Youngsters brought Easter Road Cheer
Stanton - Hibees youngsters can bring them in again

THERE ARE FEW PEOPLE EVERY HIBS FAN will take heed of when they make comment on the way things are going down at Easter Road, and this Saturday one such person is set to answer questions form Hibs fans on Radiohibs.net.  Pat Stanton may not have any direct involvement in the game these days, but his thoughts still carry a great deal of weight with anyone connected with the Hibees

The former Hibernian skipper and manager never misses a game at Easter Road, and as anyone who has the privilege of talking to him will readily testify Stanton does not speak without giving the matter a lot of thought first!  Like everyone the legend known to Hibs fans young and old was disappointed by the events of last season, never expecting much but hoping for a great deal more than was delivered by a Hibs side that rarely gave their fans much to smile about.

Talking to the Hibs radio station for an extensive 90-minute interview to be broadcast on Saturday, Stanton looked back on the season with a shake of the head, saying: “It looked as if we were heading for a disappointing year all round but towards the end of the season, when Bobby Williamson introduced some of the younger players in particular Riordan and the young lad Brown, it was like a breath of fresh air.  So what had gone before that tended to be forgotten at the tail end of the season when we picked up a few results, albeit a wee bit late!

Hibs youngsters the way for the future (sns)

“The encouraging thing though was that one or two of the young players started to force themselves into the first team, and that can only be a good thing.”  While four victories from the closing five games of the campaign were welcomed by the Hibs support, it was the emergence of these young stars of the future that cheered most at Easter Road and encouraged a more positive outlook towards the future.  That is not of course to say that the same youngsters will feature heavily in the starting line-up for the new season, Stanton admitting that players so young could not be relied upon on a regular basis and need to be brought on with care and consideration, and that consideration has to be shown not only by club coaches but fans as well.

Stanton though is, like every Hibs fan, expecting some changes before the start of the new campaign and in particular in a Hibs defence noted for gifting late goals.  He said: “You don’t have to look very far to see where our problems were last season, at the back.  The number of goals we lost near the end of games perhaps can’t all be blamed on the defenders, but eventually you have to look at those late goals and the points that they cost us and while I now it’s all ifs and buts, if we added the points these goals costs us dearly.  If you are going to do anything in the game you have to be tight at the back and cut out the silly mistakes, the biggest illustration of that of course was at Tynecastle that day in the 4-4 drawn game, some of the things that Hibs players were doing were simply naïve.

“If you are in the manager’s position and you see these things happening, you must be asking yourself if you really have to point out to players that that was the wrong thing to do?  And yet they repeat it again and again.  If it’s the same people making the mistakes game after game then you have to come to the conclusion that it’s time to change the people.”  But back to the positives that should be taken from the late surge at the end of the campaign, and in particular the excitement generated by Scott Brown who emerged form the pack to show just what the future might hold.  Pat told Radiohibs.net: “I’ve really been impressed with young Brown, he just seemed to appear from nowhere!  I don’t know what the circumstances where in deciding to throw him in, but I was very impressed with him.  He is very quick on his feet and brave as is Derek Riordan. 

“These are two young men who are anxious to prove themselves and that was encouraging, as was Tam McManus who did very well towards the end of the season.  And I’d say also that Garry O’Connor still has great potential, I don’t know if he was fit enough towards the end of the season, people have to remember he is still very young and is playing in a difficult position on the park.  Fans are looking for him to score goals all the time, but you don’t have to cast your mind that far back to when people were giving Ian Murray a hard time, but he stuck with it and won the fans over so now he is a big favourite.  I’m pretty certain that the big lad will do the same, if you are a good player then show people that you are a good player, he has had disappointments but he will be learning now from these.”