Hibernian – Give us a Goal

Not ‘six of the best’ unfortunately as after six pre-season games Hibs have proved unable to hit the net in half a dozen attempts this summer so far. With capitulations (twice) in the Intertoto Cup against Sweden’s Elfsborg, a no-score draw with Raith Rovers and defeats versus the modest opposition of Cowdenbeath and now Clyde, the 6-0 drubbing from mighty Barcelona almost seems to appear quite reasonable.

Further home games against EPL outfits Middlesbrough and Wigan now pave the way to the first league fixture away to Kilmarnock. There has to be a fair chunk of trepidation felt by the Easter Road faithful about these encounters and about the coming season in earnest to follow.

Remember the days when pre-season friendlies were of little note? Tradition might be for a good few Scottish teams to try their hand against English competition and apart from the odd shallow bragging right nobody really cared too much. It’s different nowadays isn’t it? Fans travel long distances and spend a lot of money to see their team on trips that often raise funds for some clubs or provide a busman’s holiday for teams’ players. I’m really not sure about this. Every game is there to be won of course and paying fans have the right to see a performance fitting of their admission fee but there now seems a lot of negativity created by defeats in these games.

I’ve never been a fan that particularly takes pre-season results too seriously what is happening at Easter Road concerns me a lot. Six games and not a solitary goal should worry anyone as evidently the team is not firing and creating chances. It should be obvious to state what a bad sign this is as alternatiely we can sometimes forgive a side that creates plenty of opportunities to score but fails to take advantage. To not carve out an opening or two however poses greater and deeper problems. 

Mixu Paatelainen in angry mood

So what’s the big problem with Hibs? We all have our theories and many will share mine but this football team has been robbed of the nearly all its quality over the season or two. Many times this situation has been impossible to deny as young ambitious players wish to move on to pastures anew and huge wage increase and who can blame them. What is a greater problem is the way in which Hibernian have chosen to replace that young talent. Nearly always this means bargain basement buys, cheap ‘Bosmans’ and very ordinary journeymen players who represent the flotsam and jetsam on the fringes of international football way down to non-league. It’s no mystery why Hibs now find themselves in such an apparent mess. It was always fairly inevitable that this was going to happen.

Perhaps the long term way forward for Hibs is again in youth. This is being attended to via the new training centre at East Mains but chairman Rod Petrie really does need to address the issues of seeking and attracting better quality players in the short term. It’s rare that we get to know the real financial business of Hibs as mere supporters but it seems all too evident that the club simply don’t pay enough to draw better players to Easter Road. Petrie may think his financially prudent master plan is the way for Hibs to progress but personally I feel there is little balance in the way he runs affairs. This is still a football club, fans pay to be entertained and the same fans are now beginning to rebel against this tight fiscal policy that is strangling the team’s vitality. At times it feels as though the good work carried out over the past three seasons or so is being completely reversed. What a great shame it is to state that.

Finally I feel it’s a great pity to see another former Hibs hero in Mixu Paatelainen carrying the brunt of the blame in some eyes. I have to confess that whilst having the greatest respect for the Finn he wouldn’t have been my first choice for the Easter Road job. Nevertheless I feel that Mixu is being hung out to dry – just as previous manager John Collins was. The reasons that Collins appeared to have walked out of the club for could well be the same reasons that Mixu may soon leave for - namely a lack of support on team building issues from the Hibs board. Sad to say, Hibernian FC does not always learn from its mistakes.

Stuart Frew

Cropley - The Second Coming

I was pleased to note a familiar old name being bandied around in Hibs circles yesterday. The name Cropley will be familiar to many Hibs aficionados and also not a few older generation Aston Villa and Arsenal supporters as belonging to the brilliant talent of 1970s’ midfielder, Alex Cropley. Alex was one of my great Hibs heroes. In what was a wonderful and creative team shrewdly managed by Hibs boss, Eddie Turnbull in that era, midfielder Cropley shone, even amongst a great array of talent and flair.

Alex Cropley’s game was very much a multi-dimensional one. Not only could he play inch-perfect and flamboyant cross field passes and hold the ball with sublime skill, he could also ‘dig’ pretty well too. His tackling being at the sharp and aggressive end of the spectrum belying his size and neat, deft ball skills. Alex was quite left-footed but what a foot it was.

Alex was born in Aldershot, England being the son of a serviceman stationed in that part of the world. This fact provided his long-time nickname ‘Sodjer’ although he did come to represent Scotland internationally on two occasions. One might look back at the modest two caps and ask how many more times that would have been had he played for Celtic or Rangers instead of Hibs? Nevertheless Alex did have a good career before ending his playing days prematurely at just thirty-one. In 1974 after a successful period at Hibs he was transferred to Arsenal where he unfortunately failed to establish himself due to continual injury problems, unluckily suffering two leg-breaks. In 1976 he moved to Aston Villa where he made sixty-seven appearances before leaving in 1980. Alex continued playing for a short while with Newcastle, Toronto Blizzards and Portsmouth before finally drawing the curtain on his playing career. The mercurial former midfielder now earns a living as a taxi driver in Edinburgh.

It's 1974 and Alex Cropley signs for Arsenal under the eye of Bertie Mee

Now it seems the name of Cropley returns and I for one am excited at that prospect. Alex’ son, Jordan Cropley is also a midfield player who is currently on the verge of breaking through from Hibs’ junior ranks. Newspaper reports tell us that Cropley jnr. travelled to Sweden with the Hibs first team squad for the recent Inter-Toto tie. Perhaps the most shocked to hear of this prospect was Jordan himself and its good to hear of his obvious humility and that his feet are firmly on the ground.

Apparently Jordan Cropley is left-footed and passes the ball extremely well – just like his father did all those years ago. He feels himself to be not quite as aggressive in the tackle as his dad was however. It seems churlish to state that if Jordan develops into half the player his father was he will be a fine performer indeed. I hope that he is allowed to further his career without the millstone of comparisons with his famous father being made too often.

Stuart Frew

Signings

Wading my way through what is a recurrent theme at this time of year, that of angst caused by the lack of ‘signings’ at Hibs encourages me to consider a little of the way things used to be in professional football too many decades ago to admit to.

Of course nowadays the average supporter is well used to new faces in the squad, freshening up the team and creating interest around Hibs, and most other clubs for that matter. It should be remembered however that this state of affairs was not always so. Perhaps only two decades ago matters were quite different in an era that was not dominated by football agents, ‘Bosman’s and pre-contracts.

In those days we football fans were quite used to watching a very similar team evolve only very slowly over a period of seasons. We had our favourites, and just like now our villains, but we identified with those players almost like they were old friends that we renewed acquaintance with every other Saturday afternoon at 3pm. How easy it is to recall fan favourites such as Arthur Duncan pacing the left touchline every week for year after year or an Eric Schaedler, tough and fully committed to the cause week in, week out, having the entire East Terrace making every tackle with him?

Fan favourite: 'Shades'

The truth is that in those days, which now seem from such a greatly different era in football, the game was a far simpler one in many respects. It was seldom we as fans talked at length of board members and what their exact roles were for example – mainly because we weren’t particularly interested in what the ‘suits’ said or did generally speaking.

Every team had its resident hard man, skilled player, stalwart of a dozen seasons or more and character goalie. There was no real need to go fishing for your rival’s version of these players unless they were substantially and unarguably better than the men turning out in the one to eleven jerseys for your side. Of course most teams would push to sign that left back who was more accomplished than the one you already had, but the difference was the lack of fan clamour to do so by comparison to today.

Without wishing to be patronising, I often feel sorry for younger fans today. They seldom have the opportunity to build a relationship with their heroes on the pitch like we did. In past times we’d look for the team photograph in the close season and the biggest changes would be who had grown a moustache or their hair a couple of inches over their collar. The faces were always very much still there in the main, the Stanton’s and the Blackley’s peering out of the team line-up photograph, looking happy and optimistic for the new campaign.

Football will most probably never return to those days and this how it should be, forever changing, moving on and reflecting the society in which it operates. It’s difficult not to imagine that the current merry-go-round of cheap expendable and sometimes ordinary talent takes the average team absolutely nowhere in terms of tangible success however. Will the young fans of today be talking in legendary terms about there heroes just as we insist on doing from those days?

Stuart Frew

Perspective

Being fortunate enough to have made a trip to the ‘Burgh for the past few days I took the opportunity offered by a fellow MHHM-er for an early morning visit to the new training centre at East Mains.

On a mostly deserted Saturday morning before 9pm it takes the use of the imagination to envisage a day’s hard work being put in by the playing staff from Easter Road at East Mains but still the centre remains extremely impressive. The only sign of life was a tractor pulling a gang mower in the far distance (thankfully) as we pondered this new and vital facility for Hibs’ future.

How archaic is Scottish and British football generally when we are informed how very few clubs own such a training centre? It’s said that the majority of top clubs in France for example train in such circumstances. With some of the success the French have had in recent years we can see that this is perhaps no coincidence.

The centre sports some of the lushest, greenest new turf I’ve seen in a while. Around the main buildings, the turves are currently still knitting together at this time and infant saplings have been planted to surround the playing areas and offer an eventual windbreak in what look to be potentially fairly windswept conditions.

Inside the main premises a large indoor pitch is visible, additionally there are gyms packed with new equipment. It’s difficult to imagine how the full array of facilities which are available at East Mains will not benefit the football club greatly. Apart from the more obvious advantages which take the Hibs players away from minibus rides to local public parks and into the modern era, such a working environment has to be something of a draw in attracting new players to the club. What professional footballer wouldn’t be happy to perform his job of work daily in such an environment?

An inauspicious sight maybe but will millions of pounds of Hibs talent be nurtured behind those shuttered doors?

At a time when there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth emanating from the Hibs support due to lack of investment in the playing squad (some of it well-justified it could be argued) it was refreshing to see at first hand the great progress the club is making at least in this area together with the proposed new East Stand. The latter two developments will stand in testament to some forward thinking planning by the club in the decades to come. All we need now is to see a little perspective from the Hibernian board in offering more balance in the way in which the clubs finances are expended. It should always be remembered that constructions and acquisitions such as East Mains and the new East stand are only ever in put place to service what happens the other side of the white lines on a Saturday afternoon.

Stuart Frew

Mass Hibsteria

Welcome to the new official Mass Hibsteria blog.

A new season beckons and with our glourious performances against that Swedish mob a new sense of optimisim is already gripping the fans.

Well I guess we will soom see if all the people who promised they would contribute here do so.