Hibs spokesman's honesty is appreciated
Grant Small went to the third gathering of Hibs fans to be consulted by the club with an open mind - and he left with one....

As Hibs legend Pat Stanton stood in front of the 100 East Stand fans selected for last nights fans forum, everyone to a man fell silent out of respect. He continued to tell a story of how as a young player, he stood in the tunnel facing the East Stand engaging in conversation with the his manager “Pat…..if the fans don’t like you, there is no point in you being here” of course he was idolised, however, with David Forsyth (Non-voting board member) in attendance perhaps this advice could be taken on board by the Hibs executives.

The fans forum has been the subject to much debate over the past week particularly within the Hibs.net message board. Although not in attendance Rod Petrie’s statement stated that “Supporters must be involved and have full confidence in the consultation process”. In all honesty not a lot has been resolved due to the fact that the clubs financial position is unclear, as we are approaching the end of the clubs financial year (end of July). I has been promised however that as soon as the clubs complete financial status is made clear, the fans will have the opportunity to see for themselves and scrutinise the figures fully. Mr Forsyth did estimate however that the club would finish the year £14m - £16 in debt

It was made clear from the outset that there were two options on the table;

1)      Move to Straiton.

2)      Stay at Easter Road and develop in order to improve income.  

As it stands, it was explained that the club simply cannot afford to continue on its current path, Hibernian Football Club are losing too much money and so simply something must change, and so we find the club in its current situation. What is still unclear would be the cost of building a new stadium as well as the current value of Easter Road. With the stadium taking up 7 acres of land coupled with the 3.5 acres covered by the car park at the current value of £2m per acre Hibs could expect to sell the ground for around £20m. It was at this point of the night that serious questions had to be answered. The club is £16m in debt with £20m gained from the sale of the ground; this would only leave £4m to fund the building of half a new stadium (Hearts making up the other half). As this was pointed out the, fans were given the assurance from Mr Forsyth that “If figures do not stack up – we don’t move” however what did prove a point of concern was when Mr Forsyth was asked what would happen in the event of the fans not wanting the move, but, the money men wanting to move, “that would be a case for the shareholders”.

Fans - being consulted in a proper manner?  Signs are fair (hibs.net)

It was clear to see that Hibs have recognised the need to contact the fans on this subject and again it was made clear that Hibs did not mean to make this public when they did. A Radio Fourth Journalist had found out about the discussions between Mr Petrie and Mr Robinson, at this point Hibs and Hearts were forced to go public with the situation. It was also admitted that the picture of Mr Petrie and Mr Robinson smiling as though it was a ‘done deal’ was not the correct image to portray. IF this move to Straiton goes ahead we are at the beginning of a lengthy process with no planning permission being granted before Spring 2004, followed by the building of the stadium etc.

Despite many opinions Sir Tom Farmer does not solely own the Straiton site. He owns 25% with the remaining ground owned by 2 other business men (split 25% and 50%).

This situation will ultimately come down to money, as Mr Forsyth was honest enough to state that the banks are taking an interest in Hibs situation but by no means were they twisting there arms up there backs. The costs involved with building a new stadium have still to be calculated, but the concerns raised over Straiton was the instability of the ground due to disused mine shafts. This can be rectified due to modern technology, but how often does modern technology come cheap?.

IF Hibs do stay at Easter Road they must cut costs and raise funds. It was disclosed that there have been discussions to sell the butterfly ground although no figures or buyers were mentioned. Mr Forsyth openly admitted that they were actively trying to increase the attendance at Easter Road via a variety of methods, perhaps the alarming factor of this episode is that the sale of season tickets has slowed down “considerably” since this was made public knowledge (at present 5000 season tickets have been sold).

It was also recognised that forums such as this help to break down the barriers between the fans and the board, once again Mr Forsyth openly admitted that fan / board relations could be a lot better and explained that he would convey this to Mr Petrie during there next board meeting.

Although there were no real significant questions answered last night the honesty of David Forsyth was appreciated, as was the honesty of Colin McNeill, company director of communication consultants Crystal Blue Ltd. Crystal Blue were involved as an independent consultancy company although this was called into question when it became apparent that Mr McNeill had links with Mr Farmer. This subject was laid to rest when it was explained that yes he has worked for Kwik Fit in the past and that yes he has a sense of loyalty to Mr Farmer, but that is only because he worked for the man. Crystal Blue has no Professional links to Mr Farmer and has been running as an individual company.

We can only hope that this matter does not drag on into the new season as these things have a tendency to affect the whole club including the team on the pitch. It was admitted that this has no timescale however it was expected to be resolved one way or the other within a matter of months, lets hope so.