Another Bad Day at the Office for Hibernian

Hibernian 0-1 Motherwell

More misery for the Hibees

Worrying times continue for the Hibees after another defeat, this time to a late John Sutton goal fromMotherwell at Easter Road. It's yet another blow for this toothless team in green and white that is long past beginning to concern me. Following on from an embarrasssing 3-4 defeat at the hands of Greenock Morton - a team two divisions below Hibs, last Tuesday evening.

The hopeful diversion of a possible return of former Hibs star Derek Riordan has perhaps contributed to some of us with the Easter Road club at heart taking our eye off the ball as matters are truly dire at the club presently. It will take more than a fit and scoring Riordan to turn things around for our currently ailing team sadly.

There are reports that towards the end of the game today there were shouts of 'Petrie out' directed towards the CEO who is taking a fair amount of the flack from sections of the support for a lack of re-investment in the team after taking in approximately £11m of late in player sales. It's a stance I have a lot of time for as we watch a denuded team attempt to replace a galaxy of great young talent with generally very ordinary journeymen football players.

Others will point to healthy movements forward for the club as a whole. Certainly the East Mains Training Centre in particular and the prospective completion of the rebuilding of Easter Road with a brand-spanking new East Stand measure some of the progress the club has made over the past few seasons. Unfortunately Chairman Petrie seems to have forgotten that Hibernian FC is actually a football club. The training centre is a marvellous move for the future whilst the new stand's immediate worth must be in some doubt. Hibs don't have a team on the pitch worthy of filling the new spectator area sad to say.

My personal opinion for what it's worth is that there has been a lack of balance in the way that the clubs financial affairs have been managed for some time now. There is little balance between expenditure on team matters and other areas of the football club. Hibs fans have been let down badly in seeing an extremely talented young team dismantled and being replaced with players of inferior quality and pedigree. It's easy to see why so many are angry and I count myself as one of that number.

An emotional Mixu Paatelainen

It's always a blame game nowadays as people seek to find a scapegoat for most every general situation. This is no different at Easter Road. Whilst a proportion of the Hibs faithful blame Chairman Petrie for his tight-wallet fiscal approach, others go further in seeing him as a puppet of Hibs owner Sir Tom Farmer. Others still pour scorn on individual players, the goalkeepers in particular. There is also a sizable body of supporters that blame the woes of the club on manager Mixu Paatelainen. I'm not yet certain of Mixu's capabilities and I'll lay my cards on the table in saying that he would not have been my first choice for Hibs boss when the vacancy last occurred. It does seem unfair however to lay all of the blame at the former player's door in spite of some of his well-documented weaknesses tactically and with team selections. Mixu, like most Hib managers has to operate with an arm tied firmly behind his back. It was the same for John Collins and Tony Mowbray in recent times. Collins in particular in spite of having a reportedly larger amount of money to spend on team matters than some others also presided over the selling off of a great young set of players from underneath him without adequately priced replacements being installed.

Finally regarding today's game, it was telling to note that a crowd of around 11,000-odd turned up. This is certainly down by a good piece when compared to last season's figures. I find this one of the most worrying factors about the game today. Is our 'upward spiral' finally grinding to a halt in the face of lack of ambition? I'm sorry to admit that I believe it is. Who knows, a run of a few decent performances and results will see me and others feeling differently but I have no confidence that this will happen without a re-think from the individuals charged with the running of Hibernian Football club.

Stuart Frew

Derek Riordan

There - I've quoted the name. The one that's tripping off practically every Hibs supporters lips at the current time. Presently Derek remains sitting out his contract at Celtic, shorn of match fitness by manage

r Strachan who appears to have taken personal exception to the young goal scorer and who has consistently refused to play him for the Glasgow club during his own at Parkhead.

At the time of writing - and this situation is a dynamic one that could change at any moment, the transfer window in Scottish Football is due to close on Monday and the usual rumour-mill is wound up to full speed. The Hibs online communities are beside themselves to discuss the possibly of a Messiah-like return to Hibs of the slimly built hit-man. Literally scores of forum threads have been dedicated to the subject rendering the persuing of those messageboads almost unreadable at times.

As those with an interest know, Derek left Easter Road around two years ago amidst a bad atmosphere and one of recriminations around the manner of his departure. He was seen by many to have sold the club short financially at that time and one of the many rumours surrounding his exit was that CEO Rod Petrie had played hardball with the youngster and in turn the player had responded accordingly. Of course this is just one of the theories and perhaps we will never know the truth.

The cry at that time was one of 'Judas' from a vociferous section of the Easter Road faithful. We've become used to seeing seeing the word 'loyalty' become a redundant one in modern football - from players, managers and supporters but the scale of abuse was as great as I had personally ever witnessed from my fellow Hibs fans. Disturbing in its intensity in one or two individuals.

Of course I hope that Hibernian are the club that finally parade his talents in a first team strip.. It's not the fact that Derek Riordan is a dyed-in-the-wool Hibby but much more to do with his ability. Those capabilities include being a most natural goal scorer. Derek has that innate ability to put the ball in the back of the net and as always, there are few in the game that can offer

Happier days. Hibs' then twenty-goal a season man celebrates yet another marker

that promise. In his Easter Road days he was sometimes reviled for his lack of work-rate and indifference to tackling and tracking back when Hibs weren't in possession of the ball. Whilst always applauding industry and a good work ethic in a professional, asking Derek to undertake that type of role was missing the point of his game slightly I always felt. There were occasions he didn't necessarily help himself in that respect but at the same time his opportunities were often denied due to being consistently substituted by manager Mowbray at that time. It's certainly a facet of his game that the player will have to pay attention to in order to resume his career progress however.

So the controversy regarding a return to Edinburgh continues to rage. Of late there have been thousands of words expounded by the Hibernian support and press alike regarding the situation and in spite of being a fan of the player I can't help but feel that in the event of his potential second coming he will have far too much too live up to in people's slightly unreasonable expectations. I hope that I am proved incorrect in the event. Knowing Derek Riordan it would be just like him to drive a swerving 25-yarder into the top of the net on his debut.ernian What happens if he isn't able to keep that type of magic up or game after game though. That is my worry as us Hibs fans have become increasingly short of patience and fractious with our players these days. In the meantime I'll be avoiding those 'stories' surrounding his return, his social life, his Range Rover and what he eats for breakfast.

Stuart Frew

The problem with Scottish refs

It seems that refereeing decisions in the SPL are becoming ever more bizarre over time. Everybody has their own explanation to explain the shoddy standard of refereeing in this country. Three of the most predominant are the refs are just useless, backhanders and that they are bigot brother fans in black shirts.

The sit down between selected managers, players and refs was supposed to help to clear the air. If it did work it only lasted until the next match kicked off. Yogi Hughes has suggested that referees go for a game of golf with managers in order to help break down the barriers that exist between them. I would not force my worst enemy to spend any length of time with a referee and I would not make anybody spend time in the company of Yogi no matter how much they had pissed me off. The US constitution describes that as cruel and inhumane treatment, even inmates in Guantanamo Bay don’t have to put up with that kind of torture.

How do you justify giving the bastard in the black the £800 a game that they are asking for? Is it the time to get professional referees? Should we borrow referees from another league?

The first thing they have to do is to look at the whole issue of sponsorship of the referees. We all laughed when they announced that Specsavers were taking over the sponsorship deal for refs. How many times had the resident wit of the east stand suggested a trip to Specsavers for a referee? An ideal sponsorship opportunity if ever there was one. I bet that Specsavers are embarrassed by it now though, having your name associated with one of the myopic groups of people ever to walk this earth. Well maybe it is time to move on. My suggestion is that the refs go cap in hand to a company that provides laser eye surgery. Specs have not worked so they might as well give Lasik a try. Anything that helps them see the damage that they are doing to the game as well as the reputation of Scottish football must be good.