Darker clouds on the
horizon as Gers move in
Hibs boss can't escape the paper
talk - STUART CROWTHER
AS
IF THINGS ARE NOT BAD ENOUGH around
Easter Road these days, the almost inevitable speculation over the future
of Hibs manager Alex McLeish has reared it's head just in time for a visit
by Hibs to Ibrox. Coincidence? Of course, but try telling that
to thousands of Hibs fans who for the most part will give the Govan ground
a wide swerve on Wednesday evening.
Even
on the top of their form, Hibs will not be expected to achieve anything
other than respectable defeat on Wednesday. And it is that sad fact
of life for any manager outside the Old Firm in Scotland that will perhaps
tilt the balance in favour of Alex McLeish becoming the next manager of
Rangers, assuming of course that he is ever asked by anyone other than a
tabloid newspaper reporter. Already this weekend a 'club spokesman'
at Easter Road has been forced to utter the infamous words: "We
haven't had any contact from Rangers and we don't expect any. Alex
is very happy here and is contracted to us. Whoever Rangers want as their
new manager has nothing to do with Hibs."
Sounds just a little bit familiar, and a great big bit hollow.
Alex McLeish - woke a sleeping giant (sns)
That
McLeish has been the most popular manager at Easter Road for generations
there can be no doubt, but the Hibs boss can also read and there is not
much wrong with his ears either. Hibs fans will no doubt declare
their own desire to keep their manager, with an 'Eck Must Stay' campaign
on the cards should the residents of Castle Greyskull ever get around to
being open and honest in their dealings and make a legal approach to
Easter Road for the manager. But the voices of discontent exist at
Easter Road, as evidenced by those posting to internet message boards and
many more voicing their own anger in the direction of the Hibs bench on
any given Saturday afternoon that the Hibs are not exercising some sort of
divine right to crush the opposition. One can only assume that this
is a very vocal minority, given that of a Hibs.net poll among 750
Hibs fans, fully 714 gave emphatic backing to the Hibs boss.
"Hibs have
enjoyed the most harmonious 3 years in the clubs recent history"
Hibs have enjoyed the
most harmonious 3 years in the clubs recent history, and in that I would
include those brief interludes where silverware in the form of the
Scottish League Cup have helped protect a boardroom table from gathering
dust. Nothing has been won, except perhaps the hearts and minds of
Hibs fans brought up on a history of slick attacking football but having
seen little evidence of such. The trouble is, that having given the
Hibs support such riches in the form of Latapy and Sauzee, much of that
support are now acting like spoiled children who expect these sweeties to
be ever-lasting, and stomp their feet very hard when they find that the
flavour is dying to be replaced by some very sour grapes! Alex
McLeish woke a sleeping giant at Easter Road, the trouble is the giant
seems to have trouble knowing where to go next, or is it perhaps that the
giant is quite simply not as big as it thought?
Today the club faces
some stern tests from a number of directions. This week it was
'noticed' that Hibs financial position was not exactly fluid, with total
debt (on paper at least) still showing bigger numbers than the value of
the assets (but at least nobody is pretending that the club and parent
company are two separate entities anymore). That is manageable, we
are being assured, and in that most Hibs fans have the comfort of knowing
that this is probably true. But then there is the completely dismal
and stark fact that as the year comes to a close, the figures on Hibs SPL
record since last January don't exactly make good reading either.
While that provides more ammunition to the more critical fans, it has been
largely drowned by good cup runs, easy wins over even poorer city rivals,
and a stunning display in the UEFA Cup that perhaps disguised the fact
that we actually lost.
A decision to make sometime soon, according to the media (hibs.net)
Now comes the greatest
challenge of them all. The architect of the rise of Hibernian to a
respectable place at the SPL table has been Alex McLeish. The Hibs
boss will himself modestly point to great support from his backroom staff,
and even better support from the Hibs board, and few can argue that this
is true. But the man who takes the flak when things go badly is also
very much the man to takes the credit for turning things around; in spite
of recent results Hibs remain a good product on the field, and there is
still enough belief that McLeish can and will turn things around.
The danger is that should the Hibs Board be approached by Rangers to talk
to their manager, they will almost certainly allow them to do so because
they probably don't have any choice. Alex McLeish has been here
before; when Hibs first approached Motherwell for his services, and were
refused permission to talk to McLeish, Hibs had to turn to Jim
Duffy. McLeish since then has ensured that there is always an escape
clause of some description in his contracts, and you can be sure that this
will be no different in his current 'rolling' deal at Easter Road.
So Hibs immediate future
at least appears to rely on a larger than usual number of 'Ifs'.
Hibs fans are going to have to accept a great big dose of the reality
pill, and accept that there is simply no way they can expect to retain
McLeish's services should David Murray come knocking, unless of course the
Hibs boss himself sends him packing. On this page a few weeks ago I
talked of a looming crisis at Easter Road; Hibs are not yet a club in
crisis, but that is liable to change very soon and very quickly. A
boost is needed from some direction, and who knows it may come from Alex
McLeish telling Rangers where to take their millions. Most would
rather it came simply from Alex McLeish never being asked the question in
the first place, and being allowed to get on with the job unhindered by
outside influences and indeed from Hibs fans who lack either understanding
or patience. It is however the latter that might yet plant the seeds
of doubt in the McLeish mind, and that would be a great shame for
Hibernian.
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