Peter Cormack

Style of play

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Cormack is 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".^[3]

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."^[4]

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.^[5] With a background in cross country running, he was very fit using his stamina to tire out opponents to allow space for himself.^[6][7]

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.^[4]

His best season at Hibs was 1964-65 during the 12 months they were managed by Jock Stein (Stein had a 62% win rate at Hibs). Hibs challenged for league and cup until Stein left before the end of the season to manage Celtic in March 1965. Cormack scored twice when Hibs won 4-2 against Rangers at Ibrox Park on 10 October 1964 in one of three victories against Rangers. The 4-2 win at Ibrox was three days after Cormack and Hibs had beaten Real Madrid 2-0 in a challenge match at Easter Road. Cormack scored the opener against Real volleying home a cross by Neil Martin.^[8] 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.^[6] Napoli won the first leg 4-1 in Italy. Cormack scored the third as Hibs won the second leg 5-0. Napoli were league leaders in Serie A at the time. Hibs had knocked out F.C. Porto in the previous round when Cormack scored a double in the 3-0 home leg win.^[9] They were eliminated 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter final by Don Revie's Leeds United.^[10]

Cormack scored 75 goals in 182 league games for Hibs in this spell.^[11] 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.^[6]

During the summer of 1967, the Hibs team played in the United Soccer Association, a North American competition, as "Toronto City".^[12]

Nottingham Forest

Aged 23, in March 1970 Cormack was signed by Matt Gillies at Nottingham Forest for £85,000.^[13] 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.^[14] In his two seasons at the City Ground, he scored 15 times in 74 league games^[11] and 20 in 86 over all competitions. Ex Hibs teammate Neil Martin joined in 1971. However Forest were relegated from the top flight in 1972 from finishing second from bottom of the league.

Liverpool

Four days before his 26th birthday in July 1972, Cormack signed for Liverpool, managed by Bill Shankly, for a fee of £110,000.^[13] The amount matched the Reds’ record set two years before when John Toshack joined from Cardiff City. Shankly told Cormack he was, ‘the final piece in the jigsaw’ of that Liverpool team. Cormack made his Reds debut on the 2 September 1972 in a league fixture at the Baseball Ground losing 2–1 away to Derby County. His first goal came the following week at Anfield in a 4–2 win against Wolves. Cormack in the 76th minute scored Liverpool's second goal. 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. He played 52 games and scored 10 goals in his first season at Anfield.^[12][3][7]

In his first season on Merseyside, Cormack was an integral part of the Liverpool midfield as the Anfield club won their first trophies of the 1970s with the 1972-73 Football League championship and 1972-73 UEFA Cup. Cormack's silky skills and 8 goals in 30 league games was added to the team that the year before had narrowly missed out on the title. The league campaign boiled down to a three-way contest between Liverpool, Leeds United and Arsenal. In Liverpool's penultimate game on Easter Monday 23 April 1973, Liverpool played Leeds, a team they had not defeated in six years. Two minutes into the second half, Cormack fired Liverpool's opener in what finished a 2-0 win. The win put Leeds out of contention. Arsenal only managed a point in a 2-2 draw at Southampton on the same day. This meant Liverpool needed only to not lose their remaining game to win the title. Liverpool, without Cormack, drew 0-0 with Leicester City in their final league game, to render Arsenal's remaining results irrelevant.^[15] This was their first major trophy since seven years before, in 1966.^[16][17] 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 1973 UEFA Cup Final 3-2 aggregate win against Borussia Mönchengladbach.^[12][3] His throw-in fed Chris Lawler to provide the high cross for the first goal, exploiting the "hopeless in the air" German defence.^[18]

Cormack had more silverware to celebrate by the end of his second season, when Liverpool emphatically beat Newcastle United 3-0 at Wembley in the 1974 FA Cup Final. Cormack played in the final in an all Scots-born central-midfield, pairing with Brian Hall.^[19] Cormack played in all eight games in that FA Cup run. He played in all 42 league matches that season, two of those as a substitute, as Liverpool finished second to Leeds United in the league. Cormack found the net nine times in those league games. Overall he played 57 games that season, scoring 11 times.

Cormack started his third season with the club, 1974–75, by scoring a penalty in the (6-5) shoot-out win against Leeds in the 1974 FA Charity Shield. His next goal was in the September 11-0 thumping of Norwegian minnows Strømsgodset in the 1974-75 European Cup Winners' Cup at Anfield, still a club record win. Liverpool finished second in the league that season, this time to Dave Mackay's Derby County. Cormack played 36 league games, scoring three goals.^[12][3][17]

In 1975-76 in English football, Cormack's fourth season at Anfield, Liverpool completed another League and the 1975-76 UEFA Cup double. Cormack played in both legs in the UEFA Cup first round 3-2 aggregate win against his former club, Hibernians. The league campaign began with a 2-0 defeat away to the team who emerged as that season's greatest rivals for the title, Queen's Park Rangers. Cormack was a regular league starter until the end of October. In the next six leagues games he made the team sheet only once, as a substitute against Coventry City. He was then named as substitute against Burnley as a prelude to a run of four games in the starting line-up, including in a crucial 2-0 home win against Queen's Park Rangers, that put Liverpool in top spot ahead of the West London club. The last of those four games was the 1-0 home league win against Manchester City on 27 December 1975. Cormack scored the only goal in what was to be a landmark game for him. A long-standing underlying problem with knee cartilage materialised into an injury after the Man City game, when the cartilage cracked.^[12] He lost his place in the team and missed the rest of the season, which included the 1976 UEFA Cup Final 4-3 aggregate win against Club Brugge KV. The Manchester City game turned out to be Cormack's last for the Liverpool first team. When Cormack was fit again he only played reserve football, as he was unable to regain his place in an in-form Liverpool first team. From the beginning of December onward Liverpool lost only two league games on their way to the first of two consecutive league titles.^[12][7] In his last 11 months at Anfield he did not play any first team football. He was an unused substitute in the 1976 FA Charity Shield win against Southampton.

In his 125 Liverpool league games Cormack scored 21 times.^[11] He played 178 first team games, scoring 26 goals.^[12][3]

Bristol City

Aged 30, in November 1976 Cormack left Liverpool and joined Alan Dicks' Bristol City for £50,000. City were in their first season back in the top tier. City were in a three way dogfight to stay up. In City's penultimate game they played Liverpool who already had the title wrapped up. Cormack was an unused substitute as his team won 2-1.^[20] Their final game opponents were Coventry City also fighting to stay up. Kick off had been delayed due to the large crowd with some reports alleging the kick off was intentionally delayed by Coventry 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 sink 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.^[21]

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 with 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.^[11]

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.^[4] He scored once in 20 league games in this second Hibs spell.^[11] He stayed til December before moving into management elsewhere.

International

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.^[22] 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.^[23][6]