Profile: Erich Schaedler, Hibernian hero
• Hard but fair: Erich Schaedler prospered at Easter Road in the 1970s, and won an international call-up. Photograph: Stan Warburton
Schaedler's Hill, they call it, for it was here that John and his brother, Erich, played when they were growing up. And it was here, 25 years ago, that John scattered Erich's ashes, shocked, grief-stricken and as confused then as he remains to this day.
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Hide AdErich Schaedler, brought up in the Borders, drove into these same woods on Christmas Eve, 1985 and took his life. The news of his death numbed not only his family, but Scottish football, and more particularly Hibernian. In two successful spells at Easter Road, he was a cult hero, a ferocious, uncompromising left-back whose whole-hearted approach to the game only made his untimely departure all the more tragic. He was 36 when he died. He was still playing.
No wonder they raise a glass to Schaedler at this time of year. He was a fans' man, the kind of pla