TAKING A COUPLE OF WEEKS OFF from writing for the Hibs.net front page has provided, quite apart from a much-needed rest, some time to reflect on the state of our club, and what better a time to reflect on such matters than after the final game!  It was a disappointing end to a disappointing season, the news reaching my Grand Hyatt in New York minutes after the final whistle back home in Edinburgh.  The first thing that struck me was how, even that far away and with all the daily pressures of home life removed, I was still bitterly disappointed to learn that Partick Thistle had done a number over Hibs, and even more so that yet again it was that last-minute bug that has so afflicted Hibs this season that fell upon us yet again!

Chatting with an Irish bar-tender in New York's Bleeker Street the evening after that final game, the talk quickly closed on how terrible a season it had been for both Celtic and Hibernian, the two clubs this particular guy clearly had a wealth of knowledge and affection for, to days gone by when it all seemed so much more fun!  The chat was about Stanton, Brownlie, Schaedler, John Blackley, Alex Cropley, Neil Martin, Willie Hamilton - the guy was clearly of my generation, and that certainly helped build up a healthy bar bill!  While there is little point (but a great deal of fun) to be had in bleating on about the old days, it did set me thinking on the long flight home just how much value we might put in these guys today.  Pat Stanton of course is an friend of every Hibs fan, always on hand with an anecdote or three as he entertains (unpaid these days, which is pretty sad in itself) in the corporate areas of Easter Road on match-days.  And Pat of course will be a very special guest in our weekly live internet radio who tomorrow from 10am to mid-day (or perhaps longer), the expectation is that his presence will elevate to new studio 'shack' to an entirely new level!

Pat Stanton - a lot to offer those who listen (sns)

Most Hibs fans though believe that Pat has never been used enough at Easter Road.  It's all very well having the ever-willing Pat (along with Joe Baker and Lawrie Reilly) around to entertain the fans, but you wonder sometimes if they should be talking to the current crop of players pre-match rather than supporters!  Pat had his 'shot' at management, and again many believed that having served a distinguished apprenticeship under Alex Ferguson that part of his career could and should have been still very much alive to this day.  You won't hear any regrets on that score from Pat himself, but you kind of think that perhaps in this the 'Quiet man' was too bloody quiet, and had he pushed himself that little bit more who knows what he might have achieved.   Some of Pat's team-mates from these days became topics of conversation in that bar, the bar-tender keen to learn what they were doing these days.  John Brownlie of course is managing Arbroath, dropping back out of the First Division a few weeks ago but having lost none of his spirit for all that.

Brownlie in an interview this week was very forthright in his view on how to improve the game in Scotland - get back to the basics and stop spending so much time looking at expensive foreign imports as the path to success.  "A think we are in a very low period just now. We have to bring the young ones through, then in four or five years we will be up to a half decent standard. If we stop bringing in average foreign players it will help our game," Brownlie said, a view that no doubt is shared by John Blackley, the former Hibs team-mate and the man who actually introduced Brownlie to management in the first place after taking him to Cowdenbeath where he was first Assistant boss before taking charge himself and indeed winning promotion with the Blue Brazil before being sacked for apparently showing more ambition than the Fifers could afford!  Blackley of course went on to manage Hibs for an all-too brief spell before working with Paul Sturrock at Dundee United, and for the past year he has been working with the same guy again at Plymouth as 'defensive coordinator'..  Again, a perfect example of a good, solid football brain being used to great effect, and indeed Sturrock is awaiting a positive reply from Blackley after offering him a new deal to remain in England.

Tony Caig with Craig Brewster - both gone on to better things (sns)

Some Hibernian legends then are still offering much to the game, sadly none of them are doing so directly on the coaching staff at Easter Road.  It would be easy to argue that former players do not automatically make good coaches at the club they served with distinction, but it is much easier to argue that having been steeped in the traditions of the club their very presence in the background give a boost not only to fans but the young players who are clearly the ONLY available future in the current football climate.  There are plenty former Hibs stars who are taking the first steps into coaching.  Keith Wright has not had the best of maiden seasons in charge at Cowdenbeath, but he has shown a maturity well beyond his coaching years so would be of fantastic value at Easter Road - just ask Derek Riordan about that, having played all too briefly for Wright back in January.  John Hughes of course is now the main man at Falkirk but what value could his drive and enthusiasm provide at Hibernian?  We might know one day, but right now Yogi is making an immediate name for himself as a man-manager as well as player.  Paul Kane does not have a job as yet, but again he has all the required training both in the art of coaching and the traditions of Hibernian - worth a risk, surely?

So all eyes are on who will come in to replace at least part of the player exodus from Easter Road and no doubt much of my time as Editor of this leading Hibs site will be spent on speculating who these players might be.  It would be nice to be surprised with a more traditional addition to the coaching staff at the club.

Meanwhile news on Easter Road new-boys of any sort remains sparce, but there was more good news for former employees.  Tony Caig, who left the club during the January transfer window for an unlikely shot at the Premiership with Newcastle United, has done enough to earn the offer of a new 2-year deal.  Caig told Hibs.net some weeks ago that he was in a 'different world' at Newcastle and he has clearly impressed on that new stage, with every chance of taking part in the Champions League next season with the Geordies.