Livingston: Two become one

He's back.

"The fans will appreciate that we're trying to do something different and the players will recognise they've got two guys who want football played."

And if the players don't, the real fitba' men will.

A perfect quote to herald the return of John Hughes. It's taken a while but here is, back in business at Livingston.

Good luck to them?

Hmmm.

John Hughes is a good bloke - not that the goodness of your blokeishness makes you a good manager - and his natural enthusiasm will only have increased during his time away from the game.

Enthusiasm, decency, jokes. Things I admire in a person but not necessarily qualifications I look for in a manager.

But this might be different.

Not only is Yogi back, he's back with a buddy.

Hughes as manager, John Collins as Director of Football.

The new Livingston blueprint.

Giving Hughes the job on his own?

That would get a giant "meh" from me.

Alone, I think, Hughes is another of the underwhelming Scottish managers picked from that never ending carousel, men given jobs because they're mates with the media and they're happy enough with our game's incestuousness.

But, heavens, I rate John Collins. I rate him more than a cup win and a premature - but principled - departure from Hibs merits. More than his subsequent coaching career merits.

There is something about Collins, something that Scottish football is poorer for not recognising.

John Collins as Director of Football?

That's an appointment I can get excited about. I've droned on about it before. About how it could work for Hibs. About how it never will work for Hibs because Collins burnt his bridges.

I've even been known to down a pint or four and suggest that Hibs struck on a half decent manager with Collins and just about a half decent manager with John Hughes.

What could they have achieved if only Hibs had joined the dots?

Livingston are about to find out.

I'm intrigued. And I've got a feeling it might just work.

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Hibs: Season's Greeting

The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast are putting together a club-by-club of the Scottish football season just past.

The honour of wrestling with events at Easter Road fell to me.

This was another grim year for Hibs. The sun seems to rarely shine on Leith these days:

"But any review of the 2010/11 season is a review of myriad failings over recent years. A club that enjoys revelling in its long term propserity off the pitch has been without structure or strategy on the field. Too many managers have come and gone, too many bad signings have been countenanced under an incoherent transfer policy, too many simmering resentments in the stands have gone ignored by the powers that be. The result of that was evident in every poor performance, every tame surrendering, every reduced attendance in this torrid season. The great solace is that Colin Calderwood seems aware of all this and confident in his own ability to bring about the changes needed."

Read the full article here

Grateful to hear your views on this one. Where do Hibs go from here? Is Colin Calderwood the right man for the job? Is the constant changing of managers just window dressing to cover the wider malaise?

It's going to be another interesting close season at Easter Road. The 2010/11 season was a nightmare.

Surely it can't happen again?

SPL Today: Can't See The Calderwood For The Tears

Dundee United v Hibs

A Sunday kick off allows me to use today's match preview to sneak in what is now becoming a far too regular rant about the many deficiencies that currently haunt Hibs.

This one is slightly different though. It's the "sticking up for Colin Calderwood and finding hope for the future" post.

"Wait," my regular reader(s) scream. "Have your faculties departed, your senses taken their leave?"

No, what little sense I ever had is pretty much still intact, my essentially minimal knowledge of soccerball has not deserted me.

But…

Firstly I have to say that I don't think Colin Calderwood is blameless in the current despondency at Easter Road. This is by far the most sustained run of bad form that I've seen because there is so little sign of the team offering anything at all.

Calderwood has failed to inspire the players at his disposal and the chopping and changing of the team hasn't had a positive affect.

But…

Anybody who doesn't think Hibs would be in this mess if they hadn't sacked John Hughes is wrong. They would be. Hughes has a fairly major role to play as one of the villains of this whole sorry tale, he's at the very least a joint architect of Hibs' downfall.

And that's me being kind to him.

"But," you cry. "Hibs were only 8 points off third when Yogi left, now they're second bottom and 32 points off third."

True. But by third you mean Hearts and now is not really the time to measure Hibs against their city rivals. The truth is Hibs started the season poorly under Hughes, just as they finished last season poorly under Hughes.

But the fag-end of Hughes' reign coincided with every team outside the Old Firm starting the season slowly. It took time for Hearts, Kilmarnock, Inverness and others to find their feet. Various teams have improved as it was clear they would.

Just as predictably Hibs haven't improved. Wouldn't have improved under Hughes and haven't improved under Calderwood.

"So," my now somewhat annoying imaginary friend counters, "sacking Hughes hasn't made any difference because Calderwood is just as bad."

Possibly. You might be right. But you might be wrong. It's too early to judge.

I don't know how much Calderwood saw of Hibs before he took the job. But I don't think he was expecting the squad to be as bad as he found it to be.

When he admits after a couple of months in the job that he does not have what he considers a starting eleven that is not a manager dodging responsibility or excusing his constant shuffling.

That's an honest opinion from a professional, it's an opinion that must frustrate, baffle and annoy him.

"Ah, but as manager is he not responsible for making them better."

Yes, to an extent.

But could Alex Ferguson turn a genuinely bad footballer into the inspirational force Hibs need right now?

Could Jose Mourinho exhort Derek Riordan to try when he clearly has no intention of trying?

Could Pep Guardiola increase Kevin McBride's pace or cure Ian Murray's aching limbs?

I honestly feel they would struggle.

There are still more than a dozen players in the Hibs squad who are out of contract in the summer. The result is a squad that mixes inexperience with experienced players who don't care enough to try and a number who are, through little fault of their own, just not very good at football.

Is that Colin Calderwood's fault?

Sack him. Go on I dare you. But, if you could find anyone to take the job, I suspect they would struggle just as badly.

So where now?

Look at two of Calderwood's first signings. In come Matt Thornhill who he managed at Nottingham Forest. And in too comes Martin Scott who assistant manager Derek Adams managed at Ross County.

I don't think it is any coincidence at all that the first two signings are midfielders known to Calderwood and Adams.

This is Calderwood exerting control, putting two of "his men" in the dressing room, allies that he will hope he can rely on where the players he has inherited have let him down.

Look too at Richie Towell coming in from Celtic at full back. And Callum Booth's appearance on the opposite flank in the last couple of games.

Suddenly we can see Calderwood formulating a plan. Rebuilding his defence and his midfield. Players he thinks he can trust and young players who are hungry to impress replacing the old crowd.

We can see that in the increased role Danny Galbraith has played since Calderwood arrived, a player that John Hughes was quick to praise but who he then left to the bench, amid rumours of a manager who would barely talk to the player.

Young with something to prove, just like the latest signing Victor Palsson from Liverpool. And therefore with something to offer Calderwood that he doesn't see in more established "stars."

And look at the players who are going out of the door. A rumoured departure for Derek Riordan and Merouane Zemamma off to Middlesbrough to frustrate and delight. Chris Hogg and Sol Bamba already gone.

Is Calderwood clueless? Or is he actually using this transfer window to quietly bring about nothing short of a revolution within the budgetary constraints the board imposes?

Is he actually wriggling out of the straitjacket that he found himself in when he took the job?

The late addition of a goalkeeper and a striker could yet see Calderwood field a team that does not contain one player who would have considered himself a starter under John Hughes.

Hardly the work of a manager who doesn't recognise there is a problem, of a manager overawed by the size of the job.

Obviously there is a chance that Calderwood's new Hibs will be just as hopeless. In which case Rod Petrie has followed a diddy manager with a diddy manager.

But at least with his own team there can a far more measured analysis of Calderwood's ability. And, as painful as it is to watch Hibs right now, some of the abuse Calderwood has taken has been above and beyond what a manager so new to the job should have to put with.

Phew, out of the system.

Today

So today's game. Too soon for my rantish theory above to have played out. Hibs will struggle on again.

Dundee United are the Scotland's draw specialists right now, a run that includes throwing away a two goal lead at Easter Road. At times this season it has looked almost impossible for a visiting team to throw away a lead at Easter Road, that United managed it suggests their own form is not all it could be.

But not as bad as Hibs who will go a calendar month without scoring if they draw another blank today. Without scoring Hibs won't win games and they look equally incapable at the back. Blunt and porous. It's a hell of a combination for a professional football team to suffer from.

So United must be favourites today. If Hibs can stop them scoring then there is hope for at least point. But can they?

Home win.

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Hibs: Playing The Blame Game

Another night of misery for Hibs. Failure in the Scottish Cup is nothing new in Leith. But falling to a Second Division side last night increased the woes of a season already so mired in incompetence that mediocrity has become an aspiration.

Who is to blame? Ask three Hibs fans and you might get three different answers. The players? The manager? The board?

Certainly it seems incredible to think it was barely twelve months ago that there was talk of Hibs splitting the Old Firm.

The fall has been dramatic. But not, perhaps, surprising. Even at their best this was a Hibs team whose house was built on sand.

So our first culprit is the previous incumbent. John Hughes has to take his share of the blame. He was the man who built this squad. And the most evident truth is that he recruited too many average players.

Colin Calderwood admitted at the weekend that he does not have what he considers a first team. That is Hughes' legacy and that is the straitjacket that Calderwood is operating in. The chopping and changing of the team that has marked his reign is a search for answers.

What eleven players in that squad can he rely on? Rely on not to make Hibs unbeatable, simply eleven players who can compete. That is the depressing reality that leads to a more depressing realisation: at the moment he does not have eleven players good enough to do even that.

Calderwood is not blameless. Some of the changes he has made have been difficult to fathom. I would also have expected him to have made more of an effort to connect with the fans. The whole club, including the supporters, needed leadership when he arrived. I don't think he has made enough of an attempt to offer that.

I certainly wouldn't sack him. Hibs have had enough chopping and changing. He deserves a chance to try and weather this storm and then set about the rebuilding process that is so sorely needed.

A rebuilding process that will inevitably involve a massive turnover in players. I've written before that a number of players in the Hibs squad would fit into a number of SPL squads. They are not all diabolically bad footballers, they're mainly just average.

Every squad has average players. But Hibs have pulled off the bamboozling trick of having a squad consisting almost entirely of average players. With no leadership, a lack of creativity and few options in key areas. The result of that shambolic recruiting policy is evident every time the team takes to the pitch.

There is also the strange scenario of having more than a dozen of the first team squad at the end of their contracts. I've not known a situation like this before.

It presents Hibs with a dilemma. It makes the rebuilding process in the summer easier. But it also means that the majority of any given starting eleven know their future at the club is decided and that the manager would replace most of them tomorrow if he could.

It can't be a coincidence that they are playing like dead men walking. Why try any harder when they are at a club that doesn't want them? Grit, determination and graft are too often overrated attributes in British football.

But if, as seems likely, Hibs are involved in a bottom six relegation battle they could become precious commodities. Right now they are in short supply at Easter Road.

It is, of course, the board that have allowed this situation to develop. Rod Petrie has delivered financial stability to Hibs. He's delivered a training ground. And he's delivered a finished stadium.

All great achievements that deserve to be applauded. But he has failed to deliver the footballing side of his remit.

The turnover of managers, the profitable syphoning off of players and the general level of inconsistency over the past few years can't be ignored. And the board, and Rod Petrie in particular, must take a generous share of the blame.

However much the bank manager likes the policy of selling big and buying low it typifies a lack of investment on the footballing side that is now haunting Hibs. And, ironically, Hibs are one of the few SPL teams who could afford to never be in this position with just a little, managed, investment in players.

Increasingly I feel that the summer's rebuilding, which might still be in preparation for a promotion push, should begin with a new man in charge of the boardroom.

That is not to belittle everything that Petrie has done for Hibs. But it might just be time to start afresh.

So there we have it. To differing extents we can blame John Hughes, Colin Calderwood, the players and Rod Petrie. The result of their mistakes is an unseemly mess, a situation that is increasingly desperate.

For now all the fans can do is watch and wait.

And hope.

Rod Petrie's Statement On Hibs' Problems

Not always the most loquacious of men Rod Petrie today released a statement on recent events. Not convinced a "wall of sound" will make up for the more glaring playing deficiencies:

"Supporters have been in touch with the Club directly today, and over the past few weeks, expressing their frustration about recent performances and results. This feedback is not ignored, nor dismissed, but responded to as quickly as possible.

The pain of another early exit from the Scottish Cup is real and lasting. Every supporter feels it. The players and coaching staff feel it. The Manager feels it. And the Board feels it. We are Hibernian and we are all in this together.

The Hibernian support at Somerset Park was noisy and vocal and supported the team to the final whistle. It was all that the players could have wished for and we thank those that made the trip last night.

Professional sport is brutal - the margin between success and failure can be the width of a post, or a ricochet in the penalty box where the ball falls kindly for the opposing team.That brutality makes it compelling, and an emotional roller coaster.

We need to harness our emotions to create a positive environment for the team to perform.That's why the travelling support at Somerset Park and, indeed, the Singing Section at Easter Road Stadium have been an inspiration.That support is vital now as we gear ourselves up for a demanding second half of the Season.

The Board remains focused on our core principles. We will continue to listen to and consult with supporters through forums, meetings and on match days. We are committed to continuing the excellent work of the Academy in developing young players. And we will do what we have always done and continue to support the Manager to the very limit of our resources in bringing new players to the Club and shaping the squad the way he wants it.

We have been working consistently with Colin since he arrived to identify how we can improve things in this Transfer Window and again in the Summer. The lack of new faces so far is not a 'policy decision' or the lack of effort from the Manager and his coaching staff or willingness and resource from the Board. This is a difficult window in which to make changes and things tend to happen towards the end of the window rather than at the start of it. We've done it before and we will do it again.

Scott Lindsay and I had our regular, scheduled meeting with the Manager and Scouting Co-ordinator earlier today to review progress on the many enquiries which have been made so far. While your Club always seeks to go about its business in a quiet and professional way, you should not mistake this for a lack of effort, commitment or activity. We will re-double our efforts to add some fresh faces in this window for the fight ahead.

Make no mistake, it will be a fight. We have missed out on the Scottish Cup Final but we now have a number of 'cup finals' in the league programme ahead. Silky football or ugly football, it is getting points that matters. It is points that will now define our Season.

We all need to play our part to win that fight. That means turning Easter Road Stadium into a fortress both on and off the pitch. It needs to be a wall of sound, supporting those privileged enough to wear the green and white - no matter what the score - from the first to the final whistle.

The players want to win. The fans want to win. The Board wants to win. We all want to be competing at the top of the SPL, in the latter stages of the Cups, and in regular European competition. We are all passionate about Hibernian, the club that means so much to us all. Together we are stronger. Pulling together we can get back to winning ways."

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Scottish Football Blog Awards 2010 - Match Of The Year

OK. So there was some Marx Brothers defending. And Hibs' underbelly was again exposed as being softer than a marshmallow.

But if the SPL could offer matches like this every week our game would be in much ruder health.

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Scottish Football Blog Awards 2010 - Part One

Time for the 2010 Scottish Football Blog Awards. A meandering look back at the year Spain finally delivered on the global stage, Lennon gave peace a chance at Celtic and Scotland managed not to draw with Liechtenstein.

The Charles Foster Kane Money Can't Buy You Happiness Award: England's footballers. A miserable, morose, monosyllabic group of millionaires at the best of times. Further suffering was heaped on the men who power the world's best league when the World Cup delivered fairly damning evidence that they're just not that good at football.

The Cameron-Clegg Coalition Building Award: Jim Jefferies loves Hearts. But it's a tough, taciturn kind of love. How would Jambo Jim fae Wallyford be able to cope with the idiosyncratic reign of Tynecastle's ruling Romanov dynasty? Pretty well as it turns out. So far.

The Peter Mandelson Spinning A Dead Horse Award: John Hughes was keen to point out that "football people" could see what he was building at Easter Road. They could. So could rugby people and cricket people. He was building a team without a defence, who couldn't win at home and were heading for relegation. Don't call Yogi if you're wanting an extension on the house.

The Julian Assange Electronic Communications Award: Hugh Dallas. The button is delete, Hugh. Not forward.

The JFK Memorial Conspiracy Theory Award: Celtic fans. Apparently the working title of Oliver Stone's next film is "SFA: The Celtic Files."

The Tommy Sheridan Tabloid Titillation Award: Allan McGregor. A clean sheet king on the pitch, off the pitch…no, I'm not going there.

The Geoffrey Howe Award For Being Savaged By A Dead Sheep: The SFA. Henry McLeish has spent much of his political career being not fit for purpose. If even he can seen how woefully inept you are then it is time to make a change.

The Oliver Twist Award: Lovable urchin Wayne Rooney asked for more. Sadly, he got it.

The Arthur Scargill Award For Services To Industrial Relations: The referees had a point but their strike was pretty pointless.

The George Orwell Doublespeak Award: Craig Brown loves Motherwell. Craig Brown loves Aberdeen. Craig Brown's gone down in a lot of people's estimation.

The Prince William and Kate Middleton Romance Of The Year Award: It's not clear if Henry McLeish and the SPL Working Strategy Group took each other up a mountain in Kenya. But it seems they had a chat or two on SPL reconstruction during the post-coital cigarettes. In this particular love triangle it is Scottish football that should be filing for divorce.

The Davey Crockett Backs To The Wall In Ultimately Futile Defence Award: Craig Levein. 4-6-0 against the Czech Republic. And one of the most depressing nights in the history of the national team. And that's a tough list to get on.

The Gordon Brown Why Did I Say That Award: Dougie McDonald. Who still can't accept that lying is wrong. It's not like telling children that Santa is real, Dougie. It's not like that at all.

The Pick Your Fights Like The Klitschko Brothers Award: Neil Lennon. Charging up touch lines like an aggressive drunk on Sauchiehall Street. Not actually doing his team any good though.

The Careful What You Wish For Award: Aberdeen fans. The two Jimmys don't look quite as bad when you're staring up from the bottom of the league. Jimmy Tarbuck probably doesn't look quite as bad when you're 9-0 down at Celtic.

The Vince Cable Why Did I Take This Job Award: Stewart Regan. Will never again moan about how boring cricket is.

The Ann Widdecombe Award For Unlikely Political Reinventions: John Reid. A lying bully wages war on lying bullies. Although I suppose he is used to waging ill defined wars.

The Denis Law What The Hell Is That Accent All About Award: Colin Calderwood. Sounds like he was born and raised on a train shuttling back and forth between Scotland and England.

The Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama Jumping The Gun Award: I've got nothing against David Beckham. I have got a problem with a broadcaster giving a man in his mid-30s a lifetime achievement award as a way of grabbing viewers.

The Eyjafjallajoekull European Misery Award: Hibs, Motherwell, Dundee United and Celtic left our co-efficient battered like a Scottish Mars bar.

The Derek Trotter Award for Salesmanship: Sir David Murray. How long before he's trying to sell Ibrox from the back of a van at the Barras.

The James Corden Award for Annoying Buffoonery: George Peat. What is the point of you, George? What is the point? Still the joke's on us after all that clowning around with the dinosaur yesterday. TOTAL TOSSER.

The Adrian Chiles Grass Isn't Always Greener Award: Kris Boyd. Loving it at the Riverside.

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Colin Calderwood Joins Hibs

If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen a tweet I sent a week past Sunday:

“Hearing Steve Clarke has got Hibs job.”

So, if nothing else, I need an ear trumpet.

How close did Clarke come to getting the job?

I don’t know. Living in Leith when Rod Petrie is on the hunt for a new manager is like picking up the phone and finding you’ve got a cross line with Dot Cotton and Hilda Ogden. Rumour, counter-rumour and gossip abound. Nobody knows anything so they fill the vacuum with something they’ve made up.

But only Rod Petrie knows.

And so it was, a week after my failed scoop, that Colin Calderwood was introduced to the media as the manager of Hibs.

The chairman was quick to call the appointment a “coup.” The fans seemed to disagree slightly.

Talk of Steve Clarke might have turned some heads. A friend of Zola or Mourinho is maybe more attractive than a friend of Chris Hughton who has previously managed Northampton Town and Nottingham Forrest.

That he apparently confirmed he’d been overlooked in favour of John Hughes 15 months ago raised some eyebrows. Let’s just interpret that as Rod Petrie now admitting he made a mistake that time around.

But Calderwood has enjoyed promotion as a boss with Town and Forrest and again as assistant with Newcastle (are Hibs lucky that the Norwich job didn’t come up at the same time? Is this an “N” fetish?).

That experience at Newcastle gives him experience of dealing with dressing rooms filled with the towering egos of giant man-children who are every bit as petulant, if richer, than some of the players who have allegedly been exerting a malign influence on the Hibs squad.

And he has the advantage of being Scottish without being “Scottish football.” It’s a brave decision by Petrie to get off the SPL merry-go-round but I think it’s one that should be applauded, and the break with the pattern of appointing former Hibs players must be welcomed given the prompt departures of Collins, Mixu and Hughes.

It’s impossible to say how Calderwood will do. Decent managers struggle at clubs that don’t suit them, bad managers thrive at clubs where the players and supporters respond to them. There are no guarantees – and plenty of risks – with any appointment.

So we wait and see. He’ll not be short of advice about how to improve things. But he’ll need to figure that out on his own.

As for those underwhelmed fans. Well, the Easter Road derby in the first week of November would be a good place to start winning over hearts and minds.

Hibs Still Searching

What madness have I returned to?

With a shiny, completed ground and a financial position that the board enjoy describing as “healthy” all should be rosy in the Easter Road garden.

Unfortunately football is still about finding a manager and a squad of players who can deliver something on the pitch.

And that, recently, has been Hibs’ failing. That John Hughes had to go was of little surprise. He will, with his normal “character,” defend his record. Europe for the first time in five years, fourth place in the league. Fair enough. But the harsh reality was that Hughes’ Hibs team wasn’t good enough, that it may even have been less than the sum of its parts. And for that the buck stops with the manager.

I’m told Hughes is blaming the media for “interpreting” recent results to fit their argument.

OK. But how much spin does it take from even a third rate scribe to turn one win out of ten in the SPL and European and League Cup exits into a damning indictment of Hibs current form? Or how about the worst run of home results since the club was founded in 1875?

Hughes was fond of saying that “football” people understood what he was trying to do. Well, football people and non-football people can surely agree that the manager was going to come under pressure with such a paltry return on what, for Hibs’ famously reticent board, has been a reasonable investment in the playing squad.

I’d actually take Doc Brown’s DeLorean back to the start of last season to pinpoint the problem of the Hughes reign. I’d return to a stage of the season that came before that now almost unbelievable period when people were breathlessly hailing Hughes as the man to split the Old Firm.

In the fourth game of last season Hibs lost 2-0 at Hamilton in a performance as insipid as it was disjointed. It was to be a recurring theme. If the big players didn’t click then Hibs seemed powerless to do anything in the face of well organised opponents. There was no Plan B because, and this gnawed away even during the long unbeaten run last season, there was no Plan A. The seeds of this season’s discontent were sown last year. In focusing only on the final league position Hughes chooses not to acknowledge that.

That, of course, fits in with the pattern established in his last season at Falkirk when a cup final and a last gasp escape were constantly used to defend his record without ever facing up to the problems that had pushed his team into a lengthy relegation battle.

Given his reputation as a hard man – a reputation apparently well earned – his lack of control in the dressing room also seemed odd. But discipline does seem to have been an issue and man management problems seem to have been constantly rumoured. Having been on the receiving end of a couple of Yogi’s motivational speeches I can vouch for both their length and the essential lack of substance at their heart, like a call to arms delivered by the worst sort of New Labour apparatchik. Did the players simply stop listening?

All of which is a shame because Hughes is a decent bloke with Hibs and Leith in his heart and he shared a bond with the fans. Unfortunately, and many other former players will vouch for this, having the best of intentions and loving a club is not enough to make a success of it in the dugout.

The final verdict has to be that for the majority of his 15 months in charge this son of Leith was unable to deliver any sunshine.

Where, then, do the board turn now?

For a club that likes to consider itself “stable” Hibs have been anything but of late. There has been a constant turnover of managers and a lack of any cohesion that belies the success of the youth development staff but is borne out by a decade that has, in truth, been only intermittently inspiring.

In fact the one constant has been Rod Petrie, a man hailed for his shrewd financial guidance but who has a poor track record in identifying coaches with whom he can forge long term working relationships. The admission by Jim Duffy that he taught Petrie all he knows should not, perhaps, be much of a surprise given the mess that Duffy himself made of the manager’s job.

But with financial stability, a reasonable squad and an open race for third place there is likely to be no shortage of contenders for Petrie to choose from.

Some of the names we’ve already seen linked include: Paul Hart, Steve Clarke, Jimmy Calderwood, Billy Reid, Ian McParland, Uwe Rapolder, Gus McPherson, Derek Adams, Derek McInnes, Steve Constantine, Tony Mowbray, Mark Venus, Michael O’Neil, Pat Fenlon, Craig Brown, Sir Bobby Charlton and Colin Montgomerie.

I’ve made a couple of those names up. And I’m not going to back anyone.

Why? Because Rod Petrie would have made a damned good operator in the political machinations of the Kremlin. He gives nothing away and doesn’t feel why he should. If he was running any other business he wouldn’t discuss personnel issues with his customers and he sees fans as no different.

Thus the more names he sees linked the better, the stronger the cover for the cloak and dagger operation that will see the new man eventually emerge.

All I’ll say is rule out anyone you see as an obvious candidate. John Hughes was the obvious candidate and also the wrong one. Expect Petrie to return to the method that saw him unearth Tony Mowbray from the Ipswich coaching staff.

For all his failings – and balancing balance sheets aside he has many – Rod Petrie enjoys springing surprises more than you’d expect from a man of his dull countenance. Expect him to do so again in the next week or two.

John Hughes Going Nowhere, Yet

What do John Hughes and William Hague have in common? Not, admittedly, all that much.

But yesterday the Hibs manager and the Foreign Secretary were both subjected to a frenzy of speculation and rumour that, it seems, was entirely unfounded.

The big gossip in Scottish football seemed to surface about 6.30pm when a radio station apparently reported that John Hughes had left Hibs.

My phone started vibrating like mad, Tweets appeared, emails were sent.

By coincidence I arrived at Easter Road’s 1875 function suite at around 7.05pm yesterday evening.

And who was already in position ready to take place in a quiz organised by Hibs’ sponsors. Why, surely it was the newly walked-out Mr John Hughes. As bold as brass and most definitely sitting in the stadium rather than storming out of it.

“A lot of rubbish” was his standard response to the inevitable questions regarding the reports.

And, this is an admission that pains me, his team beat mine. Although he did appear to have roped in a couple of ringers. (The players team led at the halfway stage before fading badly: a quiz based metaphor for Hibs' normal pattern during a league season.)

So it was a nonsense that appears to have been a case of somebody failing to get an interview and putting two and two together.

That’s football and it’s hardly on a par with the intrusive gossip that Mr Hague and his family have had to cope with.

But the rumour interested me less than the reaction to it.

The fans I was with gave no sign of being upset at the thought of a Yogi-less Hibs. More than one ruminated that they “hoped” it was true.

The Easter Road support have slipped away from John Hughes. Fans can point to six home defeats on the bounce and last week’s loss to St Mirren as being symptomatic of a wider malaise that has shrouded the team since around January of this year.

The reality is that Hughes’ form in those months has not been good enough.

Knee-jerk reactions are, of course, what fans do best. And an Easter Road board that craves financial stability will have no desire to be fishing around for yet another new manager in the near future.

But even there we can maybe see some fault-lines developing. Alan Gow didn’t impress many supporters during his spell with Hibs last season. But the manager is a big fan.

With Anthony Stokes lost on deadline day and Gow still available Hughes might have hoped to bring him in. For whatever reasons that didn’t happen and Gow has signed for Motherwell.

If Hughes feels the frostiness from the terraces is being matched by a reluctance from the board might he begin to consider his own position?

Last night somebody joined up a loose series of dots and came up with a pattern that fitted Hughes’ departure.

That was wrong.

But that so many fans were happy to believe it, that there were clues appearing that suggested it might be true, could just mean that Hughes and Hibs are now entering the last days of their relationship.

Hughes wasn’t going anywhere last night. Don’t be tempted to bet big on him still being around for the annual quiz next year though.

Hughes and Cry

Was it only yesterday that I wrote that things could be a lot worse for Hibs fans?

Might not feel like it just now.

I suppose being 6-2 up and losing 7-6 might be worse. At the moment that doesn't feel like much of a distinction. As crumbs of comfort go it's like being told that your lost lottery ticket would only have won you £3 million pounds rather than the £4 million you thought.

Nor would you find reassurance in the news that your team might have set a world record:

Motherwell came back from 6-2 down to draw 6-6 against Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League on Wednesday evening to equal the highest scoring draw in any top division in the history of world football.

As far as we can ascertain within a short time period, it appears to be highest scoring score in professional football history regardless of division, although we welcome extra information from around the world to the contrary. The game was the definitely the highest scoring game in SPL history.

The last time a 6-6 draw happened in the professional game was on Saturday 7 August 1999, when Genk – then the Champions of Belgium – opened their title defence in the 1999-2000 season with a 12-goal thriller against Westerlo. (via Sporting Intelligence)

Being told that you made headline news in Germany and Australia, that the result was a top UK trending topic on Twitter (knocking Spurs v Man City and even Brown v Cameron v Clegg into the also-ran category), that you reached the front page of bbc.co.uk. None of that is likely to provide a haven from the anguish.

In your search for some explanation you might think of turning to your manager, surely the most likely conduit for your feelings of grief.

Here's what John Hughes said:

It's mixed emotions. It's very disappointing, there is positives, though to come to this place and score six goals.

Remarkably upbeat that. But then Hughes is a man with a sunny disposition, more happy than sad. Half-wits often are.

And what light can this former centre half shed on Hibs' capitulation?

I felt at 6-2 up my strikers stopped working. That's where you start defending, from the front. We then started sitting too deep and inviting Motherwell onto us.

So there we have it. Three strikers score six goals between them. And that's still not enough.

There's a gulf between Hughes and the fans. Tonight widened it. I'm no longer sure how capable he is of bridging it.

Things could be a lot worse

I've barely been able to sleep these past few nights, my peaceful nights ripped asunder by the gnashing of teeth as Hibs fans digest yet another derby defeat.

John Hughes has claimed 100% backing from the fans. I suppose this is in much the same way that Peter Mandelson might claim 100% backing from the electorate.

But amid the doom people should remember that things could be a lot, lot worse.

So why not try and break the cycle of insomnia with some masochism?

Hibs fans: a mid season collapse is not the end of the world.

Falkirk and Kilmarnock: this is what you're playing to avoid on Saturday.

Hughes is safe - for now

A few statistics to ponder in the wake of today's Edinburgh derby.

Hibs have now lost six games on the bounce. That's their worst run since 1997 when Jim Duffy was acting as the ringmaster and building up his clown circus. John Hughes might remember that, he was a Hibs player at the time.

By my reckoning that's also 11 games without a clean sheet. This is a problem Hughes has sought to solve by signing goalkeepers, three in under a year in charge. That's not worked. But fans might well wonder how a former centre half could ignore the defence in both the summer and winter transfer windows.

Here's the crucial one though. Hughes is Hibs' seventh manager since Jim Duffy was jettisoned in 1998's relegation season.

In all their financial dealings the Hibs board crave stability. My guess is they want that stability in the dugout as well.

They will be aware of how the fans feel, worried at the drop in attendances (here again the building work provides a useful smokescreen) and despair at European cash disappearing into the horizon.

For now I think that desire for stability is enough to save Hughes the chop, if not the wrath of the faithful.

It might be that he looks at the players, studies their latest capitulation and decides that he's run out of ideas.

Right now the decision is in hands. But it won't be if there's no change next season.

Pitch battle

It seems if at least one of the sources of friction at Easter Road has been given a public airing.

A few weeks ago Derek Riordan said:

I said a wee while ago I felt the pitch could cost us points and I think it has. If you look at some of our chances in the St Johnstone game last Saturday, the ball was stuck under feet a couple of time because it is a bog.

Perhaps not the most diplomatic of answers for a footballer to give. But hardly an earth shattering breach of security. If you've seen a game at Easter Road recently you'll have seen for yourself that the pitch is not up to scratch.

Unsurprising too that it should be Riordan to speak out. A substandard pitch is likely to prove more detrimental to his style of play than, say, a player like Sol Bamba. It's also clear for all to see that Derek likes a moan. In most games this season he's chosen to adopt a demeanour that makes him look like a particularly peeved ned embarking on an long, half hearted search for his favourite baseball cap.

These excuses have not been enough for the bean counters. Riordan has been fined by the club and has now called in Fraser Wishart of the PFA to argue his case. If Wishart is unsuccessful then his next step might be to take the appeal to the SPL.

I fail to see what Hibs hope to achieve here. Clearly Rod Petrie shares more than just a preference for facial hair with Stalin: it now seems he's using Pravda as the model for Hibs' media policy.

Given the current plight of Hibs on the pitch - and John Hughes has been uncharacteristically terse on this issue - this seems like a cause for internal strife that could easily have been avoided.

Perhaps Riordan had been warned already to say nothing. It wouldn't surprise me if certain people at Easter Road had come to the conclusion that if nobody at Hibs mentioned the surface then nobody else would notice it.

On the other hand allowances should be made for the fact that Deeks is not the most accomplished of graduates from Hibs' school of media training. A severe bollocking would probably have done less damage than what has now become a protracted farce played out between the club and one of the few players who - even in this slump - can win matches.

But for all his undoubted acumen in guiding Hibs to solvency, Rod Petrie seems somewhat lacking in people skills. He'd not be great company on a long haul flight.

They might be from different sides of the tracks but Riordan and Petrie certainly possess unnatural levels of stubborness.

One of them will eventually have to blink. In the meantime I can't help feeling that it will be John Hughes and the Hibs fans who suffer.

Hibs turn to Jelly(stone)

Hibs fans had grown somewhat numb to the utilitarian tactics of Mixu Paatelainen. So they were ready for the attacking game and footballing philosophy that John Hughes promised when he returned “home” to Easter Road.

There were some that pointed to his relative inexperience and Falkirk’s brush with relegation under his stewardship last season.

But on the whole those doubters were appeased by a couple of headline grabbing signings – many thought the days of Hibs attracting a Liam Miller or an Anthony Stokes were long gone – and a flying start to the season. Even into late December Hibs were being talked about as capable of mounting the challenge that would split the Old Firm.

So how has it come to this? On Sunday I couldn’t find one Hibs fan who fancied their chances of getting any points after the split, most of them glumly accepting that the season is now all but finished and just hoping that Hearts don’t inflict too big a humiliation when they meet at Easter Road in a couple of weeks.

Even if you’re no smarter than the average bear you can surmise that something has gone horribly wrong with Hughes’ Leith homecoming. The fans expected a Yogi revolution only to be delivered a Boo-Boo. (I could go further here and suggest that it was Ranger Smith who began the collapse when Hibs lost their early advantage to go down 4-1 to Rangers at Easter Road at Christmas. But I won’t.)

Inevitably there are calls for the manager’s head. Two wins in 13 games is hardly the form that delivers confidence to the terraces and calling for a sacking is the predictable response of the unhappy punter.

As a club Hibs pride themselves on their financial stability. In recent season they’ve failed to match that on the pitch. Since 2001 when Alex McLeish was in charge they’ve gone through 7 managers, with Hughes following the short lived reigns of Mixu and John Collins. Sometimes a club needs stability in the dugout.

So, at the very least, Hughes needs a bit more time.

Time to bring in the players (a defender or two, a more physical midfield presence) that he should really have been looking to attract last summer. Time also to work out any problems that might currently be simmering away in the dressing room.

Tittle-tattle and rumour is the chief export of Leith so I’ll not list all the gossip (and the stories I’ve heard are long, varied and would probably result in libel action). But the players apparently relaxed demeanour as they warmed down after last week’s Hamilton humbling suggests that not everyone feels the pain of defeat as keenly as the manager and fans. A big name or two being shipped out in the summer would not surprise me.

Hughes himself also needs to find a workable Plan B. His philosophy is admirable. But when it fails he seems to have no options besides a Tony Mowbray style huff and reverting to a long ball game that is completely at odds with the strengths of his players.

There should be more room for idealists in football. But every idealist needs a healthy dose of realpolitik to succeed.

Hughes himself should also tone down his personality a little. I don’t know how it works with the players. But the rambling press conferences and post match interviews focusing on positives that have eluded everyone else are not endearing him to the fans. It’s almost as if he is constantly trying to prove that Hughes the manager has more depth than Hughes the player. The fans aren’t going to show patience with a man using press conferences as a form of therapy.

Gloom is obscuring the sunshine in Leith right now. But Hibs still sit fourth, on more points than they amassed last year. The current pessimism is made worse by the recent optimism. But earlier in the season the press, the fans and even the players and managers got caught up in an impossible dream. Hibs were set targets that they weren't good enough to meet. That's not the end of the world as long as they make more improvements next season.

It’s not yet time to cut Hughes loose. But he’s going to need to prove that he’s learned from this season’s mistakes.

Results That Killed A Season
Hamilton 4-1 Hibs (10th April)
Hibs 2-4 Dundee United (31st March)
Ross County 2-1 Hibs (23rd March)
Hearts 2-1 Hibs (20th March)
St Johnstone 5-1 Hibs (17th February)
Hibs 1-4 Rangers (27th December)

May Day

If eyebrows were raised when Eddie May was appointed as Falkirk manager last summer there can have few gasps of surprise that has tenure has not lasted the full course of the SPL campaign.

Indeed the only shock might be that it has taken so long for the axe to fall.

This has been a desperate campaign for May and his players. 12 league defeats and only three wins mean bottom place has become the Bairns' natural playground.

Last night's defeat to Kilmarnock sent them crashing back down to earth after a win at Aberdeen had given hope and lifted them to the heady heights of eleventh place.

His final game seemed to sum up May's whole tenure: a meek capitualtion at home to relegation rivals hints at a team that finds itself powerless to halt the slide, of a manager who is unable to turn the tide.

Despite a long association with the club May has never seemed comfortable as manager. His coaching career has been spent doing solid work in the shadows, from the moment of an embarassing European exit to a team that seemed to define the term minnows he has looked uncomfortable in the limelight.

Falkirk have lost 14 players since John Hughes departed. Finances have dictated that they have not all been replaced and the players that have come in have not all been of a similar standard. All this from a squad that only narrowly avoided relegation last year. It would be understandable if May felt he could see the writing on the wall the moment he came to write down his first teamsheet.

A confidentiality agreement will likely deny us the chance to hear his true thoughts but it seems clear that he felt he was given assurances from the board that they failed to deliver on. The feeling that his hands were tied will have increased his unease in the role.

At times these frustrations have tumbled out - as seen by a series of digs at his predecessor, out of character outbursts that helped create an entirely erroneous impression of the man.

So the Falkirk is a hard job but not an impossible one for the right man.

Sadly Eddie May was the wrong man.

The very qualifications he brought to the job were part of the problem. As he left yesterday he said:

The Celtic match at Falkirk was a particular high for me as a manager, I was proud to manage the team which included 9 academy graduates.

Academy director and manager are very different roles. May might have known his players better than anyone but he may not have known how to handle them in his new role. They, in turn, might well have felt a confusion in reacting to a man who was so recently their mentor and was now their master.

The rudderless season they have endured points to these tensions remaining unresolved throughout the campaign.

Falkirk now have 15 games to save themselves. I'm sure, despite it all, Eddie May will be willing them on every step of the way.

MaCalamity no more?

Shock: Big Games Not at Ibrox!

It’s a shame that our continuing obsession with the Old Firm will overshadow two other games being played this weekend.

With the Ibrox clash holding all the appeal of being hit in the face with a wet fish, Edinburgh and Falkirk might be the places to go for thrills.

At Tynecastle this afternoon Hearts meet Aberdeen and third versus fourth looks more appealing than the battle of the top two.

Aberdeen are on a roll. They’re by no means strolling through games but they are getting results and seem to be carrying a touch of luck. Jimmy Calderwood has taken his time at Pittodrie, tinkering here and there, but now seems to have found a team capable of achieving something.

Hearts need no introduction in this blog. All we need now is for Vladimir Romanov to marry Pedro Lopez for the everyday story of an extraordinary football club to replace The Archers.

That said Hearts enjoyed a great result last week, finally finding their goal scoring touch to bring an end to a nine game run without a victory. If the Paul Hartley story has not unsettled them too much they’ll be hoping to continue that form against Aberdeen today.

Make no mistake – the Hearts players still believe they are a top three side. Having Aberdeen above them will be an insult to their pride.

Expect a cracker. A draw, but a cracker.

Today’s other game of note is Falkirk against Hibs. Both teams suffered defeats last week but in very different ways.

Falkirk stuffed Aberdeen in the second half of the game at Pittodrie and should have had at least a draw. The best that can be said of Hibs’ trip to Ibrox is that at least they didn’t lose the second half.

So the two Johns will be looking for different reactions this afternoon. Hughes will ask for more of the same. Collins will ask Hibs to show that last week was an aberration

What we can be sure of is that both managers will ask their players to pass the ball and entertain. If Aberdeen and Hearts promises explosions, Falkirk and Hibs looks like being a treat for the purists.

And, if you want a prediction, I’ll go for Falkirk to pull off a shock and get a result.