Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Time for Hibs Board to Stand Up and Be Counted

A new manager. A league cup win over you city rivals. Two SPL wins on the bounce. What could possibly go wrong for Hibs?

Well, the transfer window can open in January and that same old combination of an agent engineering a handsome fee for himself and a board petrified of any financial risk can rip the heart from your side.

So your new manager will be incandescent that the assurances he was given on taking the job are worthless.

And despite your favourites tag your new lightweight midfield will be overrun by a well organised team sent out by either your old hero Yogi Hughes or your old nemesis Jim Jefferies in the League Cup final.

Admittedly that’s the worst case scenario but the Hibs board might need to find the stomach for a fight on this one and find a big enough stick to beat the predators circling Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown away.

John Collins, new in management but already a breath of fresh air, would be right to feel massively aggrieved by any sales in January unless they are directly sanctioned by him.

Rangers are continuing to toil and an extended run in Europe won’t help their SPL struggles. Hearts are in a maelstrom of destruction at the hands of Vladimir Romanov.

Which means Collins may well be in charge of a side that can make a real run for second place and the silverware that Leith craves so badly.

He needs his best players to do that. So it’s time for Rod Petrie to do what he has so frequently asked the fans to do. Stand up and be counted.

Petrie asked for increased attendances to ensure financial stability. The fans have delivered. Garry O’Connor was sacrificed to Russia for the good of the balance sheet but the fans forgave the board.

Now that faith needs to be repayed. Every one of the players that destroyed Motherwell on Saturday needs to stay at Easter Road until the end of the season at least.

Hibs might still win nothing and finish sixth. But at least Collins will have been given every chance to achieve something special with his young side.

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