Pressure
mounts: Bring Sauzee on Board!
Fan power demands a French
revolution at Easter Road - STUART CROWTHER
DONALD PARK HAD THE
BIGGEST smile on view at Ibrox Stadium last night, having come through
the most testing trial in what he hopes will be a brief career as an SPL
manager.
Whatever
information Alex McLeish provided to Dick Advocaat for his final fling as
Rangers boss, it barely helped. And for that Hibs owe much to Park
changing things around and 14 Hibs players who fought tooth and nail for
each other and the Hibernian cause, quite possibly for the first time in
this troubled season. Park could hardly have wished for a better
result given the enormous problems laid before him; bad enough that Hibs
were already at a low ebb in terms of confidence, the defection of McLeish
to Rangers just 24 hours earlier shocked every member of the Easter Road
playing staff to the core. And bad enough that Hibs were already
without Franck Sauzee, one man who could lead them through these troubled
times, but their most influential player in the form of Dane Ulrik Laursen
was ruled out through injury.
The
odds were not simply stacked against Park and his shattered Hibee side,
they where nothing short of overwhelming. And indeed in the opening
ten minutes of the Ibrox clash, Rangers threatened to use all those
elements that counted against Hibs to the full, threatening to overwhelm -
but Hibs held firm, Nick Colgan having a steely determination in his eye
that they were just not going to pass and that was a feeling that quickly
transmitted itself throughout the Hibs side who fought for every inch of
the Ibrox turf. In the end Hibs held out for a draw, but when Paco
Luna headed the Easter Road side in front it was the Rangers superstars
who were looking at each other in bemusement, not sure it seems quite what
to do next.
Rod Petrie - talks with Sauzee
The
question of what to do next is this morning the one facing the Hibernian
Board, as calls for them to throw caution to the wind and give the Easter
Road job to Franck Sauzee grew. Two days of polling the views of
Hibs fans on Hibs.net have produced a landslide in favour of the
Hibs skipper being handed the job of taking the club forward. As far
as the fans are concerned, the arguments about lack of experience and such
like don't matter a damn, Sauzee is the man they believe who has the
appeal and skill to lead Hibernian and few of them will now settle for
anything less. The question of course has still to be put to Sauzee
himself, expected to return from France in the next 24 hours to be asked
by the Board if he is interested in taking the job.
"Franck
thought it would be in everyone's interests if he cut short his visit to
France and returned to Edinburgh,"
Petrie said last night, confirming that the club skipper was as surprised
as everyone by the speed of events over the last few days. Petrie
however made it clear that the Board will not be rushed into making any
quick decisions, saying: "There
is no deadline or anything like that. All that matters is that we
get the right man for the job. We are all sorry to see Alex McLeish
go, when I spoke to him he wanted to go to Rangers and when that happens
there is only one outcome. But we are not going to be rushed, there
is not going to be a knee-jerk reaction."
Zitelli and Sauzee - a future management team? (sns)
Hibs
fans would not expect anything else of course from a Board they clearly
trust to do the right thing. However these same fans firmly believe
that the right thing for Hibs to do is offer the job to Sauzee, and if he
wants it he should take control as quickly as possible. That would
not be a knee-jerk reaction, it would make a great deal of sense to give
the Frenchman a shot a proving he is worthy of the belief in his abilities
the Hibs fans have. As a safety measure the Board might consider
giving the job to Sauzee on a player/manager basis until the end of the
season, with the position up for further discussion then. That of
course would still be seen as a risk strategy by some, but in terms of
achievement in the SPL this season most would admit that Hibernian already
have a mountain to climb in any case!
Supporters
of Hibernian have given their full backing to McLeish and the Board in
recent years, to the point of showing understanding with heavy increases
to gate prices while fans of other clubs have organised campaigns against
them. Whatever the Board decide in this matter will receive the
backing of these same fans, but they are right to demand that their
feelings in this matter more than any are heard.
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