Time to spend some money Hibs

[superfurryhibby]

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Thing is....we have spent money this window. If you look at who we have signed and where we have signed them from....they will all be on good wages id imagine. Added to that we have paid fees for at least three players as well.

Loans
Bogdan - EPL
Hyndman - EPL
Agyepong- EPL(if he eventually signs)
McLaren - Bundesliga

Signed
Mallan - Campionship - fee paid
Kamberi - Swiss top league - fee paid
Horgan - Championship - fee paid

Id say our outlay has been pretty big compared to previous years and im sure the wage bill has gone up. Think its a bit unfair to say the team isnt being invested in.

Out

Loans: Allan

Signed players gone-

McGinn
McGeouch

We have definitely invested in players, but the balance of who’s come in seems wrong in some areas of the pitch.

Did we really need Bogdan?

Mallan/ Hyndman play in similar area.

Mallan looks like he will be an asset, but he’s a work in progress. Sometimes loses posession too easily and he has drifted out of games, he adds something with his dead ball work, but thus far isn’t close to offering the quality of Dylan or McGinn.

Agyepong/Horgan and Boyle. Boyle is a known quantity, he offers a lot out wide in a five man midfield. How do we fit Boyle, Horgan ( who you must assume is intended as a starter) and Agyepong into the side, given we also have two very good full backs in Gray and Stevenson?

I think we could be doing with shifting some players on and would list Slivka, Swanson and Bartley as first team squad players who could go. Given where we are now I’m surprised they are all still here.

Disappointed that there is clear work to be done on the balance of the squad.

Given the personnel changes to central midfield I thought we might see a change of formation and tactics, we just don’t have the quality to play three central midfielders in the shape of Bartley, Slivka and Mallan. Thus far that hasn’t happened.

Is there any obvious strategy at work here, a bit baffled by it and I’ve been advocating patience throughout the preseason and early games.

Record season ticket sales won’t continue unless we deliver. There is expectation and it is easy to see that failure to carry on progressing will just as easily lead to crowds returning to the usual levels. I’m a bit perturbed by it and can’t see any masterplan at work. The idea of investing at East Mains when the playing side isn’t where it should be would be a big mistake. We need to see success on the field this season.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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This thread is just full of people at polar opposites. The people that are saying we are needing players in key positions quick are correct as we are weaker than last season. Comments from people making out that we as fans need to accept that we will constantly have ups and downs because there are bigger teams out there buying our players have got it wrong in that has to constantly mean ups and downs.

We attracted the mcginns and mcgeouch why can’t we do that again? I am sure that’s what Hibs are trying to do. I am sure Lennon expects us to be able to attract those players to Hibs and if not he will be disappointed! If he is disappointed and he has a vision to build on a successful season why can’t we as fans have the same vision and same feelings.

Fans were disappointed and vented about the draw with stjohnstone, I am sure Lennon expected more and shared his frustrations with the players. Fans were disappointed with getting beat by Molde and the defending, I am sure Lennon and the team were too. I doubt they just said hey ho, molde are better prepared. Lennon has done well so far by, IMO, creating a belief in the team that they can compete with the best, that Hibs will get better. When we fail against those standards he isn’t happy, the team won’t be happy, they don’t accept it, why should fans have to accept it as part of‘supporting hibs’ as some have said on here??

We need to be better, to defend better and to get better players. I am sure Lennon expects that as well.

The points addressed in your first two paragraphs go directly to what I said in my comments, so let me clarify. I was not saying that there should never be an aspiration to consistently have a team on the park reaching the heights of the Mowbray team or our team of the last few seasons, that should always be the aim. But the truth is that all you need to do is look at the 140 odd year history of this club to know that the chances of such a thing happening are extremely slim.

Not only does this club historically lose its best players within a few seasons of them rising to prominence, it also loses its best managers in the same way. McLeish … put together a decent side, gone. Mowbray … put together a decent side, gone. Stubbs … put together a decent side and won us the Scottish cup, gone.

I am not saying that we should meekly accept the body blows that such events land on the club and not strive to have a system in place that enables us to quickly replace players and managers we lose with people of the same quality, that goes without saying and the club have said more than once recently that that is exactly the system they aspire to.
But the hard facts of the situation are this …. if you have a support demanding an instant fix to these problems and going into meltdown when it doesn't happen viewing it as a failure of everybody at the club from the owner right down to the under 10s coaches and refusing to accept that the reality of the situation is that it is just not always possible to replace the quality you lose with managers or players who are as good, what you end up with is a club followed by a bunch of fair weather fans who spit the dummy and walk away as soon as their unrealistic demands aren't met.

That's the difference. Its not that we or the club shouldn't aspire to great football played consistently season after season which brings us a cup every three or four years, we always should. But we have to accept that in today's football environment for clubs like us that is incredibly difficult, bordering on impossible, to achieve … we weren't able to achieve that in a far less demanding environment prior to huge TV money being a factor in what players were available to us, how much more difficult is it now when clubs like Salford City can pay more than our third richest club is willing or able to pay.

In short ( you'll be pleased to hear ) I'm not saying its a case of shrugging your shoulders and saying what's the point? and I don't think anybody who agreed with my post is saying that either. Its accepting that there is always going to be tough times no matter what we do and sticking with the club through them … because that's the reality of following a club like Hibs, it always has been and it always will be.