by Stuart Crowther

Date: 25th May 2002

It's easier to get players for Hibs than Killie! Lack of SPL cash will not make much difference for Williamson BOBBY WILLIAMSON KNOWS THE SCORE, the Hibs boss well aware that buying players for inflated transfer fees and even more inflated wages is simply a non-starter.  But then Williamson has never been a man to waste what little cash their is available, treating the clubs money as he would treat his own, something the Hibs boss underlined in a recent interview with Hibs.net's Trevor Hannant in a recent interview for Edinburgh's Hospital Radio service. There has been little movement on the transfer front for Williamson since the end of the season, with Hibs fans speculating on the strong possibility that the Hibs boss would start the season with no new faces and a smaller squad, such are the extent of the financial problems facing the Easter Road club this summer.  Already gone is Craig Brewster, with every chance that Mathias Jack will follow him out of the door along with a host of younger players as Hibs face up to the possibility of their biggest-ever clear out.  It has been reported that the club wage bill has to be cut by as much as £1m, but that of course can be nothing more than speculation as the one thing Hibs managing director Rod Petrie is very good at is keeping such things within the domain of the club! Bobby Williamson - easier to attract players to Edinburgh Fans can be sure however that Williamson knows the score, and the Hibs boss was giving out clear signals almost from the day he arrived that he would be perfectly content to start the 2002/03 season with the squad he had at his disposal through the closing stages of last season.  "We will obviously miss the money that TV revenue would have brought into the club, every penny is a prisoner basically.  But I've always been a manager who treats the clubs money like his own and I don't spend it needlessly," Williamson said in the hospital radio interview, adding: "I'll not dabble too heavily in the transfer market, in this day and age I don't think you need to anyway.  If you do your homework right, prepare properly and see who is coming out of contract then try and entice them to the club.  And to be honest I think it is easier to entice people to Edinburgh than it was to Kilmarnock!" It seems then that a waiting game is on the cards for Hibs fans, as Williamson will hold back form making any sort of move in the market until the last possible moment, if at all.  While that may frustrate fans more used to spending their summer months speculating over who the major singings will be, it is the way things must be with still no real signs of peace breaking out between the 10 breakaway clubs in the league and the Old Firm.  What is now clear is that even if all twelve clubs do once again form a united front, it will come too late to permit any major cash injection to the league from television and so clubs such as Hibs must act accordingly.  Williamson to an extent is paying for the mistakes of last season at Easter Road, the appointment of Franck Sauzee and subsequent signings placing a heavier burden on Hibs than most clubs have had to face. Hibs fans who are heading for Easter Road a week today for the presentation to Franck Sauzee are being offered a chance to help out another worthy cause at the same time!  Raffle tickets are on sale from the Franck Sauzee Appreciation Society, with the top prize Sauzee's shirt form the 2001 Scottish Cup Final, and a host of other prizes on offer.  And for Hibs.net readers attending the presentation, special badges are being produced and sold at 50p each with all money raised going to the Sick Kids charity.  Further details on these can be found in the Message Board.