THE SPECTRE OF STRAITON HAS FINALLY LIFTED and what a relief that is to one and all, except perhaps Hibs’ Bank Manager!  For months the Hibee faithful fretted that the Club was to be lifted lock, stock and barrel and deposited on a piece of wasteland on the outskirts of the City.  Such uncertainty, coupled with a few indifferent performances on the park had many a Hibby pulling their hair out wondering when, if ever, things would take a turn for the better but I truly believe that particular corner has now been turned.

Having considered moving to Straiton as a way of removing the Club’s crippling debts, the Board of Directors performed a duty for which they are in office …. and met with the expected result in terms of reaction from the support.  Almost to a man and woman the fans opposed the move and made their feelings on that topic fairly obvious through the various fan site Messageboards and more particularly in face to face meetings with the Board at the Listening Groups set up to analyse available options.

As much as anything it was the reaction at these Listening Groups which persuaded the Board that Straiton was not an option but there was also, of course, strong opposition elsewhere which opposed the move and that, I am sure, will have been recognised also.  The stance of the various websites may have varied quite dramatically but there was a common cause at the root of it all in that none of us wanted to go to Straiton.

So, where did that leave Hibs as a Club?  Major debt, annual operating losses and falling attendances.  In short, the Club’s poor health saw little sign of a financial ‘cure’ courtesy of selling up and moving – the option which, for a while at least, must still have seemed appealing to a Board which had to measure that move against the views of the fans.

I never got invited to any of the Listening Groups but having spoken to a number of people who participated I was assured that the anti – Straiton feeling was easily equalled in strength by the pro – Hibs feelings.  Fans came up with a number of fine ideas and pledged their support to the Club in terms of doing anything they could to keep Hibs at Easter Road and to make inroads into both operating losses and the debt itself.

As time rolled by, with the spectre of Straiton still lurking in the background having not yet been fully killed off, Colin McNeill of Crystal Blue, the Communications and Marketing Company appointed to administer the Groups and to collate the ideas put forward, played a more and more prominent role in realising that there is indeed potential for the fans to help significantly in not only keeping Hibs at Easter Road but also in addressing the financial difficulties.  Communication and Marketing at Hibs has been very poorly handled in the past but clearly Colin made the right impression and he has now been appointed to the Board to bring his undoubted expertise properly into the frame.

As a major player in the SPL, Hibs need to be out there attracting business whether that be in terms of securing sponsorship, filling the corporate hospitality lounges for home games etc but their problems in doing so included the fact that football in Scotland, outside the Old Firm, offers a limited market and so any pot of gold at the end of that particular rainbow had little to offer and many asking.  Instead Hibs need to look much closer to home.  Many of the ideas put forward at the Listening Groups involved actions by the supporters themselves; actions which would assist the Club to stay put at Easter Road but address their problems too.  Many of those same ideas have now been formally adopted by the Club which will reveal its draft business plan at the AGM tomorrow night.

There will be no show stopping answers to the problem.  No ‘magic idea’ that will clear away all ills in one fell swoop.  Instead, there will be a whole range of ‘smaller’ ideas which collectively and with the will of the Hibs support to back them, will go a long way to solving the ills.

In what should rightly be considered the tip of the iceberg, Hibs.net Editor Stuart Crowther and myself have been formally asked to take on the running of the Club’s official site.  We have agreed to do so and at no monetary cost to the Club because we, as fans, want to play our own small part in the Business Plan to rescue and restore the Club we both love.  We are probably the first fans to be asked to do something but I am certain we shall not be the last.  Our move comes on the back of two meetings with Colin McNeill in which views were offered and exchanged and at which all present agreed that in today’s world an attractive and popular Club website is an absolute must.  It’s an open secret that the Club site has been very poor for a long time and we have offered our services to end that particular problem.  Whether we succeed remains to be seen but you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll have a damned good try at doing so!

Our initial reaction was one of concern over what that would do to Hibs.net.  We enjoy full editorial control over Hibs.net and are promised the same on the official site.  In our initial excitement – and we make no bones of the fact that working on the official site is an exciting prospect – we perhaps naively thought we could still run both but on reflection and in no small part to reading and enjoying for the most part the debate on the Messageboard, we realise that whilst we both feel we could do both jobs impartially we are realistic enough to accept that the credibility of the reborn official site might suffer damage if we are thought to be both fan and Club in what we write.  To that end, as we leave Hibs.net we are delighted to formally confirm that Trevor Hannant has been appointed Editor of the site and that he will have editorial control with immediate effect.

One point we will stress, however, is that we are fans and we do have opinions so we’ll still be making good use of the Messageboard in future! 

I was in London at the weekend and so missed out on the Messageboard debate but I can say that I’ve read every post before writing this, my farewell article.  Some of what I read made me proud, some made me angry and some made me sad but most of all the feeling I had was that the debate was well worth the having and taught me a great deal.  Hibs.net will survive and prosper, of that I have no doubt.