The Mag
·14 September 2024
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·14 September 2024
When people think of brothers who became club icons and even legends, at different and famous English football clubs, Jack Charlton and Bobby Charlton immediately spring to mind.
Born and raised in the Northumberland town of Ashington, they become key and outstanding players for Leeds United and Manchester United respectively.
Both of these sides achieved enormous success under Don Revie and Sir Matt Busby. The brothers Charlton story didn#t just start and end there though.
They both became immortalised when they played for Sir Alf Ramsey’s England side that won the World Cup at Wembley in 1966.
Newcastle United take on Wolves at Molineux this weekend and I am going to take a look at a couple of iconic brothers who played for these two famous clubs in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Terry Hibbitt and Kenny Hibbitt were born and raised in Bradford.
Older sibling Terry was part of Don Revie’s Leeds squad that won the 1968 Inter City Fairs Cup and the old First Division title in 1969.
Unfortunately for Terry, he was up against the mercurial Eddie Gray for the left midfield slot at Leeds and grew frustrated with his lack of first team opportunities.
It was wily old Toon boss Joe Harvey who snapped Terry up for a bargain £30,000. Almost immediately Terry struck up a seemingly telepathic understanding with United’s new club record signing Malcolm Macdonald.
The saying goes that Terry could drop a football on to a sixpence piece from 35 yards. He truly had a magic wand of a left foot.
The Gallowgate faithful loved this feisty little genius, who apparently could start a riot in a monastery given half a chance.
My favourite two Terry Hibbitt black and white moments both include Malcolm Macdonald.
I will never forget the picture of Terry joyfully swinging on Supermac’s back, after Malcolm’s hat-trick goal on his home debut.
Then of course there is the greatest first time long pass of all time against Burnley at Hillsborough in the 1974 FA Cup semi final. This led to Supermac’s killer second goal. If any of our younger readers need reminding how good this actually was, do yourselves a treat and look it up on YouTube.
After 138 League appearances for Newcastle United, Terry Hibbitt was sadly sold to Birmingham City by Gordon Lee in 1975.
However, that wasn’t the end of the Terry and Toon love affair. The little firebrand returned to an ailing United in 1978 and for a period of time proudly captained his beloved black and whites. He went on to make another 90 League appearances for our club.
Terry’s younger brother Kenny had been making a name for himself during this time. He was in the Wolves side that narrowly lost the all English 1972 UEFA Cup Final against Spurs.
Kenny would pick up silverware when Wolves won the 1974 League Cup Final, scoring in a 2-1 win against Manchester City at Wembley.
He would also be a winner with Wolves at Wembley in the 1980 League Cup Final.
Kenny Hibbitt is undoubtedly a Wolverhampton Wanderers legend and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2011. He played 544 games for Wolves (the second highest in the clubs history), and scored a very impressive 114 goals from midfield.
As most of you know, ‘Wor’ little Terry Hibbitt passed away in 1994, aged only 46. That was a very sad day in the history of our club but I am proud to say that back in the day I actually met the great man and shook his hand.
Terry came up against brother Kenny many times on the field and there was never an inch given in a perfect sibling rivalry.
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