We should wait
It's all very well getting rid of Bobby but, as Keith asks, who comes to Hibs in his place...

I have to admit that this is not the piece I was expecting to write today. I had something else altogether planned, but that will keep. Unfortunately, I fear that this more important subject may not. Yes, of course it is our maligned manager Bobby Williamson. Now I have written at least a couple of defences of Williamson over the last year or so. I wrote them because at the time of writing I felt that they were right.

I have to say, that I feel most of the points are still right. He has had to work under constraints relative to other SPL clubs almost unknown to any Hibernian manager in modern times. He has had to get rid of our best players, and not replace them. And he has had to preside over the Straiton debacle which did not help fans moods, and all of this while trying to pick up the shambles left by the McLeish/Sauzee era.  Not an easy job I’m sure you will all agree. However, I was never naïve enough to believe that Bobby Williamson and Hibernian were happy bedfellows. There has always been an uneasy feel to the relationship, and Williamson has rarely been more than a couple of games away from a crisis. Williamson’s reign has, and will in the future be remembered mostly for bad reasons.

Two calamitous results against Hearts at Tynecastle will unfortunately always be remembered. As will the recurring loss of late goals which in hindsight was almost comical – although it definitely was not funny at the time. Dour football (most of the time), an abrasive and argumentative attitude to the press, arguing with the fans behind the dugout, and a very tame and very hard to take defeat in the league cup final.

There have been highlights as well; the run that took us to the Cup Final was obviously a massive highlight, although it has been dimmed significantly by the performance in the final. And that last minute win over Hearts at the start of the season.

One of the few highlights of the season  (hibs.net)

All of this though is I think now irrelevant. The majority of Hibs.net regulars seem to have made up their mind, and if the numbers of fans that are staying away from the Holy Ground are counted as a vote by proxy, then unfortunately Williamson has lost the fans. And once you lose the fans, it is incredibly difficult if not impossible, to win them back.  And I feel that having lost the fans, Williamson is now on borrowed time at Hibernian. I am not changing my opinion, I am merely acknowledging the realities of the situation. Hibernian cannot survive on crowds of 5500, in fact such a crowd is a disgrace, especially given the 40,000 odd Hibs ‘fans’ who attended the Cup Final (but having a go at the glory hunting majority is for another day). Such crowds cannot continue, and if it is clear that these crowds are related to the manager, then that is indeed a compelling and powerful argument, one that I am sure will not have gone un-noticed by the board.

My own personal opinion is that until somebody better (and by that I mean a realistic choice – Gordon Strachan will not be the next Hibs manager) becomes available, I am dubious as to whether anybody else who is currently available would do any better. Because if Williamson does leave, we have to appoint someone who is going to make us better, not somebody who is a respected Hibby. Keith Wright, Paul Kane, John Hughes? Sober up. One day maybe, but at the moment their collective managerial experience is almost non-existent.

Rainer Bonhof? To me that would be a bit of a gamble, he has little actual club experience and foreign coaches in Scotland rarely succeed. Ian McCall or Jimmy Calderwood would be too expensive and would probably not leave their current teams to come to us anyway.

Whatever the arguments for and against, there can be no doubt that the situation is starting to turn. Rightly or wrongly, I personally do not believe that Williamson will lead us into next season. What is the best that we can now hope for? I am hoping that Bobby gets the Plymouth job. It would be a good resolution to the situation for Bobby (probably even a promotion). Because when all is said or done, I think that Bobby is a genuine guy, and I do not want games to de-generate into slagging matches between him and the fans. Let us all just hope that there is somebody out there who can start to lead us up the table again.