It may not have been
Treason....
....but it sure as hell left a bad
taste - STUART CROWTHER
ALEX
MCLEISH WILL WALK THROUGH the
Easter Road tunnel on Wednesday and face for the first time the fans he
betrayed. Yes, I fully understand that use of such a word will not
go down well in some quarters, but I make no apologies for using such a
strong term, because as a life-long Hibs fan first and foremost my concern
is for Hibernian and little else. Alex would rightly point out that
in his time at Easter Road he recreated some if not all of the 'good'
things that being a Hibee has always been about, but deep down I'm sure
the former Hibs hero will admit that the manner of his departure was a
betrayal of all he had said and done in his time at Easter Road, and
therefore can be seen only as a betrayal of Hibernian Football Club by one
who always professed to be an honest man of utmost integrity.
To the
end Eck was insisting that he had only one thought in his mind, turning
the season around at Hibernian. Just a few days before his
departure, he boldly predicted that Hibs could yet climb back up the SPL
and reclaim the dizzy heights attained last season, with a return to
European football very much a target. Few believed him because by
then the lustre had long since gone, it was simply too ridiculous a
statement from a man who had somehow managed to maintain a massive
'feel-good' factor at the club for nearly a year, during which he
delivered a dismal eight SPL victories. At a time when Hibs fans
should be looking back on the McLeish era with nothing but fond memories,
that era has been tainted perhaps beyond repair by those harbouring
thoughts of this betrayal.
Was it just cold or had that nose grown a little longer? (sns)
Former
Rangers star Claudio Reyna this week revealed that for many weeks before
his Ibrox arrival, it was a 'well known fact' that McLeish would be their
next manager. Reyna went on to express surprise not at the
appointment but at the timing of the appointment, saying that the Rangers
playing and coaching staff had expected McLeish's arrival to come at the
end of the season or perhaps in January at the earliest, but certainly not
before Christmas. These admissions from the USA international merely
confirmed what everyone at Easter Road suspected but perhaps did not wish
to say aloud. At a time when Alex McLeish was claiming his only
thoughts were with Hibs, he was already plotting a move to Ibrox.
What else are we to believe? Are we to believe the public statement
from the ex-Hibs messiah that the first he knew about Rangers interest was
on the Sunday before his departure? Or are we to believe the
statement of the former Rangers star, and those of Dick Advocaat 24 hours
before Rangers made their move, in which the former Rangers boss smirked
to the camera that he knew who his successor was. He knew who it
was, not who they were about to ask.
"It
beggars belief that McLeish could go through the motions....."
Conspiracy theorists can
of course be the bane of all human life, but the theorists in this case
don't exactly have to look far for their evidence. It beggars belief
that McLeish could go through the motions that he did just a few days
earlier at Easter Road. A player he had been chasing for some
months, Ecuadorian Eduardo Hurtado, was signed by Hibs until the end of
the season, prompting the Hibernian Board to point out that if they were
about to lose their manager, why would they have let him convince them to
make this investment? The answer we can only assume is that they
themselves were sold down the river by a man they trusted implicitly, and
that was certainly thinly disguised by the subsequent comments from
Chairman Malcolm McPherson, who clearly believed that the deal between
McLeish and Rangers was long concluded before he sat down to talk with
David Murray about Rangers interest in McLeish.
Of course the cynics
will point out that everyone involved with Hibs could hardly have expected
anything else, this after all is how the game is run these days - those
who have get, and those who have not just shut the hell up and take it
where it hurts. Much as we might like to hide from the truth sadly
the cynics have it spot on, because the way of Scottish football has
always been that Rangers and Celtic hold the upper hand, now they don't
just hold the upper hand, they are holding the rest of Scottish football
by the balls and no way are they going to let go regardless of how much
squealing we might do.
Defiance remains of
course. I particularly liked the comment from Ulrik Laursen when
being pressed by the media on Friday to comment on the forthcoming return
of McLeish with his Rangers side on Boxing Day. "What
do you expect to happen when Rangers come to Easter Road?,"
and unsuspected hack asked the Dane, who replied promptly and clearly: "I
expect Rangers to lose."
Laursen of course was pressed further to comment on speculation that he
might be an early transfer target for McLeish, the answer might have been
predictable but at least it was honest: "I
care only for Hibernian right now because I'm a Hibernian player. I
will do all I can for this club and the fans."
And let the future look after itself, because of course no Hibs fan
believes that talent such as that possessed by Laursen can live long and
prosper at Easter Road before being lured by the dark side!
To mark the ending of a great playing career - Sauzee accepts a small
token from Hibs.net's John Campbell (hibs.net)
The bitter taste then of
the McLeish 'betrayal' has receded, and that owes much to the speedy
appointment of Franck Sauzee, very much the fans choice. Franck has
already demonstrated an amazing resilience, and a feeling of being 'at
one' with the Hibs support will do him no harm whatsoever. My
colleague John Campbell, in this column last week, upset a few people by
pointing out that this love affair will most likely end as many do, in
tears, and that one day Franck would fail in the impossible mission that
is to be a football manager. While agreeing with John, I would also
point out that Hibs fans are no different from any other football
dreamers, they believe that the man they idolise is perhaps the next Bill
Shankley, a man who will lead the club to great days, and remain a fixture
until the day he dies. It can happen, it does happen - and in
Franck, with his love not only for the club and the Hibs fans but also for
Scotland and the people that live here, we might just have a legend that
will last beyond the next half dozen defeats.
A few days ago Hibs.net
presented Franck with a small silver trophy. It had first been
presented to a Hibs manager was was a legend, Willie McCartney, back in
1938 when Hibs first visited Cork in Ireland, and was 'rescued' from a New
Zealand dealer after a tip-off from a Hibs fan. Franck was delighted
to receive this little piece of Hibernian history, promising that it would
be returned to the place it belonged, in the manager's office at Easter
Road. It is a very small piece of silverware, a mere 6 inches tall,
but it represents an era when football meant more, much more, than seedy
secret discussions in remote hotels, when honour and integrity meant the
those who had the riches were still aloof, but treated others with
respect. Who knows, perhaps a little bit of that history will rub
off and one day we will return to an era where integrity did not exist
only until a very large cheque was waved in your face.
From everyone at
Hibs.net can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very, very Merry
Christmas!
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