–2 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers. In October he headed the only goal of the game with 13 minutes to go for a home win in the Merseyside derby against Everton. Two minutes into the second half of Liverpool's penultimate League match against Leeds United in April 1973, Cormack fired Liverpool's opener in a 2–0 win, a result that helped Liverpool to finish ahead of Leeds and Arsenal and win the title for the first time since 1966. In the UEFA Cup, Cormack scored in the second round win against AEK Athens. Liverpool defeated four German teams en route to the trophy and beat Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-final. Cormack played both legs of the 3–2 aggregate win against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final . In total, Cormack played 52 games and scored 10 goals in his first season at Anfield. He played in all eight games in that FA Cup run and in all 42 league matches that season, two of those as a substitute, as Liverpool finished second to Leeds United in the league. Overall he played 57 games that season, scoring 11 times. Cormack started his third season with the club by scoring a penalty in the penalty shoot-out win against Leeds in the 1974 FA Charity Shield. His next goal was in the 11–0 thumping of Norwegian minnows Strømsgodset in the European Cup Winners' Cup at Anfield, still a club record win. Liverpool again finished second in the league that season, this time to Dave Mackay's Derby County F.C. Cormack played 36 league games, scoring three goals. Their final game opponents were Coventry City, who were also fighting to stay up. The kick-off had been delayed due to the large crowd, with some reports alleging it was intentionally delayed by Coventry's chairman, Jimmy Hill. Cormack joined the fray as a half-time substitute when his team were a goal down. Sunderland lost away to Everton, meaning a draw between to the two teams playing at Highfield Road would keep both those sides up and relegate Sunderland. News of Sunderland's defeat was displayed on the Highfield Road scoreboard. The score in the Coventry v Bristol City game was 2–2 at the time. Both teams then tamely played out a mutually beneficial draw. Although not challenging for major honours, Cormack enjoyed yet another cup win this time in the Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1978. City played Alex Ferguson managed St Mirren in the two-legged final. The first leg was in Paisley with City beating their hosts 2–1 and Cormack scoring the winner. The 1–1 return leg draw gave City a 3–2 aggregate win. He scored 15 goals in 67 league games in Bristol. Hibernian (second spell) Aged 33, in February 1980 Cormack returned to Hibernian where he lined up alongside George Best. However this was insufficient to prevent Hibs being relegated from Scotland's top flight at the end of that season. In total he played almost 300 games for Hibs over two spells. He scored once in 20 league games in this second Hibs spell. He stayed til December before moving into management elsewhere. ==International career==

Whilst at Hibs, he won his first full cap for Scotland on 25 June 1966 in a prestigious friendly with Brazil at Hampden Park. Brazil were warming up in readiness to play in the 1966 World Cup which was to be held in England. On Cormack's debut the Scots held the reigning World Champions to a 1–1 draw. In total he collected nine full caps all when playing for Hibs and his next club, Nottingham Forest. When at Liverpool he was selected for Scotland's squad for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Davie Hay was selected to play in preference to Cormack who didn't cross the touchline for any game time as the Scots returned home unbeaten after the group stage with a win and two draws. Cormack also represented the Scottish League XI six times. ==Coaching career==

On 5 December 1980, he was appointed Partick Thistle manager, succeeding Bertie Auld who had gone in the opposite direction to manage Hibs. Thistle finished sixth in the top flight at the end of Cormack's first season there. However they were relegated the season after from finishing 9th of the 10 clubs in the division. They missed out on promotion the season after in finishing fourth. They reached the last eight that season of both cup competitions being eliminated by Celtic and Aberdeen. Thistle missed out on promotion again in the 1983/84 season after when they finished third. Cormack was there for three and a half years leaving at the end of the 1983–84 season. In the league he played for Thistle once in season 1983–84. after which Cormack had two games in charge of Saints as interim manager. Cormack then followed Miller to Hibs as his assistant manager once again. The St Mirren team they left behind won that season's Scottish Cup. In December 2000 he was appointed manager of Cowdenbeath in the Scottish fourth tier. Cowdenbeath were promoted at the end of the season. However Cormack was sacked after 10 days during which time his side never played a game. In July 2001 he took over at Greenock Morton in Scotland's third tier. However he left the following March in a season in which the club were relegated when they finished bottom of the division. ==Style of play==

Born in Edinburgh, Cormack was described on his profile on the Liverpool F.C. website as "a skilful player with an eye for goal" and "a classy player who loved to entertain". The article as a Hibernian Hall of Fame inductee says of him: "Once described as a skinny kid built like a greyhound, he was as hard as nails, his fiery fiercely competitive nature earning him several altercations with officialdom. According to a popular Hibs player of the time, Peter could do everything, pass, beat a man, tackle and head the ball. The versatile Cormack could also play anywhere, out wide, midfield, up front and even in goal as he once demonstrated when keeping a clean sheet for most of the match against St Mirren after goalkeeper Willie Wilson had gone off injured." He offered a serious attacking threat from headers with an apparent natural ability to hang in the air. He had a prance like style of running, by running on the balls of his feet. Cormack worked hard to improve as a footballer and did extra training sessions three times a week with Peter Marinello and John Murphy at Hibs. With a background in cross country running, he was very fit using his stamina to tire out opponents to allow space for himself. ==Personal life and death==

Cormack went into the karaoke business. Cormack died from complications of dementia on 10 October 2024, at the age of 78. ==Honours==

Liverpool • Football League First Division: 1972–73, 1975–76 • FA Cup: 1973–74 • FA Charity Shield: 1974, 1976 • UEFA Cup: 1972–73 Bristol City • Anglo-Scottish Cup: 1977–78 ==References==