Few Hibs fans will be surprised at the news this morning of another player who is moving on, the club confirming that Mathias Jack will not be offered a new deal and that will disappoint many not in the least Jack himself who has turned in some decent performances of late, but perhaps in the end it was too little and too late.

Many expected the German to be gone from Easter Road last summer, however Bobby Williamson found the cash to keep him at Easter Road for another year.  Mathias was not helped by an early injury, and when Jarkko Wiss found a run of form it kept the midfielder out of the side for much of the campaign.   First brought to the club as a central defender by Alex McLeish, Jack found a place in the heart of Hibs fans when moved into the midfield and his no-nonsense style, while not being to the liking of opponents or referees, was appreciated by his own supporters.  "Matt has been a great professional for this club. I have been very impressed with his attitude since I have been here,"  Williamson said of the player last night, adding: "He was unfortunate at the start of the season when he got an injury then took time to get back to full fitness. Jarkko Wiss came in and did well and Matt had to wait for his chance. However, he has come in recently and has done very well.  I am sure he will do a good job for someone but I feel we need to freshen things a bit."

Mathias Jack - end of the line (sns)

While Mathias Doumbe and Gary Smith think over offers on one-year contracts, Hibs are also being reported to have an interest in Rangers striker Stephen Dobbie.  The player, who spent a year of his Ibrox career farmed out to Australian side Northern Spirit, has been training at Easter Road and looks likely to be offered terms.

The departure of Jack will come as no great surprise, as talk among Hibs fans it is already more on who will be at Easter Road - or who will not - than it is about the football still being played, and that perhaps speaks volumes for the current mind-set of football fans around the country.  The emergence in the Hibs squad of Derek Riordan and Scott Brown has at least given a little added interest to Hibs fans, and indeed it even managed to add a few hundred to the home gate for the visit of Motherwell last weekend, but in spite of that rarely have we seen a season ending with such a welcome from those who love the game.  You can almost feel the relief that it's all over at last, almost in fact as if a long-suffering is finally coming to an end!  While not going as far as to admit that I'm looking forward to football-free Saturday's, I have to admit to falling into line with those feelings of relief!

Livingston have reacted to the obvious threat of possibly their lowest attendance of the campaign to reduce prices for the visit of Hibs to their Almondvale stadium on Saturday.  Adults will be able to watch this penultimate game of the season for just £8 while concessions can take in the SPL match for as little as £2.  Alas even at these prices you get the feeling that most will forgo the delights of the Livi drumbeat for a quieter time with screaming kids and crushed shopping centres.  It's not just the fans of course who will be finding alternative things to do this weekend either, just ask John O'Neil!  The former Hibs skipper, sad as it is to call him 'former' but we'll just need to get used to that, is unlikely to be at Livingston as he continues his search for a new club, another victim of the very downturn in fortunes football is facing if indeed you can call someone who has taken perhaps half a million quid from Hibernian over recent years a victim!

And there perhaps you have the crux of the problem.  Had players in recent years not taken such a large slice of the riches in the game, then perhaps things might never have got so bad.  It follows that had those who occupy the boardroom not agreed to such inflated salary structures, the same would be true.  With thoughts turning now to the close-season and summer holidays, you wonder how many of us will meet again come July, will the new campaign and fresh start this year hold also the usual enthusiastic optimism of the past?  For many of us it probably will, but alas quite a few will simply not be back, and that is the difficulty facing those who run the game, what can be changed to attract them back, what can rekindle the enthusiasm?  Reduced prices for one-off games at the end of a season are all very well as far as the gesture goes, but it is just a gesture.  Hibs early-bird season ticket offer attracted a few thousand takers, but you can't get away from the feeling that it is not enough, you can't get away from the feeling that only when Scottish football prices itself back to levels comparable to other entertainments will the turnstiles start to make some noise.

In the meantime clubs such as Hibs will try and rekindle the enthusiasm of old, and a large part of that will come in the rebuilding process already well underway at Easter Road.  Fans are expecting an entirely new side for next season, and throughout the summer the die-hards at least will continue to monitor the pages of Hibs.net, the Edinburgh Evening News and every other source of news or more likely players-agent inspired rumour available!