If the Hibernian players require an insight into the man they now call "gaffer", they could do worse than take the official tour of their own Easter Road Stadium.

Long before the formidable former England captain was confirmed as the club's new manager this week, Terry Butcher made an indelible mark on the Edinburgh ground.

He was manager at Motherwell when his temper got the better of him after a defeat for his relegation-threatened side in May 2003.

Butcher took his rage out on the fixtures and fittings in the stadium that is now his home and although the dressing-room door that bore the brunt of his anger has since been moved, it still bears the scars.

"There is a mark down here where a door was ripped off its hinges," he said. "I'll probably be paying for it from my first month's wages.

"I just booted it and it flew open, then it came back again. I hit it again and the big, long hinge went and the door fell off. But they have repaired it and put it on a cupboard."

Intimidating figure though he is, the redoubtable former Ipswich Town and Rangers defender's managerial success with Motherwell and Inverness Caledonian Thistle has not been built on a reign of terror.

The 54-year-old knows when best to let rip and when to hold back. As does his long-term side-kick Maurice Malpas. "I'm the worst," Butcher admitted. "When I'm like that Maurice just walks away. Generally, if I'm ranting and raving, he's the opposite. I don't know what it is, we don't work at it, it just happens."

Hibs chairman Rod Petrie has rejected John Collins' claim that he "interferes" in his managers' work and has promised Butcher full control. Petrie said: "In terms of football decisions, they are for the manager. It doesn't matter what anybody else says, he is the guy. It's his call, his shout."