Kenny Waugh

Born: February 4, 1937.

Died: September 6, 2015.

KENNY Waugh, who has died aged 78, was owner and chairman of Hibernian Football Club during much of the 1980s, some of the most turbulent years in the Edinburgh club's 140-year history. A self-made man as a bookmaker, pub chain owner and property developer, his reign at Easter Road was not without criticism. But he helped ensure his beloved club's survival at a time when it might well have gone under.

News of his death stunned Hibs fans, who noted on blogs that "at least we were never relegated under his leadership" a fate that was inconceivable to them during most of the club's history. Relegation from the Scottish Premiership last year was seen by fans as one of their darkest days, the only consolation being that Hearts would be down there with them.

Such was Mr Waugh's reputation as a "football man and a gentleman" that even Hibs' arch-rivals Hearts led their website homepage with a tribute to him, saying they were saddened and sent "deepest condolences" to his family. As a businessman and football fanatic, Mr Waugh had once tried unsuccessfully to buy Hearts for £350,000 before he purchased Hibs but his heart was always with the club in green and white which he had supported since he was a child and of which he was a season ticket holder. He bought Hibernian FC in October 1981 for around £475,000, became its chairman the following year and remained until 1987 when he was forced to sell out to another childhood Hibs' fan, David Duff, 33 years old at the time and whose fate is another story.

Even after his chairmanship, Mr Waugh invested a lot of his own money in Hibs despite not being mega-wealthy like some of the club owners around the UK today. He owned the club during an epoch when attendances and therefore income were at an all-time low. But even after his spell as chairman was over, it was he who financed a roof over the main terrace at Easter Road, where devoted fans had shivered and soaked for around 80 years, the roof's echo also adding atmosphere to home matches.

He was, perhaps, a "steady as she goes" chairman, eager to keep the club afloat when income was at a low ebb. To some fans, who naturally wanted Hibs to be contending for the Champions League, that suggested a lack of ambition on his part, a lack of "fire in his belly," as one blogger put it. But for Kenny Waugh, ambition was worthless without survival. Should Hibs ever reach the heights again, perhaps even the Champions League, they will have much to thank him for. Another of his problems was that, during his time at Hibs, local rivals Hearts were on the rise, with owner Wallace Mercer "bigging up" his club through his media contacts and signings of new players

Mr Waugh's first big move as Hibs chairman was the ousting of Bertie Auld as manager, replacing him with people's choice Pat Stanton. After disagreements between chairman and manager over players' contracts and cash for new players, Stanton resigned as manager in 1984, to be replaced by fans' favourite John Blackley. Mr Waugh watched Blackley and Hibs reach the Scottish League Cup Final in 1985, only to lose to Aberdeen.

During Mr Waugh's reign, two young identical twin brothers from Leith, Craig and Charlie Reid, were usually among the fans at Easter Road, as yet unnoticed faces in the crowd. To Mr Waugh's delight, the twins, as the Proclaimers, went on to write the club's unofficial anthem, Sunshine on Leith, as well as the Scottish team's popular anthem I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles).

In 1990, the twins, by then world famous, joined Mr Waugh in the "Hands Off Hibs" campaign to prevent Edinburgh businessman Wallace Mercer, best-known for his links with rivals Hearts, from taking over the Easter Road club and creating a "superclub" combining Hearts and Hibs in an effort to take on the Old Firm in Glasgow. The Hibs fans prevailed and Mr Mercer, shocked by the "tribalism" he faced, pulled out.

Mr Waugh then launched a £4mn bid to buy the club back -- unsuccessfully, after a Levantine labyrinth of negotiations. He often said his proudest moment as Hibs chairman was signing Scottish international goalkeeper Alan Rough from Partick Thistle in 1982. Another was posing, with his Mercedes and its KW 1 number plate, outside Easter Road when he took over.

Kenneth Waugh was born in Edinburgh on February 4, 1937. His early love was boxing and he was a useful amateur fighter in his youth. His other love, of course, was Hibernian Football Club and he trudged to Easter Road as a schoolboy to watch the Famous Five forward line bring glory to Hibs in the post-war years. (His later and greatest love would be his wife Dot).

Hanging out with boxers and promoters in Edinburgh gyms gave him a feel for the money to be made in sport and he set up his first (possibly illegal) bookmaker's shop in Niddrie, south-east Edinburgh. That would lead to a (strictly legal) chain of bookies, Morrison's, where he made his first serious money. He would remain a keen boxing fan throughout his life.

Aside from his interest in Hibs, he became a major entrepreneur in Edinburgh, formerly owning the Festival Group of pubs and hotels, and the Scotbet bookmakers' chain, now part of the Senet Group. Over the years, he was owner or director of numerous other companies including Waugh Taverns, Waugh Investments, Inchcroft, Coasters Indoors Football, Surgeons Hall Residential, MAB Property, Forth Securities and Forth Social & Leisure Club. After his son, Kenny Jnr, joined the family businesses and became a leading entrepreneur himself, Mr Waugh often became known as Kenny Waugh Sr.

Hibs' current chairman Rod Petrie said yesterday: “Kenny had a real passion for all things Hibernian and led the club with distinction as chairman from 1982-1987."

Kenny Waugh, who lived most of his later years in Glenlockhart, Edinburgh, died in a hospice in the capital. His wife Dorothy (Dot, née McKenzie) died last year. He is survived by their children Kenny Jnr and Susan, and nine grandchildren including another Kenny who is now involved in some of the family businesses.

PHIL DAVISON