According to the Edinburgh Evening News today Hibs stars (stars? how many of them actually qualify as stars?) have been holding "clear the air" talks following their dismal pre season.
A sign of a group players taking responsibility for their collective incompetence? Or a sign that problems do exist at Easter Road?
I'm thinking the latter. I wonder just what role Rob Jones has as club captain...
Do friendlies mean anything at all? Most managers would say they're a valuable way of gauging a team's readiness for the season ahead. If they win. If they lose they'll write them off as merely a fitness excercise.
So who knows if they do mean anything.
But three events in Scottish football show that friendlies can have a far from positive impact.
Example 1
Peterhead 4, Aberdeen 0
A full...
The whole sorry search for a keeper at Easter Road continues. After Phil Imray, recently of the mighty Wellington in New Zealand, did little to impress against Raith he has joined young Ivorian Lamine Meite in being shown the exit door.
Neither triallist impressed Mixu Paatelainen more than what he's already got. What he's already got is calamity prone Yves Makalambay, gaffe prone Andy McNeill...
The pre season is in full swing now with the SPL clubs getting their preparations for the season fully underway.
A quick roundup:
After the disaster of the Intertoto Cup Hibs were held to a no scoring draw against Raith. Good news for the Hibs fans: There was a mystery triallist in goals. Bad news for the Hibs fans: He was 24 year old Phil Imray of Team Wellington in New Zealand. The Hibees...
The sun didn't shine on Leith yesterday. In fact it rained on Rod Petrie's latest European parade. Another drookit Intertoto disaster.
Before the game Mixu didn't so much dampen down expectation as concede defeat. And so it came to pass. Now the players are back far too early and the club has a pointless trip to Sweden to contend with.
And, crucially, fans that weren't convinced by Mixu last...
In different ways a strange week for two Scottish coaches. Alex Miller sets off from Rafa's shoulder to Japan where he is charged with taking JEF United Chiba (no me either) off the foot of the J-League.
Miller managed Morton, St Mirren, Hibs and Aberdeen in Scotland before winding up in the Anfield boot room in 1999.
Something of a draw specialist his greatest achievements in Scotland were...
Barry Ferguson's solitary goal was enough to seal victory for Rangers as they embarked on the run of games that will end in glory or disaster.
Another game that wasn't hugely pleasing on the eye - except perhaps for the watching Dick Advocaat - needed the captain's well taken goal to keep the pressure on Celtic. The lead at the top of the table has now been cut to four points with Rangers still...
Up on the roof. Two intrepid souls find a new way to watch Hibs and Rangers in a not so very scintallating no score draw.Apparently they left at half time to get a carry out. Which, if nothing else, probably made them the envy of the fans inside the ground.Seriously guys there must be 100 pubs within a mile of the roof that were showing the game on TV.Still I bet Rod Petrie is trying to track...
The best laid plans and all that.
So I've missed an entire year of Scottish football.
And what a year.
Rangers in a European final for the first time since 1901 and despite failing to score a goal in the whole tournament - only joking and who can knock them now?
Gretna in freefall. The fairytale turned into a nightmare (that cliche is copyright of anyone who has written about the story) as...
That Bet Lynch has signed for Rangers
A few snippets of (possibly untrue) gossip: Hibs' Shelton Martis is to rejoin Darlington after falling foul of John Collins following the player revolt at Easter Road. Greg Shields is also on his way with Michael Stewart hoping to start again in the English Premiership with old mate Roy Keane’s Sunderland: the two kept in touch after Stewart left...
In
Falkirk,
SPL Gossip,
Scottish Football Gossip,
Artur Boruc,
Steve Sidwell,
Stephen Keller,
James Beattie,
John Sutton,
Shelton Martis,
Sunderland,
Roy Keane,
Michael Stewart,
Celtic,
Hibs
Truth, Lies and Joseph Barton
What? Fat Pat? Signing for Aberdeen?
Giddy with signing Scotland international Brian Kerr (three caps, as you ask) John Collins is going to swoop for Chelsea’s Belgian ‘keeper Yves Makaba-Makalamby. Try putting that on the back of your shirt. All is not bright on Mr Collins’ horizon though. Michael Stewart is ready to spill the beans on the whole sorry...
There appears to be something in the water in Edinburgh – and it's not coming from the burst sewage pipe at Seafield. A season of smug satisfaction for Hibs fans looked like it might get even better. One cup was already locked in the trophy cabinet. Kevin Thomson was dumped and Scott Brown returned to equilibrium. European football – and a shot at the Scottish Cup – lay only 90 minutes...
In
Scott Brown,
John Collins,
Hibernian,
Dunfermline,
Scottish Cup,
CIS Cup,
Steven Whittaker,
David Murphy,
Chris Killen,
Hibs,
Rod Petrie
Hibs have been away this week in Spain. They come home on Friday before facing Rangers on Sunday in what can’t really be described as a crucial league game but is one that neither team will fancy losing. If Rangers win their push for second place will continue. For Hibs it’s a chance to show that a breather and a nice training surface is all they needed to recharge their batteries....
As I’ve been a blogging chancer of late you’ll excuse me if I go over a couple of stories that I missed. You might call this the 'Scottish Football Guide to Saying What You Mean': “I was just laying back relaxing in the dressing room and the manager sat beside me and told me he wanted to make me club captain – I had to take a wee breath because I was not quite sure if he was telling the...
I’m sure it’s of some comfort to Hearts fans to know that Mr Romanov is not the only man in Edinburgh with a monkey on his back. Step forward Hibs winger Ivan Sproule. Ivan does everything quickly: running, talking and losing his temper. All in the blink of an eye. Arguably the only thing he does slowly is think. On Saturday Ivan, sent on as an impact substitute against Celtic, got sent...
Anyone reading the Scottish media over the past few weeks would be forgiven for thinking the nation’s scribes are trying to woo John Collins. Hardly a day goes by without a paean to Collins and his matinee idol looks appearing. Even defeat at Rangers could not dent the ardour of his admirers. Like a John Wayne character Collins’ fallibility seems to have made him all the more attractive:...
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...
Christmas is nearly upon us. And the pantomime horse of Scottish football, Chick Young, is at it again.
In yet another column devoted to Rangers, the die hard St Mirren fan, waxes lyrical about Jock Wallace and the relative merits of Paul Le Guen.
The Murder Hills at Gullane beach are mentioned as Chick harks back to a simpler time when football was stuck in the dark ages.
Chick, never the...
The runners and riders in Scottish football over the last seven days:
Well Done You!
Until this afternoon Kilmarnock were going to get this for performance of the week. But Falkirk made a late charge and came through on the inside after putting Rangers to the sword.
A special mention to Scott Brown. After building up a reputation as the player other teams love to hate he’s achieved a double...
Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown.
It’s getting a bit boring, this saga they’ve engineered.
They’re young men and they feel they should get paid what they’re entitled too. Fair enough.
They’ve drafted in Willie McKay as their agent, no doubt impressed by tales of his life in Monaco and his incredible story of how he made Jean Alain Boumsong a millionaire.
But the players were happy enough with...
Well done to Lothian and Borders Police for arresting the Hibs and Hearts casuals involved in disturbances in Edinburgh last month.
The eight arrests, made after dawn raids on addresses in the Edinburgh area, are said to be just the beginning of police action after the incident.
Good stuff. Let’s hope those found guilty are properly punished and barred from football.
And barred for life....
Has Kevin Thomson realised that the nonsense he helped create around Hibs last week was over the top?
After the ridicule he found heaped on him following his farcical Daily Record ‘column’ last Tuesday, today he was in a more conciliatory mood.
No mention of his mummy and his yearning to free her from the chains of wage slavery.
Rather positive talk about winning silverware and fighting for...
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...
