Hibs Blog

Alan O'Brien of Hibs and Ireland

The first home fixture of the season was last Saturday and we managed to beat Falkirk 3-2 in what was the best game of football I’ve seen in a long time.  Let’s hope it’s a taste of things to come as despite defensive frailties, Hibs managed to create chances for most of the game.  Long may it continue.

A special mention goes to Alan O’Brien who played a blinder and has now had his name chanted more at Easter Road than Garry O’Connor.  That sounds like a strange one but I think it might just be true.  Maybe Garry got one just before he left.

We were treated to the Hibs board’s version of Pravda which was handed out to supporters before the game.  “The Hibernian Review” which will no doubt appear whenever the board are feeling a bit sensitive about fans criticism, contained the usual stuff you’d expect to find, well, in the match day programme.  Obviously the Chief Executive, Scott Lindsay, had an important message to get across.

As a Club we must all work together to achieve our aspirations, and the backing of supporters for the team is a vital part in that. - That seems reasonable enough

Every Hibernian supporter shares one clear aspiration – to see their team competing for honours by playing attacking football. - True, you’d wonder about the Kilmarnock and Aberdeen fans

It goes on like that for a while before stating that the club has spent £1M in year ending 2007 and £0.75M this year in “attracting and retaining football talent”.  He takes a bit of a liberty in calculating 1 plus 0.75 as “close to” 2 but that’s beside the point, the point is that this must be a figure plucked out of the air based on transfer fees, signing on fees and god knows what else because we’ve not spent even close to that on transfers.  Who knows what “retaining talent” might involve?  Paying them?

I actually believe we do spend a decent amount on players, our accounts actually show we spend more than most. Board member’s wages are really another post for another day.  What really gets me is the condescending and clumsy way the board attempt to communicate with the fans. I also wonder how the budget will go now since our season ticket numbers appear to have dropped considerably since last season. There’s been no official comment on that yet but I expect Scott Lindsay to state that sales this season are “close to” the same as last year.

Now, I might be getting carried away with conspiracy theories here, but…..

“Sometimes there are exceptional circumstances. In seeking to back Mixu on his appointment in January, the Board agreed to bring a number of players to the club who were not part of the original budget. Several more players have been signed in time for the start of the season. The squad is now larger than planned in normal circumstances. That means the annualised cost of the existing squad is currently higher than we would like through the conscious decision of the Board to support the Manager. The balance of the squad is being redressed.”

This sounds to me like support for the “Mixu has quit” rumours that came from hundreds of “in the know” sources at the same time during the close season.  Could it be that the chairman or chief executive put his foot down and said no-more signings until a few leave, Mixu handed in his resignation which wasn’t accepted and a compromise was found bringing in a few new faces before the start of the season provided major efforts are made to get rid of as many as possible of the deadwood.  Sounds strangely plausible but then conspiracy theories usually do.

Here’s hoping the rest of the season will be like the Falkirk game!

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Mixu Paatelainen

Strong rumours abound in Edinburgh that Mixu Paatelainen has quit Easter Road, although this was denied on Talk 107 this morning.  The strength of the rumours is such that I’d be tempted to say there must be something in them.  I’ve no idea what really, my personal guess would be that unless money is made available to sign players, Mixu may be on the way out.

Hibs have not yet signed a player in the close season although there is a press conference tomorrow to announce something.  More than likely the signings of Steven Thicot, Fabien Yantorno and Joe Keenan.  None of whom are names that excite any Hibs fan I’ve spoken to.

When he was Hibs manager Tony Mowbray made public statements about not being able to take the club further and it was obvious why he left when he did.  John Collins left, actually stating outright that the board had not supported him after they had sold the best players that were left at Easter Road.  Could this be the start of our third manager’s disgruntlement on the same issue within three years?

If it is then the board at Easter Road, who are deeply unpopular with fans as it stands now anyway, will find they may have gone too far with their lack of support for the footballing side of what they only see as a business.

A football club needs good football players and a decent manager.  Hibernian and Rod Petrie in particular got lucky in bringing in a good manager in Tony Mowbray who got the best out of a great group of youngsters and managed to bring in a few bargains.  That team was sold by a board who have made no effort to replace them.

The Hibs board continued to sell during John Collins’ reign and he failed to bring in good players on the cheap.  It now appears that all is not well down Easter Road way and who would bet against the board and wage structure being the root of the problem?

steven thicot

Okay, we lost 6-0 to Barcelona tonight, you can read about it everywhere else. In the second half, a new player came on and it appears to be a 21 year old French player, Steven Thicot. Here’s a translation from the French Wikipedia.

It has all the hallmarks of a few other not great signings we’ve made in the not too distant past. He looked reasonable tonight with the ability to pick out a pass but it wasn’t really the game to be judging players.

The announcer called him “Steven Thicot” when he came on rather than “trialist” which suggests he has signed for the Hibees already.

Good luck, Steven Thicot.

Hibs have had a bid of £150,000 rejected by Northern Irish side, Linfield for the services of Peter Thompson, according to reports in the local press in Northern Ireland. [Edit: This was taken from a Stockport report where they are probably just confusing Kilmarnock's failed bid of £150,000.]

Hibs are apparently up against the likes of Stockport County, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Norwich City in the race to sign the striker.

Hibs will be watching Thompson again when Linfield meet Dinamo Zagreb in a Champions League qualifier on Wednesday at Windsor park.

Clayton Donaldson spat the dummy yesterday after being told he can leave, “It’s disappointing because you want to play every game as possible, but I’ve not had much of a chance. I’d rather have been judged on opportunities given to me, but I haven’t. I’ve just had to bite my tongue.”

Benji appears to be attracting the interest of Belgian teams galore, with Anderlecht and Westerlo both now interested, if you can believe what you read on Moroccan websites.

Mixu has gone on record as saying he is on the lookout for a keeper after Yves Makalamby decided to go to the Olympics, missing the first few weeks of next season and McNeil had a howler in Sweden.

It looks like Hibs have signed Joe Keenan from Melbourne Victory. A post in Aussie 4-4-2 online reports “According to reports in the Hunter, the Edinburgh-based side have handed Keenan a two-year deal after a successful trial spell with the club.”

Joe Keenan is a 26 year old English “wingback” who can apparently play anywhere across midfield. he was recently on trial at Easter Road.

Keenan played for Chelsea and made two appearances as a substitute, coming on for John Terry and Gianfranco Zola. He broke his leg in 2002 and his promising career seems to have suffered as a result.

He also had a trial with Newcastle Jets in Australia but, unsurprisingly, has chosen to come and play for Hibs.

Hopefully this will be the first of a few new faces at Easter Road over the next week or two. He’s not exactly a big signing but lets see what he’s got before judging him.

Good luck, Joe!