Yogi Says He hasn't Spent Anything At Hibs....

[KerPlunk]

...can't be true, shoorely ? :confused:

From today's Hunday Mail :- (err....not my normal rag, honest)


We haven't spent any money at Hibs but I've a great rapport with chief Rod Petrie, says John Hughes

Feb 7 2010 Gordon Waddell, Sunday Mail

HE'S the most notorious money man in Scottish football, the guy who can drag blood from a stone then never use it for a transfusion.
Now Hibs boss John Hughes has lifted the lid on the powers of persuasion that have finally made chairman Rod Petrie prise the lid from the Easter Road biscuit tin.
The man with the iron moustache has become a legendary dealbroker after raking in more than £15 million from a golden generation of Hibees kids.
But previous bosses John Collins and Mixu Paatelainen discovered it was a one-way street when it came to bursting the budget.
Hughes, though, seems to be the first gaffer with the ability to make Petrie to think big and spend big.
Signings like Anthony Stokes and Liam Miller blew a huge hole in their wage ceiling while Alan Gow and Mark Brown also didn't come cheap.
But Yogi insisted: "Communication. It's all about communication.
"Even outwith business the chairman will come down here for a coffee and we'll talk for hours.
"Sometimes he ends up telling me to shut up because I'm asking so many questions about what has gone on with other deals.
"But we're building a rapport. I tell you one thing - he is a funny man. Trust me. His humour is great.
"I wouldn't play poker with him right enough. But he's good for me. The chairman is always testing you. He'll send you an email at 11.30pm - he's always working.
"That's why as a manager you need to manage up the way as well as down the way. The board have seen what we've done and I'd like to think if they were writing a report card it would say: Well done - could do better. Maybe! Which is better than I ever got at school! Has the chairman said no to me yet? Once or twice but he will put his view across telling me why and we've never fallen out.
"But as a manager you need to know the business.You must understand what's going to happen down the line.
"I've been in the game seven years and only spent 120 grand - all of it at Falkirk. Fifty went on Alan Gow after a tribunal, 40 on John Stewart and another 20 or so on Dean Holden.
"I haven't spent anything at Hibs. It has all been wheeling and dealing. :thumbsup: :faf:
"That's why we plan for miles in front of ourselves. We have our plans in place for the summer already."
Those plans are still dependent on what happens between now and then.
With a front-loaded squad that could bag Hibs the goals they need to split the Old Firm, Yogi knows the potential for something special is there.
His front line of Stokes, Derek Riordan and Colin Nish has been producing with Merouane Zemmama and Abdessalam Benjelloun assisting.
Throw Gow into the mix and Hughes almost has too many options ahead of the midweek game with Aberdeen.
But he laughed: "The famous five got mentioned - it would be great if we could get them all in the one team.
"I'd have to go back in history to see how that formation was played - all your inside forwards and the like.
"I'd love to think between now and the end of the season we could see that. It's great to have it at your disposal."

Wheeling and dealing, eh ? Tell us more, Yogi. :devil:

[ScottB]

Hmmm, sounds a little like they are trying to keep the 'Hibs are tight' stock story running to me!

Might not have spent any transfer fees, but we've still spent big.


I did enjoy 'The man with the iron moustache' though haha

[--------]

Hmmm, sounds a little like they are trying to keep the 'Hibs are tight' stock story running to me!

Might not have spent any transfer fees, but we've still spent big.


I did enjoy 'The man with the iron moustache' though haha



Sounds to me as if Yogi understands that a manager has to be able to justify proposed expenditure to the board who employ him.

Novel idea, that. :rolleyes:


Mind you, the picture of the Iron Mouser and Big John sitting drinking coffee and chewing the fat for hours....? The mind boggles. :devil:

[Part/Time Supporter]

Not that surprising, the only player that it was speculated may have cost a fee was Stokes, but the reports on that varied from free to as much as £800K! A little bit surprised that Sunderland would let him go for no fee. Perhaps they were just happy to get him off the wage bill / out of their club given the problems he had there.

Everyone else was out of contract (McBride, Cregg, Miller) or reported as being released to sign for Hibs (all three goalies).

[GhostofBolivar]

Not that surprising, the only player that it was speculated may have cost a fee was Stokes, but the reports on that varied from free to as much as £800K! A little bit surprised that Sunderland would let him go for no fee. Perhaps they were just happy to get him off the wage bill / out of their club given the problems he had there.

Everyone else was out of contract (McBride, Cregg, Miller) or reported as being released to sign for Hibs (all three goalies).

The Stokes fee was undisclosed. I assumed this was so that Sunderland wouldn't get embarrassed by how little we spent.

if Yogi's telling the truth - and I see no reason why he would lie - then I'm surprised there wasn't a nominal fee or performance related add-on for a 21 year-old with obvious talent.

[Phil D. Rolls]

Maybe we should send Rod to Vegas. :dunno:

[down-the-slope]

I think its a great insight...and pretty much as I had been led to beleive from other things...good working relationship and respect for each other

I had always said playing Poker with Rodders would be a fools game (wonder if Yogi picked that up reading on here :wink:)

The bit I would love to know are the couple of times Rodders has said no...wonder who it was for :rolleyes:

The thing that I see is those who have had the boat pushed out wages wise to get them here all have a sell on value......that will carry big weight with Rodders :agree:

[greenlex]

I think its a great insight...and pretty much as I had been led to beleive from other things...good working relationship and respect for each other

I had always said playing Poker with Rodders would be a fools game (wonder if Yogi picked that up reading on here :wink:)

The bit I would love to know are the couple of times Rodders has said no...wonder who it was for :rolleyes:

The thing that I see is those who have had the boat pushed out wages wise to get them here all have a sell on value......that will carry big weight with Rodders :agree:
Keeping Bamba past the Summer and a better deal for Murray.

[sixtwo]

I suspect he is taking into count the fees received from Jones and Fletcher. If you consider the fact we received c£4m for those two, we stil made a profit after we bought stokes, and increased the wage bill to accomodate the other new signings!

Rod probably said no to Barr because even he could see that he is a huddy and will have no sell on value as he only looks ok in a very poor Falkirk team!:greengrin

[euro Hibby]

my guess is the no was for Arfield and also possibly Barr who we don't really need !

[Reaper]

I think RP and Lindsay deserve alot of credit for what they've done. I don't blame them for not giving Mixu and JC money to spend in hindsight but at the time it was RP that appointed both.

The good thing from RP point of view was that Yogi won't bull**** him, he is realistic about budgets having had nothing to spend at Fakirk and he was a proven manager at this level.

All round a great bit of business and the awareness that Yogi and Co have shown to get in the likes of Liam Miller, when, you would assume that other managers weren't aware of that kind of quality in the free market, is nothing short of a masterstroke.

:thumbsup:

[BEEJ]

"I haven't spent anything at Hibs. It has all been wheeling and dealing."

Now that is interesting, since the world and it's auntie believed that the one player Hibs paid a fee for was Stokes.

Maybe we've agreed to pay Sunderland a pre-determined fee when Stokes eventually moves on from us?

[KerPlunk]

Whilst we're all feeling warm & cuddly towards Tacheman & Yogi on this thread, just thought I'd disinter this little nugget of an article from the odious Keith Jackshun of all people -


The Moustache With The Cash

Jan 23 2008 Keith Jackson

ROD PETRIE is not everyone's cup of Tetley. And I'm almost certainly not his.
But Scottish football owes this little man and his iron mouser a great debt. This January it's rising by the day.
Before the month is out the value of Scottish players is likely to have soared to an all-time high.
And Petrie's fingerprints will be all over the launch button.
He's intransigent, awkward, stubborn and at times, according to those with whom he does his business, almost impossible to deal with.
From a media point of view the man is a nightmare given his reluctance to co-operate or even come to the phone.
He runs his football club like a recluse. A modern-day prospector.
But there really is gold in them there hills and even though Petrie might not be found halfway up Arthur's Seat wearing tatty denim dungarees and fingering through nuggets in his sieve, he has shown all of Scotland the way to get rich quick.
This time 12 months ago Petrie began a one-man crusade to drive up the value of emerging Scottish talent.
There were those of us - yes, hands up, myself included - who could make no sense of it.
In fact his indignant refusal to line the nest at Easter Road with the first decent offers he received for the likes of Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown seemed downright absurd.
On the final day of last season's January transfer window Petrie stuck firmly to his guns and turned down an offer worth around £5million from Rangers for both midfielders. It seemed to many like an act of madness.
In fact it was actually a stroke of genius.
Thomson was allowed to leave for £2m. Brown stayed just long enough to lift the CIS Cup before Celtic were spooked into laying out some £4.5m for his services alone.
And, all of sudden, Petrie had successfully and single-handedly forced Scottish football out of the poor house and into the 21st century.
Be in no doubt, his hard-nosed approach has not only safeguarded the medium to long-term future of his own club - it also raised the ante right across the board.
If he was raking in a standard £2m fee for his players then why, for example, should Kilmarnock settle for less.
Rangers want Steven Naismith? Then it's £2m or no deal. And so £2m it was.
Not great news for David Murray, perhaps, but terrific business for a provincial club that had previously allowed itself to be squeezed too hard too often when the big boys came calling.
In between times, of course, a Scottish transfer record was set when keeper Craig Gordon left Hearts for a fee of £9m and joined Sunderland.
Like Petrie before him, Vladimir Romanov was bold enough to hold out until the price was right. He now wants almost £4m for Andrius Velicka.
Yep, no longer is Scottish football prepared to bend over obediently and gratefully.
And the big hits just keep on coming. Birmingham want David Murphy?
Tere was hardly any point in slapping a £1.5m offer on Petrie's desk. Of all people, Alex McLeish should have known the going rate. Just for his cheek let's make it £2.5m.
Honestly,it must be like walking into the Dragon's Den when you're after one of Petrie's players but the spin-offs are massive and all inclusive - and even the Old Firm are benefiting.
They may have been snarling at Petrie when they wanted to raid his dressing room and found him wedging himself across the door but, in fact, they really ought to be thanking him for putting millions on the price of their own top-team stars.
This time last year Alan Hutton wouldn't have raised £900,000 in a car boot sale. Now he's just one last good talking to from Murray away from becoming a Spurs player for £9m or possibly even £10m.
Daniel Cousin cost £700,000 in August. In six months his value in the market has soared by £2.3m.
By this morning his £3m fee will have taken the total spending of Premiership clubs in the January sales to almost £100m.
And when Artur Boruc decides his time is up in Glasgow he is unlikely to leave Parkhead for anything under £12m - perhaps even a great deal more.
Yes, these are heady days for the number crunchers who owe it all to one-time accountant Petrie, perhaps the most unlikely hero in the history of the Scottish game. Sure, he might be tighter than a dead heat with a miserly attitude towards his managers.
But hey, would you trust John Collins with your millions? Nope, me neither.
Perhaps Mixu Paatelainen will enjoy better fortune. Perhaps not.
One thing, however, is certain. After many years of price freezing Scottish football is finally thawing out this winter and catching up with inflation. Thank Rod for that.


:thumbsup: