FLHIBS
18-09-2011, 12:06 PM
First post, so go easy on me !
Like the majority of fans, I'm less than happy with Calderwood and I think he could do with a lesson in effective PR, he comes across dreadfully IMO, constantly talks in cryptic language to the press and if he communicates this way to the players, then they probably don't understand what he means either ! Frankly, he should now be saying he feels under huge pressure to turn it around, because if he doesn't feel huge pressure, then that is his problem IMO.
However, regardless of what happens to him (he will leave, we can all see it) what are the realistic expectations from the fans and the board. I think this is one of the main issues between the fans and the board, that the expectations are on a different level and until they are on the same level, we will not move together as one.
I always like to think the majority of the Hibs fans are slight more intelligent that the average knuckle-scraping football fan and god only knows how many downs we have felt over the years, particularly against our neighbours (although I always take consolation as a Hibs fan that no matter how bad I feel after losing a Derby, it can never compare to the feeling of getting gubbed 7-0 and 6-2 by your rivals)
Anyhow I wondered what realistic expectations we should have from the club and how can the fans and board be on the same level.
For what it is worth here is my opinion and expectations. Whilst I will never be thankful enough to STF for saving the club, I do believe he is at the root of the problem and has lost sight of what made him so successful in business. When he built Kwik-Fit his motto was ' to exceed customer expectations'
and he did it very well. If I had been a manager at one of his branches and it was not performing and STF had received numerous complaints about the performance of the branch, would I have been removed ? most certainly yes.
So what is the link between that and what we have at ER ? Well for a start, i'm a fan but i'm also a customer of HFC, I spend my money in the same way that I would if I was buying a tyre and like many other hundreds(more likely thousands) of customer/fans we are less than happy with the service that we are getting from his Manager (Mr Petrie) and our expectations are not being met.
I think that our expectations are realistic and are the following
1. We expect a team that goes onto the park with real passion and fight, this is sadly lacking
2. We expect a manager to have commitment to the club, which clearly he has not
3. We expect to be challenging for 3/4th place
4 We expect that winning against our local rivals will always be one of the highest priorities.
5. We expect a good cup run, possibly semi-finalists, maybe finalist every 2-3 years, winners every 4/5 years
6. We expect entertaining football, not some brand of industrial football, which is where it is heading.
7. We expect that if a manager is clearly not performing after 30 odd games, he be removed. Whatever we think about long-term ambitions, we live in a short-term world, where customers want their expectations delivered short-term.
So that is my take, I think it is STF needs to respond to his customers in the same way that he did when building his empire i.e. We are not having our expectations met and we are not happy with the service ! and we want to know what he plans to do to change this ?
Like the majority of fans, I'm less than happy with Calderwood and I think he could do with a lesson in effective PR, he comes across dreadfully IMO, constantly talks in cryptic language to the press and if he communicates this way to the players, then they probably don't understand what he means either ! Frankly, he should now be saying he feels under huge pressure to turn it around, because if he doesn't feel huge pressure, then that is his problem IMO.
However, regardless of what happens to him (he will leave, we can all see it) what are the realistic expectations from the fans and the board. I think this is one of the main issues between the fans and the board, that the expectations are on a different level and until they are on the same level, we will not move together as one.
I always like to think the majority of the Hibs fans are slight more intelligent that the average knuckle-scraping football fan and god only knows how many downs we have felt over the years, particularly against our neighbours (although I always take consolation as a Hibs fan that no matter how bad I feel after losing a Derby, it can never compare to the feeling of getting gubbed 7-0 and 6-2 by your rivals)
Anyhow I wondered what realistic expectations we should have from the club and how can the fans and board be on the same level.
For what it is worth here is my opinion and expectations. Whilst I will never be thankful enough to STF for saving the club, I do believe he is at the root of the problem and has lost sight of what made him so successful in business. When he built Kwik-Fit his motto was ' to exceed customer expectations'
and he did it very well. If I had been a manager at one of his branches and it was not performing and STF had received numerous complaints about the performance of the branch, would I have been removed ? most certainly yes.
So what is the link between that and what we have at ER ? Well for a start, i'm a fan but i'm also a customer of HFC, I spend my money in the same way that I would if I was buying a tyre and like many other hundreds(more likely thousands) of customer/fans we are less than happy with the service that we are getting from his Manager (Mr Petrie) and our expectations are not being met.
I think that our expectations are realistic and are the following
1. We expect a team that goes onto the park with real passion and fight, this is sadly lacking
2. We expect a manager to have commitment to the club, which clearly he has not
3. We expect to be challenging for 3/4th place
4 We expect that winning against our local rivals will always be one of the highest priorities.
5. We expect a good cup run, possibly semi-finalists, maybe finalist every 2-3 years, winners every 4/5 years
6. We expect entertaining football, not some brand of industrial football, which is where it is heading.
7. We expect that if a manager is clearly not performing after 30 odd games, he be removed. Whatever we think about long-term ambitions, we live in a short-term world, where customers want their expectations delivered short-term.
So that is my take, I think it is STF needs to respond to his customers in the same way that he did when building his empire i.e. We are not having our expectations met and we are not happy with the service ! and we want to know what he plans to do to change this ?