Hibbitt and Smith lock horns again
Former Wolves and Stoke idols Kenny Hibbitt and Denis Smith are once again locking horns – assessing the referee!
Hibbitt has been a Premier League referee's assessor for six years and has recently been joined by former Albion and Sunderland manager Smith in the role.
The pair shared many battles in the old Staffordshire derby in the 1970's and early 1980's and now find themselves in the more neutral environment of the director's box during games.
For Hibbitt - who scored 114 goals in 574 games for Wolves between 1968 to 1984 - it's not the first time assessing Wolves as he was at Molineux for the games against Hull and Portsmouth, taking advantage of rules now relaxed governing matches involving assessor's old clubs.
The 58-year-old insists it will be business as usual when marking St Helens man in black Chris Foy tomorrow, despite the combination of his beloved club and a former foe.
Hibbitt said: "I'm actually working the game with Denis, so I'm really looking forward to it. When their fans see him, they go mad. I've got a job to do but deep down, I think people know where my loyalties lie!
"But I don't get lost in the game because if I did, I wouldn't be able to do the job. Denis does it for Stoke and he doesn't have a problem with it, Peter Shreeve goes to Tottenham and he's the same."
Playing Stoke evokes happy memories for Hibbitt, who scored eight goals against the Potteries side in 16 meetings of which only three were on the losing side.
He said: "There was a 3-2 win at the Victoria Ground when I scored with a header. I remember that because it was on 15 December 1973 and my first child Kelly was born on the 11th at RAF Cosford.
"I also have a clear picture in my mind of smashing one into the top corner after Willie Carr put me through. Although I had a decent record against them, I always felt Stoke had some great players such as Denis, Terry Conroy on the wing, Mike Pejic at left-back, Jimmy Greenhoff up front,and Alan Hudson in midfield."
Hibbitt also revealed for the first time that he almost joined Stoke.
He said: "I might have signed for them – Richie Barker went there as manager and wanted me, but ended up signing Derek Parkin and George Berry so it didn't happen in the end."
