You have to listen to us Ken!
Keith Small reacts to the recent press release from the Hibs Chairman...

AS HIBS.NET REPORTED YESTERDAY, OUR CLUB'S CHAIRMAN has finally chosen to reveal himself to the Hibernian fans. Mr Ken Lewandowski, whose Chairmanship of the club has thus far been somewhat eventful in terms of financial rumours, poor performances on the pitch and of course ‘Straitongate’, has nevertheless kept an incredibly low profile. In fact us common, non executive Hibs fans could be forgiven for having a greater knowledge of the appearance and personality of the Scarlet Pimpernel than we do of the honorary head of our club. However, this is not the time for petty sniping, as the very future of our club is up for discussion. And while realising that many are becoming sick of the constant debating which is beginning to go around in circles, I feel that the ‘no camp’ must have the right to reply to the scathing attack from our Chairman.

Now first of all, Mr Lewandowski called the criticism of the Hibernian board from many sections of the press and support ‘unfair’. Now I always believed that as you climbed the corporate ladder the trade-off for those lucrative executive pay packages was increased responsibility and accountability. Blaming our current financial plight on ‘unforeseen circumstances’ is simply not acceptable. These guys are there to guide our ship and they have, into £17 million pounds (the latest figure to emerge from the boardroom) of debt. Now I may be wrong, but if football is a business like any other then surely they should be accountable to us for putting our club in such financial peril?

The collapse of TV revenues and transfer markets was being predicted long before it actually happened, so the circumstances were not really that ‘unforeseen’. If they were so out of the blue, how did our rivals Hearts manage to see it all coming a good 18 months to two years before we did?

Hibs Chairman - Ken Lewandowski

Mr Lewandowski then went on to state that they are looking at all proposals that could benefit the club, and they are canvassing the support whose collective opinion will be considered with the rest of the factors, when they (i.e. the Board) make their decision. How considerate of them to allow us fans to become a factor in this great game of Monopoly they seem to be engaged in with our closest rivals (I emphasise the word rivals here, as I have noted they are increasingly being referred to as our ‘neighbours’).

Now you may have detected a hint of cynicism, and you would be right. But let me tell you why. Every time one of either Messrs Farmer, Petrie and Lewandowski issue a statement, they seem to contradict each other. Our debt seems to change every time they do an interview and our financial stability seems to go from stable to precarious with alarming alacrity. Now you would have thought that a board meeting would have been arranged to agree a common strategy, or maybe we are in such financial dire straits that the budget will not allow for fizzy Highland Spring and the customary Custard Creams?

So once more I ask the board to release the facts as they know them, and let us decide if this proposal is for the good of the club or not. After all we are the ones who are going to have to pay, as opposed to being paid, to sit at Straiton and watch our team, and we are the people who will have to pick up the pieces if the club did go belly-up. Because we cannot walk away like Mr Lewandowski to his private boxes at Ibrox and Tynecastle. So instead of treating the fans like ignorant philistines, perhaps we should be the ones to decide, after a transparent, open and spin-free debate. Surely Mr Lewandowski does not think that he and the rest of the board would lose such a debate to the mindless masses? Or perhaps they just do not see us as worthy to share the same platform as them? 

Either way they are going to have to listen to the fans, because if, and I do emphasise the if, the fans do not get behind the proposal then they cannot proceed with their plan, despite what they might think. Fat Cats they may be, but they could not fill their 20,000 new seats on their own.