A YEAR AGO HIBS FANS where perhaps just beginning to understand the problems that faced the club.  They looked on in anguish as the likes of Dunfermline found it easy to strengthen their squads with nothing of note happening at Easter Road, well nothing until a few of the major Hibs stars left and the club embarked on a season that had some terrifying dips a very few highs.  The high-profile departures from the club back in January and then again towards the end of the season indicated perhaps a change in direction, but two weeks from the end of the season there has been nothing but silence in Leith as other SPL clubs snap up the cream of the bargains available in the summer sales.  And don't let's be hearing about financial constraints, even Motherwell have managed to find room for some new blood and no club in the SPL faces more serious financial restraints than that club still as they are under administration.

Bobby Williamson - keeping his cards close to his chest as usual (sns)

That of course has upset Partick Thistle greatly, but then the Jags might have given that some thought when they disgracefully voted against Falkirk's rightful entry into the SPL - Motherwell have shown their gratitude in the same manner that they did those former employees they cast aside a year ago.  It's dog eat dog of course in the SPL just now so can we really blame the clubs for looking after No.1?  You do have to worry about the Hibees standing in the game though, when a player it would appear would rather quit the game at 31-years-old rather than sign for the Hibees.  That seems to be the case for Scott Booth, the former Aberdeen star is currently without a club after Dutch side Twente Enschede refused to renew his contract.  After six years in Holland and Germany, where Booth starred for Borussia Dortmund, the striker has now moved back to Scotland, settling his family in Banchory.  The news is that Hibs have retained an interest in signing Booth, but such is his reluctance to uproot his family again he is talking about quitting the game altogether.

It is of course just as likely that this is merely paper talk, after all a striker is not apparently a top requirement for Bobby Williamson, who has hinted at four new faces arriving at the club before they resume training at the end of this month.  The truth is that in spite of having a number of players on trial in the closing weeks of the season, nobody has the slightest idea who Williamson's targets are, the Hibs boss keeping a tight lid on his plans as he always does.  The only name that keeps rising above the rest is that of Inverness Caledonian skipper Bobby Mann, a name that has not exactly inspired the Hibernian support but then until they pull on a green shirt and demonstrate just what they are capable of, no fan has a right to pre-judge any player - after all, how many had heard of Russell Latapy and, come to that, even Franck Sauzee while being a big noise around Europe hardly caused the pulse to flutter before he demonstrated to Scots just why he was such a big noise!

So Hibs fans must continue for now at least to play the waiting game, while the newspapers (and Hibs.net come to that) speculate over possibles, maybes and a few buts.  The fear that we will once again be left behind is a very real one for Hibs fans, but until we actually get the new season underway and have some sort of idea of where the club is going, there is little point in moaning about it.  Trouble is, the feeling around the Hibee support is that by then, it might be too late.