Hibs

Instant Karma

2009-03-16T00:49:00.004Z

According to the Hearts goalkeeper Jamie McDonald the reason that Hearts lost to Hibs this weekend was down to karma.

What should we make of this? Well if you were the person who bought him the My Name is Earl box set at least you know that he has watched it. Relief in the knowledge that at least one Christmas present did not go straight back for a refund.

Is he right though? Was Hibs winning some kind of divine retribution being? Was Fletcher’s bundling the ball over the line an act of cosmic or divine justice? The individual in black whose parentage was continually questioned certainly had a bizarre interpretation of what constitutes right and wrong as specified by the rules of the game. When I discovered that the referees name was Charlie Richmond I for one believed that fate was conspiring against Hibs. Talk about premonitions though, talking with fellow Hibs fans before the game we all predicted a Hibs player would be sent off for reasons known only to Richmond. Quelle surprise - Richmond sends off Hibs player in controversial circumstances. Is is not about time that something was done about Richmond’s bias?

Getting back to karma though - McDonald’s claim shows that he believes Hibs are morally superior to Hearts. It is nice to think that the universe has chosen to use Hibs as its tool for righting wrongs and enforcing divine justice. It is not the first time that I have felt like that watching Hibs, when Sauzee and Latapy were at there it was easy to feel as if there was a divine plan as well as a divine idea of beauty. Just think of the 6 - 2 game or the Millennium derby if you need convinced of that. to the yams?

The way that Vladimir Romanov, Hearts shall we say 'eccentric' Russian owner is currently running the club the ‘death’ of Hearts is something that looks increasingly more imminent. What shape or from will Hearts be re-incarnated in? If they were to come back as a dung beetle would that be considered an improvement on their present existence?
Maybe it is time that Hearts fans learned. Hearts fans all together now - “ We are Hearts fans - we are just trying to be better people!”.

Murray is out for a month

2009-02-13T16:43:00.003Z

According to the BBC Ian Murray will be out for a month after having had surgery on his groin injury.

He has already been missing since early january.

Will he be missed? To some people Murray has along with Jones and Bamba been one of the few players who have done reasonably well for Hibs this season. I think that Murray's game is very limited. It is worth remembering that Murray engineered a Bosman move to Rangers where he found out he was not up to the standard of a very weak Rangers team. He then went down to Norwich where again he failed to make the grade. There is a reason why he never made the grade at these levels.

Limited as a player or not, he still stands out when played next to people like Chisholm or O'Brien.

If Hibs had something to play for this season he might have been missed. As it is Hibs have nothing left to play for this season.

One plus point is that it might give young Hanlon a chance to establish himself in the first team. Hanlon has two qualities that Mixu does not appear to like in players, he is young and he can play football.

Hibs - Kilmarnock Preview

2009-02-13T13:38:00.003Z

How about Hibs v's Kilmarnock for a valentine thriller.

I honestly cannot think of a single reason why I am bothering going to this match instead of spending the day with the woman I love. Our season has been over for a while now. We have been left with nothing to play for since we dumped out the scottish cup at the beginning of january.

Like most people, most of the team included, I am going through the motions just now without actually being to passionate about the drivel which I have the misfortune to support.

It will be interesting to see how Jones and Fletcher react to not having their transfers sanctioned by the club. My own feeling is that Jones will get on with things, Fletcher on the other hand has not to the best of my recollection kicked a ball for Hibs all season and I cannot see him starting now.

Jones has been one of the few players to do well for Hibs this season. If he had left he would have been a big loss for Hibs. Last season I would personally have driven him to any club that was prepared to take him, this season though he been probably our best player. If he does leave in the summer he will be a big loss.

Fletcher on the other hand is a different story. In his own mind he is a £4 million player, but that is only in his own head. His petulance was the reason that Hibs got dumped out of the Scottish Cup this season. If for no reason than that he owes the Hibs fans big style. It might just be me but I would expect more from the highest paid player at the club.

Roman Abramovich's yacht in Leith Harbour

2009-02-09T22:53:00.003Z

Unconfirmed reports tonight suggest that Roman Abramovich's yacht has been sighted in Leith docks. After today's events that have seen Chelsea sack their manager Scolari there can only be one explanation for his presence in Edinburgh.

Surely he must be here for top level discussions with Rod Petrie in order to acquire Mixu as the next Chelsea manager. Abramovich has realised that what Chelsea need is a forward thinking manager like Mixu, they have come to the conclusion that there is no point in having a midfield. They have identified their problem is not getting the ball forward fast enough.

The rumour is that Mixu wants to take Chisholm with him. Many pundits reckon Lampard and Chisholm could be the perfect midfield pairing. The two midfielders definately have different styles of play, Lampard being an excellent footballer something which Chisholm could never be described as.

If Mixu is to leave Hibs for the Chelsea job, this is just a rumour at this stage, I believe that Petire should hold out for a compensation package that suits Hibs and reflects his value to our club. I guess Rod should offer Chelsea every penny that Hibs can lay their hand on.

Hibs humiliated by Morton

2008-08-27T12:31:00.001+01:00

Dumped out the cup by Morton, just another far from glourious night for Hibs under the stewardship of Mixu Paatelianen. No matter how much Mixu whines out about refereeing decisions being responsible the bottom line is that Hibs were simply not good enough to beat a team of journeymen from a division below us. The result should have been out of sight long before the 90 minutes were up.

It’s time that Mixu stood up and took responsibility for another embarrassing night at the hands of lower league opponents that we seem to be experiencing on a frequent basis under Mixu’s management.

Let’s put it in perspective. All teams will have their off nights, it happens to the best and biggest of teams the world over. One bad night at the office is not reason enough to sack a manager. The problem at Easter Road is that these results are coming along like the number 22 bus at the moment. One win in eleven competitive matches is poor whatever way you care to look at it. Couple this with pre-season defeats to Clyde and Cowdenbeath and a draw with Raith Rovers and I think that it all adds up to a crisis at Easter Road.

Mixu told us that it would be alright when the season started, that it would come good against Kilmarnock. We lost that game.

As with the Cowdenbeath game Mixu seems to handle defeats like last night by getting sent to the stand. Hibs fans want to see a manager sort out the problems on the pitch not have a child like tantrum, a pathetic response if we are going to be brutally honest. I hope Petrie fines him for his behaviour.
I hate to say it, but I have started to agree with the Hibs fans who have been calling for Mixu’s head. Sadly he is out of his depth and like the Stevie Smith I don’t think that Mixu is waving but sadly he is drowning. Petrie does not have a track record of sacking managers, he let wee fat Bob leave at his own accord but I think that it might be time to make like Alan Sugar and give Paatelianen his jotters.

Even the photos are looking bad

2008-07-31T22:14:00.003+01:00

When it all goes wrong it all goes wrong. Some folk are terminally unlucky, on a constant losing streak.

As Mixu's time at Hibs hits a bad spell I notice that the Evening News is quick to join in. The picture editors are using photographs with the intent of further twisting in the knife in Mixu's back.

I guess that it was what we should expect from a jambo rag.

Mixu wants to get rid of "eight or nine"

2008-07-31T21:58:00.000+01:00

You have to hand it to Mixu, he is facing is first big crisis as a manager and he responds by telling eight or nine of his players that the will never play for Hibs again. It is not clear if he has just told the players this as some media outlets are reporting or they were told this some time ago. It is obvious to any Hibs fan that there are a lot of players in the current Hibs squad who are simply not good enough to play for Hibs. They are a fair few in the squad that if we are being totally honest are just not good enough to play football.

We tried to work out which eight or nine Hibs players Mixu was referring to. Try it. Such is the state of the current Hibs squad it is not easy to think of eight or nine players that you would want to keep. I know that Mixu spoke to many of the players earlier this summer and outlined his plans concerning them. He told one player that he was nothing more than a squad player and that he not expect to play this season. What a way to motivate the player. Already before the season has started you have a player who lost the desire to play for the Hibs jersey.

Mixu still appears to be going from one calamity to another at the moment. Telling the majority of the squad that they are not got enough will not help boost the morale in the squad. It seems a bizarre method of motivating the players telling them that he would prefer them to leave. Tough love maybe? Mixu has to come out fighting if he is going to keep his job, I am not sure that this is the best way of doing it.

Mixu given touchline ban

2008-07-31T19:16:00.000+01:00

It must feel for Mixu Paatelainen that it never rains but it pours. Today he was handed a two match touchline ban for his dismissal during the two nil defeat to Cowdenbeath this week. On the morning of the game against Cowdenbeath Hibs were fined £10,000 for their indiscipline last season. Great example for the manager to set, club gets hammered for the player’s poor disciplinary record so the manager feels he has to join in? It is worth remembering that he was only set to the stands at the end of the game, maybe his behaviour came out of a sense of frustration more likely though it was an attempt to get out watching a poor match.

This means that Mixu will be absent from the Hibs dugout for the home game against Falkirk as well for the trip to Inverness the week after.

I can’t help feeling that nothing is going Mixu’s way at the moment, it does appear more and more that he is a man going from one disaster to another. I am not sure what to make of it all; I would not be surprised to find out that Mixu has broken a mirror and that this is the first of his bad luck. Has Mixu walked under a ladder? He definitely seems out of luck at the moment.

Crisis at Easter Road - Mixu's last days?

2008-07-30T22:06:00.001+01:00

It looks like things are going from bad to worse for Mixu at Hibs. A pre-season which has already been dismal by anybodies standards has just got a lot worse. Losing 3 - 0 to Clyde is not acceptable by any standards. No matter what was has been said in the press conferences there is something wrong at Easter Road and looks like it is getting worse.

Mixu was already panicking before tonight’s game, god knows how he is feeling now. What should have been a semi meaningless friendly had in light of Hibs inability to win a game, or even score started to become important in the His supporters eyes. As mentioned earlier, Mixu is panicking, that is why he took what he perceived as a strong team.

Hibs started with the following 11:

McNeil

Hanlon, Murray, Hogg, DVZ

O'brien, Shiels, Thicot, Rankin

Nish, Fletcher

With Maka away, Zemmama injured, Jones absent and who knows what excuse is being used for not playing Benji this week that appears to be Mixu’s preferred starting 11. That is one of the reasons that it is so worrying. Its not as if we can bring quality players to replace them, we don’t have any. When Mixu put that team out he put them out to win and to stop the talk of a crisis at Easter Road. It looks like that strategy has backfired on him big time. I hate to draw the comparison but Mixu is the footballing equivalent of Gordon Brown. Substitute the Glasgow East by-election for Clyde or Cowdenbeath and it is the same. The more you look the more it appears that there is a crisis at Hibs and with the leadership in particular. I honestly think that if Mixu is to have a future at Easter Road he is going to have to do something and whatever it is that he is going to do he is going to have to do it soon.

Real Madrid sign Steven Fletcher

2008-07-30T17:30:00.002+01:00

"Steven Fletcher signs for Real Madrid" is the headline that many football journalists have been itching to write for a while now. According to some it might just be as well about to happen. The reports claim that Real Madrid have started negotiating with Hibs, or are about to start negotiations with a starting fee of £2 million pounds being talked about. Predrag Mijatović's the sporting director at Real and Bernd Schuster the manager have apparently authorised the deal.

The Fletcher to Real Madrid story has been going on for a while now and no matter how ridiculous it sounds many people believe that there is something in it. It is hard to remain sceptical about this one when it has been going on for so long. Usally with a story like this you would expect his agent to be the source of the information but this time quotes are being directly attributed to staff at Real Madrid. Another rumour is that Harry Redknapp the Portsmouth manager is going to put in a £3 million bid for Fletcher.

What is certain is that if Hibs receive an offer that in Godfather parlance “is to good to refuse” they will accept it. What figure will that offer have to be, to be honest, I think it will be the highest figure that any clubs bid.

After all Benji’s talk about him soon playing for Real it looks like maybe Fletcher will be there before him. Maybe if Benji is nice to him he might put a word in for him.

Many of us conspiracy theorists believed that all the talk about Ronaldo going to Real was a smoke screen used by Real Madrid to cover their real transfer target, Steven Fletcher. Some of the conspiracy theorists, admittedly these ones frequent the Central Bar at the foot of the walk, believed that it was Colin Nish that was the real target and not Fletcher. Can you imagine the site of Colin Nish terrorising defenses in La Liga. That really would be worth seeing.

Mixu quits rumours / Clyde friendly

2008-07-30T15:49:00.000+01:00

Rumours are continuing to fly around that Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen offered his resignation to chairman Rod Petrie after an argument this week. According to the rumour mill Mixu is fed up with the lack of funds being available to enable him to bring new players to the club. Rod Petrie must know this argument backwards by now, he can probably recite it in multiple different languages.

Rod Petrie is always cast in the role of the villain in the pantomime which is Hibernian Football Club. The majority of Hibs fans have never taken to Petrie, he has been held responsible for pretty much everything that has gone wrong with Hibs during his time with the club. The only time his stock did rise was during the Tony Mowbray years. He took one hell of a gamble appointing a manager who had no previous managerial experience. It was one hell of a gamble that could have blown up in his face, in the end it turned out to be the probably the best thing that he ever did.

I am sure that there will be some Hibs fans who will takes Petrie’s side in this alleged argument, I don’t know any and never spoken to any but that does not mean that I cant rule out the potential that they exist. The majority of Hibees want him to release money for Mixu to add to the squad and for him to do it now. Even talking the embarrassment of the mauling at Barca’s hands it is obvious that the present Hibs squad is week.

If we have any delusions that we will be competing for the ‘best of the rest’ behind the bigot brothers lets dispel them now. Dundee United despite losing Noel Hunt have still strengthen their squad, Motherwell have added to their squad, even Aberdeen look a stronger prospect than last season. It is only a matter of time before the Hertz sort out their problems and get their act together. Lets be honest, no matter how bad things are at Easter Road we can always amuse ourselves with the thought that since Mad Vlad turned up they are worse over there.
Mixu has indicated that he is taking a strong squad to Clyde for tonight’s friendly. Read what you want between the lines but that is down to some extent to panic among the Hibs coaching staff. I hate to draw the parallel between them but Mixu is the football manager equivalent of Gordon Brown. As Brown’s goes from one by-election defeat to another, Mixu goes from one friendly defeat or embarrassment to another.

A Hibs legend
At the moment I genuinely fear for Mixu, I am scared that another Hibs legends reputation is going to be tarnished by the actions or lack of actions by Rod Petrie. There is no dispute that Mixu has made many footballing mistakes in his managerial career at Easter Road so far, he is still a young manager learning his trade after all. What I don’t want to see his him fail because of Petrie’s penny pinching.

Hibs Blog

2008-07-26T17:20:00.000+01:00

I am still getting over the nightmare of our mauling at the hands of Barca.

When I pick myself up I will start blogging and hopefully be a bit more optimisitic about the start of the new season.