Calderwood takes Agogo on trial (merged)

[H18sry]

Evening news alert :wink: http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/Hibs-It39s-Green-for-Agogo.6802037.jp

[R'Albin]

Evening news alert :wink:

Who!?

[H18sry]

Who!?

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/latestsport nowt on there web site yet but keep checking should be up soon :wink:

[R'Albin]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/latestsport nowt on there web site yet but keep checking should be up soon :wink:

I will be:wink:

[Broken Gnome]

Junior Agogo.

[Stevie Reid]

Junior Agogo.

Sounds right - Ghanian, available on a free, and has played under CC at Forest.

[EskbankHibby]

Junior Agogo.

:agree:, known as Einstein to his pals.

[Hibs7]

Sounds right - Ghanian, available on a free, and has played under CC at Forest.

What does this mean with Sheridan then ?

[Stevie Reid]

What does this mean with Sheridan then ?

Dunno, could do with another two strikers anyway. As well keeping our options open, regardless of whether we are likely to sign Sheridan or not - we may well end up with both.

[Broken Gnome]

Article says Sheridan is still a possibility, with his agent aware of Hibs' wage offerings.

Agogo signed for Zamalek for over half a million from Forest, fell out with them, ended up in Cyrpus where Limassol ditched him after a serious knee injury. Disruptive and injury prone. Welcome sir :greengrin

(That said, if he has scored goals at Championship/League One level in England, you'd suspect he'd be capable of 10-12 goals in the SPL).

[R'Albin]

Junior Agogo.

Anybody know much about him ?

[Stevie Reid]

Article says Sheridan is still a possibility, with his agent aware of Hibs' wage offerings.

Agogo signed for Zamalek for over half a million from Forest, fell out with them, ended up in Cyrpus where Limassol ditched him after a serious knee injury. Disruptive and injury prone. Welcome sir :greengrin

(That said, if he has scored goals at Championship/League One level in England, you'd suspect he'd be capable of 10-12 goals in the SPL).

Pretty good numbers right throughout his career, good ratio at international level too, in Ghana's most prominent era: -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Agogo

Would definitely take him at ER.

[IWasThere2016]

Article says Sheridan is still a possibility, with his agent aware of Hibs' wage offerings.

Agogo signed for Zamalek for over half a million from Forest, fell out with them, ended up in Cyrpus where Limassol ditched him after a serious knee injury. Disruptive and injury prone. Welcome sir :greengrin

(That said, if he has scored goals at Championship/League One level in England, you'd suspect he'd be capable of 10-12 goals in the SPL).

Many clubs agogo ..

1997–2000 Sheffield Wednesday 2 (0)
1999 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 2 (0)
1999 → Chester City (loan) 10 (6)
1999 → Chesterfield (loan) 4 (0)
1999–2000 → Lincoln City (loan) 3 (1)
2000 Chicago Fire 1 (0)
2000–2001 Colorado Rapids 32 (11)
2001 San Jose Earthquakes 14 (4)
2002 Queens Park Rangers 2 (0)
2002–2003 Barnet 39 (19)
2003–2006 Bristol Rovers 126 (41)
2006–2008 Nottingham Forest 64 (20)
2008–2009 Zamalek SC 15 (4)
2009– Apollon Limassol 24 (6)

[Mark79]

He's had more clubs than MAC

[Wheat Hound]

A former St Auggies pupil too!!!!!

[Gettin' Auld]

Junior Agogo.

:agree:, known as Einstein to his pals.
:tee hee: :top marks

[IanM]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/Hibs-It39s-Green-for-Agogo.6802037.jp

agogogogogogogogogogo

[delbert]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

[Scouse Hibee]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

We are doomed I tell you.................doomed!:faf:

[R'Albin]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

:hilarious

[Hank Schrader]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

I'm fair depressed after reading that. I'm away to jump off this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/content/images/2007/04/17/beachy_head_330_330x330.jpg).

[Lucius Apuleius]

What has happened to that suicide smiley?

[.Whitey.]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.


Doom And Gloomer ALERT!

These rants are getting boring - there should be a seperate thread for all these people to have a moan. it is making hibs.net a sad place to visit

As for Junior Agogo - i would be a happy clapper if he signed :agree:

[Speedway]

Remember him as a stocky fella, a real sort of fat Eddie Murphy type.

Decent returns at the clubs and level he's played at though, especially internationally. We could do worse.

[allezsauzee]

Is he related to Hugo?

[Feed McGraw]

I can hear it now, cascading down from the singing section - "Wake us up, Junior Agogo"........and then WHAM ! Junior`s slammed it in the back of the net.

Yeah, I know, sorry. Where is that darn coat ? :greengrin

[Wellbankhibby]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

YOU ARE 100% Correct There is No Place for ANYONE at Easter Road who is not Committed to the Club. I dont see why the board are hanging about. Forget compensation if we have a very poor start the club revenue is much much smaller in the first division, and Im afraid thats where we will end up. GET IT SORTED NOW.

[bawheid]

YOU ARE 100% Correct There is No Place for ANYONE at Easter Road who is not Committed to the Club. I dont see why the board are hanging about. Forget compensation if we have a very poor start the club revenue is much much smaller in the first division, and Im afraid thats where we will end up. GET IT SORTED NOW.

Oh look, here's another one.

:rolleyes:

[Mibbes Aye]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.


YOU ARE 100% Correct There is No Place for ANYONE at Easter Road who is not Committed to the Club. I dont see why the board are hanging about. Forget compensation if we have a very poor start the club revenue is much much smaller in the first division, and Im afraid thats where we will end up. GET IT SORTED NOW.

I'm not sure it's fair to tell Delbert to get it sorted, he's just as upset as you are :agree:

[Speedway]

Errr....RAGING....ermmmm.PETRIE....errrrmmmm.WHY IS EVERYBODY SHOUTING!!!!!.....Junior Agogo? He can agogo and GTF!!!!


PETRIE!!!!!

[R'Albin]

I
So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.


YOU ARE 100% Correct There is No Place for ANYONE at Easter Road who is not Committed to the Club. I dont see why the board are hanging about. Forget compensation if we have a very poor start the club revenue is much much smaller in the first division, and Im afraid thats where we will end up. GET IT SORTED NOW.

Anybody think this might be the same poster under different usernames?

[Mibbes Aye]

Remember him as a stocky fella, a real sort of fat Eddie Murphy type.

Decent returns at the clubs and level he's played at though, especially internationally. We could do worse.

Looks like he averages a goal per three games, and that's reflected in his record at the clubs where he played most often.

That's a reasonable return to work with. The other aspect is if he is one of those players who make life hard for defenders, he could have a potentially very big impact first season as oppositions struggle to get used to him. Given players don't stay long anyway, he could be a productive short-term acquisition.

[Franck is God]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

I'm so glad there are people like you out there, to be able to look at our squad and break it down so easily is a skill that you should be proud of.

I mean we only have a couple of the best keepers in Scotland.

And in Taggart, Stephens, Hanlon & Booth we have four talented young players with huge potential and in no way remenicent of when Mowbray arrived and we had Whittaker, Caldwell, Murray & Murphy, and then when you add the experience of Hart, O'Hanlon & Murray and the fact Palsson & Stevenson can cover defensively you're right we are very short.

But take a look at the midfield, we only have Palsson, Thornhill, Wotherspoon, Stevenson, De Graff, Scott, Welsh, Horner, Galbraith, Sproule & Crawford, thats only eleven players, I should stop before I panic too much.

Up front we only have O'Connor & Sodje signed and Sheridan & Agogo on trial with more than a week to go before the start of the season and six weeks until the transfer window closes.

I think if we don't score in the opening three minutes tomorrow and then go on and win by at least eight goals as a support we should all collectively walk out as a protest because surely failure to meet those minimal expectations is a sign of how the season is likely to go.

[Mibbes Aye]

If he's a free agent does that mean we can cadge Agogo?

[...WentToMowAnSPL]

If he's a free agent does that mean we can cadge Agogo?

:-)) lol !

[SneakersO'Toole]

But take a look at the midfield, we only have Palsson, Thornhill, Wotherspoon, Stevenson, De Graff, Scott, Welsh, Horner, Galbraith, Sproule & Crawford, thats only eleven players, I should stop before I panic too much.

With the exception of Thornhill and Sproule, every other midfielder player you mentioned have it all to prove IMO.

I think its a poor midfield with the potential to get better if certain players step to the mark. Past games have proved that may not happen, i.e. De Graff, Wotherspoon, Scott, Galbraith

Our midfield lacks a leader to solidify that area and guide/develop youngsters though games. Liam Miller should have been that player but wasn't.

Unfortauntely I worry for our midfield this season unless we rectify the above. I can see it being over-run by more experienced players within our rival teams.

[alfie]

Errr....RAGING....ermmmm.PETRIE....errrrmmmm.WHY IS EVERYBODY SHOUTING!!!!!.....Junior Agogo? He can agogo and GTF!!!!


PETRIE!!!!!

:faf: :top marks

[alfie]

With the exception of Thornhill and Sproule, every other midfielder player you mentioned have it all to prove IMO.
I think its a poor midfield with the potential to get better if certain players step to the mark. Past games have proved that may not happen, i.e. De Graff, Wotherspoon, Scott, Galbraith

Our midfield lacks a leader to solidify that area and guide/develop youngsters though games. Liam Miller should have been that player but wasn't.

Unfortauntely I worry for our midfield this season unless we rectify the above. I can see it being over-run by more experienced players within our rival teams.

Are you referring to the elusive Matty Jack role? :wink:

[silverhibee]

Article says Sheridan is still a possibility, with his agent aware of Hibs' wage offerings.

Agogo signed for Zamalek for over half a million from Forest, fell out with them, ended up in Cyrpus where Limassol ditched him after a serious knee injury. Disruptive and injury prone. Welcome sir :greengrin

(That said, if he has scored goals at Championship/League One level in England, you'd suspect he'd be capable of 10-12 goals in the SPL).


Some on here deem that not to be good enough for Hibs. :wink:

[Disc O'Dave]

If he's a free agent does that mean we can cadge Agogo?

He might come in handy if we ever get two shy's in a game. (not that we have ever been able to take a throw in since I've been watching)

[Broken Gnome]

Some on here deem that not to be good enough for Hibs. :wink:

It's all relative :greengrin

[SneakersO'Toole]

Are you referring to the elusive Matty Jack role? :wink:

Palsson may develop into a similar mould of the above player if he realises his potential, although I have doubts over his temperament

IMO, it doesn't need to a bruiser like Jack. For me, its needs to be somone with a footballing brain. Someone vocal who can coach others around him, dictate play both on and off the ball.

Obviously these guys are cheap and as much as I hate to say it, Hartley when he was at Hearts would be the perfect solution. As I said, I genuinely thought Liam Miller would be that player but ultimately it just never happened.

[Franck is God]

Unfortauntely I worry for our midfield this season unless we rectify the above. I can see it being over-run by more experienced players within our rival teams.

Like who? seriously who, take Rangers & Sellick out the pitcure which team in the SPL has a quality experienced midfield?

Dundee United have lost Conway, Robertson, Gomis & Prince Bauben from their midfield and replaced them with Willo Flood & John Rankin. They will most likely lose Goodwillie & Kenneth before the end of the window so they'll be relying on youth.

Hearts have signed a few players and if they don't lose any then they could argue are as strong as last season but probably not stronger.

Aberdeen have no money, will be relying on youth, Motherwell are the same so who are in the midfields that will over run us?

[bighairyfaeleith]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.

:wtf:

[CapitalHibs]

Palsson may develop into a similar mould of the above player if he realises his potential, although I have doubts over his temperament

IMO, it doesn't need to a bruiser like Jack. For me, its needs to be somone with a footballing brain. Someone vocal who can coach others around him, dictate play both on and off the ball.

Obviously these guys are cheap and as much as I hate to say it, Hartley when he was at Hearts would be the perfect solution. As I said, I genuinely thought Liam Miller would be that player but ultimately it just never happened.

Thornhill?

[bawheid]

I think its a poor midfield with the potential to get better if certain players step to the mark. Past games have proved that may not happen, i.e. De Graff, Wotherspoon, Scott, Galbraith


:hmmm:

[Broken Gnome]

Like who? seriously who, take Rangers & Sellick out the pitcure which team in the SPL has a quality experienced midfield?

Dundee United have lost Conway, Robertson, Gomis & Prince Bauben from their midfield and replaced them with Willo Flood & John Rankin. They will most likely lose Goodwillie & Kenneth before the end of the window so they'll be relying on youth.

Hearts have signed a few players and if they don't lose any then they could argue are as strong as last season but probably not stronger.

Aberdeen have no money, will be relying on youth, Motherwell are the same so who are in the midfields that will over run us?

The midfield criticism is probably the most justified of any. It was woefully uncreative last year and was posted missing frequently (against bottom six sides no less), and it's not been improved by any new personnel (bar Sproule, but he's not exactly a player that can be a midfield lynchpin). People are quite rightly sceptical of relying on the same players to put in much better performances.

That said, there is a chance Palsson and Thornhill, in particular, can really step up and drive the team on. Just because of the number of midfielders we can rattle off doesn't mean it's that a healthy situation though, nor does pointing out other teams supposed weaknesses. The midfield as it stands is a bit of a gamble, and with Miller leaving (regardless of whether he was pish or not) we were entitled to hope that we could strengthen the centre of the team. A person's £400 isn't spent on based how bad other sides may be, it's how promising or attractive Hibs themselves look. It seems an awful lot seems to be placed on how effective a fit Matt Thornhill will be.

[Callum_62]

Thornhill?

:agree:

[SneakersO'Toole]

Like who? seriously who, take Rangers & Sellick out the pitcure which team in the SPL has a quality experienced midfield?

Dundee United have lost Conway, Robertson, Gomis & Prince Bauben from their midfield and replaced them with Willo Flood & John Rankin. They will most likely lose Goodwillie & Kenneth before the end of the window so they'll be relying on youth.

Hearts have signed a few players and if they don't lose any then they could argue are as strong as last season but probably not stronger.

Aberdeen have no money, will be relying on youth, Motherwell are the same so who are in the midfields that will over run us?


Hearts are stronger this season. No question.

Motherwell have Murphy, Humphrey, Hateley, Jennings, Forbes. All decent players with a good mixture of potential and experience. A better midfield than ours IMO.

Dundee Utd granted have been weakened. Flood is good capture but they will feel the loss of the 4 you mentioned. They also still have Robertson and Swanson don't forget.

Aberdeen are gash. Clark is a decent signing for them who has already proved he can cut it in the SPL and they still have Aluko and Fyvie who are dangerous.

IMO, what makes our midfield vunerable is that our players have yet to prove they can cut it in the SPL. In most cases they have had their chance and not taken it. Taking away the likes of Horner and Crawford, players like Galbraith/Wotherspoon/Scott/De Graff/Stevenson have not impressed me and don't fill me with confidence.

The players that I have mentioned above for our rival teams IMO have proved (some more than others) they have want it takes in the SPL. That is the difference.

There is no denying that most if not all teams will rely on youth, I'm not arguing against that. But what we lack is someone in the midfield who can help our youngsters be better players. Sproule has the experience but is not up to the task IMO. Thornhill possibly but he is only 22 - a lot to ask of someone that age.

[easty]

He might come in handy if we ever get two shy's in a game. (not that we have ever been able to take a throw in since I've been watching)

:agree:. Thats's what I was thinking, we obviously see "eye to eye".

[KeithTheHibby]

Hearts are stronger this season. No question.

Motherwell have Murphy, Humphrey, Hateley, Jennings, Forbes. All decent players with a good mixture of potential and experience. A better midfield than ours IMO.

Dundee Utd granted have been weakened. Flood is good capture but they will feel the loss of the 4 you mentioned. They also still have Robertson and Swanson don't forget.

Aberdeen are gash. Clark is a decent signing for them who has already proved he can cut it in the SPL and they still have Aluko and Fyvie who are dangerous.

IMO, what makes our midfield vunerable is that our players have yet to prove they can cut it in the SPL. In most cases they have had their chance and not taken it. Taking away the likes of Horner and Crawford, players like Galbraith/Wotherspoon/Scott/De Graff/Stevenson have not impressed me and don't fill me with confidence.

The players that I have mentioned above for our rival teams IMO have proved (some more than others) they have want it takes in the SPL. That is the difference.

There is no denying that most if not all teams will rely on youth, I'm not arguing against that. But what we lack is someone in the midfield who can help our youngsters be better players. Sproule has the experience but is not up to the task IMO. Thornhill possibly but he is only 22 - a lot to ask of someone that age.

The grunts have signed decent SPL players but have also lost a couple i.e. Bouzid and Palazeulos who were mainstays in the team that finished third.

There is no guarantee that they will hold onto Wallace and Skacel either.

[surreyhibbie]

Oh look, here's another one.

:rolleyes:

...or maybe the same one? :wink:

Oops! just realised someone else thinks the same...

[SneakersO'Toole]

The grunts have signed decent SPL players but have also lost a couple i.e. Bouzid and Palazeulos who were mainstays in the team that finished third.

There is no guarantee that they will hold onto Wallace and Skacel either.

Not that I want to stand up for the tramps but,

Sutton - better than Kyle

Taouil gives them something that they didn't have.

Bouzid was never going to play when they signed Webster.

Hamill provides great versatality.

Definitely stronger IMO, as much as I hate to say it.

[silverhibee]

The midfield criticism is probably the most justified of any. It was woefully uncreative last year and was posted missing frequently (against bottom six sides no less), and it's not been improved by any new personnel (bar Sproule, but he's not exactly a player that can be a midfield lynchpin). People are quite rightly sceptical of relying on the same players to put in much better performances.

That said, there is a chance Palsson and Thornhill, in particular, can really step up and drive the team on. Just because of the number of midfielders we can rattle off doesn't mean it's that a healthy situation though, nor does pointing out other teams supposed weaknesses. The midfield as it stands is a bit of a gamble, and with Miller leaving (regardless of whether he was pish or not) we were entitled to hope that we could strengthen the centre of the team. A person's £400 isn't spent on based how bad other sides may be, it's how promising or attractive Hibs themselves look. It seems an awful lot seems to be placed on how effective a fit Matt Thornhill will be.


:agree:

Of what i have seen and been told Thornhill will be a big player for Hibs next season, looks very good with the ball good passer of it as well, will feed our striker upfront with good deliveries, the big worry is his fitness, if he gets injured and wee dont have an experinced replacement to cover for him then wee will struggle in the middle of the park, i am sorry but have to disagree with Frank is god Hibs cant rely on youngsters to get us through a very tough season ahead.

[SneakersO'Toole]

:agree:

Of what i have seen and been told Thornhill will be a big player for Hibs next season, looks very good with the ball good passer of it as well, will feed our striker upfront with good deliveries, the big worry is his fitness, if he gets injured and wee dont have an experinced replacement to cover for him then wee will struggle in the middle of the park, i am sorry but have to disagree with Frank is god Hibs cant rely on youngsters to get us through a very tough season ahead.

Agree.

The same can be said of O'Connor. If we rely on him considering his injury record the last few years we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

Hopefully the signing of Sheridan will ease this problem.

[Franck is God]

Hearts are stronger this season. No question.

Motherwell have Murphy, Humphrey, Hateley, Jennings, Forbes. All decent players with a good mixture of potential and experience. A better midfield than ours IMO.

Dundee Utd granted have been weakened. Flood is good capture but they will feel the loss of the 4 you mentioned. They also still have Robertson and Swanson don't forget.

Aberdeen are gash. Clark is a decent signing for them who has already proved he can cut it in the SPL and they still have Aluko and Fyvie who are dangerous.



Murphy and Humphrey are forwards although Humphrey is more of a winger, Hateley plays at full back and struggled to get into the starting line up at the end of last season, I do quite like Jennings and Forbes though but would fall into the hard working category rather than the top quality one

I like Scott Robertson at Dundee Utd but he has has terrible injury problems, Swanson is definitely a game winner but has also had injury problems and like any player of his style is inconsistent.

As for our midfield. I like Palsson, he has everything a modern midfielder needs, height, build and pace. He wins the ball well and has a good range of passing and can cover a variety of positions. Thornhill I rated the first time I saw him play, his movement is excellent and he has vision for those around him. I think Wotherspoon could be a cracking player for us, reminds me a lot of Scott Brown when he first broke into the side.

The likes of DeGraaf, Stevenson, Scott and the youngsters are back up next season, they won't form a midfield they will come in one at a time which will weaken a bit but not totally.

[Franck is God]

:agree:

Of what i have seen and been told Thornhill will be a big player for Hibs next season, looks very good with the ball good passer of it as well, will feed our striker upfront with good deliveries, the big worry is his fitness, if he gets injured and wee dont have an experinced replacement to cover for him then wee will struggle in the middle of the park, i am sorry but have to disagree with Frank is god Hibs cant rely on youngsters to get us through a very tough season ahead.

Probably the best seasons I have seen as a Hibs fan is when we have relied on youngsters.

[RIP]

So with one recognised first choice striker signed, and with one week to the start of the SPL season, CC finally remembers that he has a REMOVED, NEXT TIME THE WHOLE POST WILL GO job to do, woopy doo! As things stand just now we are still 4 or 5 players short, lacking in midfield, and one centre half signed to shore up a powder puff defence. 2 years on still no right back (Michael Hart does'nt count because he is'nt interested in playing for Hibs and is utterly rank). Possibly the most under prepared and utterly shambolic start to a season for Hibs in the histrory of the SPL, and things went so well last season, did'nt they? Roll on a manager who is actually interested in our club, his position is untenable and because of it we will suffer big style unless he goes.


YOU ARE 100% Correct There is No Place for ANYONE at Easter Road who is not Committed to the Club. I dont see why the board are hanging about. Forget compensation if we have a very poor start the club revenue is much much smaller in the first division, and Im afraid thats where we will end up. GET IT SORTED NOW.

4 to 5 players :faf: That would be 13 new players in 7 months.

Why don't we sign 20 new players every year on a one-year contract?

Don't ever play Football Manager lads :rolleyes:

[delbert]

Yeh, thought I would probably ruffle a few feathers, the doom and gloom posts were as predictable as night follows day, so lets take another wee look, shall we?

First of all a correction, I said one recognised striker signed, meant to say available, with the injury to Sodje which unfortunately sounds like a bad one, paper today says 6 weeks out, and yes we would be in a better place if we had Gary and Akpo in a position to start the season, would have been good to see how they played together.

One previous poster rhymed off 11 players in our midfield for the coming season, most of whom got a chance last season in a midfield which was constantly dominated and more worrying, out worked by teams who we would have expected to beat, Hamilton being one of them. Individually some good players in there, but can you really point to many games last season where our midfield really clicked, really took the game for 90 minutes to our opponents, its going to be a short list.
Still think we are missing a playmaker but I will be happy to be proved wrong.

Defensively I still think we have problems in the full back department, we are expecting a lot from Booth, who is going to be a star no doubt, but he is still a very young player. Right back we should be used to, because now that we have lost Towell, we are back to nobody of any consequence in that position, something which Hughes apparently never noticed, am I really the only person out there who thinks that quite simply, we need to go out and sign a right back??

Last year we were told on numerous ocassions that our preparation for the upcoming season had been meticulous, we were better prepared than ever, ready to hit the ground running etc. We all know what happened, and when CC came in we hoped for better, but apart from a 5 week spell which quite literally saved our whole season, did it improve? I really hoped that over the summer CC would have been able to put his mark on this seasons side, he got rid of much of the dross thankfully, but because he has clearly been pre-occupied with other matters away from our club, which is unforgiveable, I simply pointed out that our preparation has in my opinion, been compromised, and I feel we are under prepared.

Please feel free to come on here and rip me a new one if we take 3 off Celtc on the opening day, I for one would love that situation to happen, and if we get Sheridan, Agogo, a playmaker and a right back in by the start of August I will be a lot more confident. Oh and I stand by what I said earlier, CC out and a manager who wants to actually be the Hibs manager in !!

[Dashing Bob S]

Not that I want to stand up for the tramps but,

Sutton - better than Kyle

Taouil gives them something that they didn't have.

Bouzid was never going to play when they signed Webster.

Hamill provides great versatality.


Definitely stronger IMO, as much as I hate to say it.

The big question for Hearts though, is will they be able to keep all their players away from the school gates?

(Fast becoming our George Street.)

[Disc O'Dave]

:agree:. Thats's what I was thinking, we obviously see "eye to eye".

Might want to keep that a bit "hush-hush" though....

[frazeHFC]

Heard of him, but i know nothing of him.

[E10 Rifle]

Would be a potentially really good signing if we could get him. I would rate him as a better player than Sodje going on his form down here...that's if he's over his injury.

Very highly rated and dangerous striker when at Bristol Rovers and at Forest, only thing at Forest was that Calderwood bought so many forwards from all the other teams in his bid to get promoted that he just had to wait in the pecking order.

Definitely worth a shot.

[Hibiza]

Hugo agogo. happy days.

[MyJo]

:agree:

Of what i have seen and been told Thornhill will be a big player for Hibs next season, looks very good with the ball good passer of it as well, will feed our striker upfront with good deliveries, the big worry is his fitness, if he gets injured and wee dont have an experinced replacement to cover for him then wee will struggle in the middle of the park, i am sorry but have to disagree with Frank is god Hibs cant rely on youngsters to get us through a very tough season ahead.

The position we're in at the moment the best thing we could probably do is to take it on the chin and actually give these youngsters a chance in the next couple of years. What sort of state would we be in if, when Tony Mowbray took over, we decided that its going to be a tough couple of years so we couldn't rely on our young talent to produce the goods so bought in run-of-the-mill, cheap players with a little bit more experience and left the likes of Riordan, Brown and Whittaker on the bench or in the stands :dunno:

If we're going to develop first team quality players through our youth ranks then they need to be given the chance to experience the first team and the manager and, we the fans, have to have confidence in them (and a little bit of patience if they do happen to make a mistake) to do the job they are being asked.

If this is the case then come season 2013/14 we could have the "golden generation" mk2 with Hanlon, Stephens, Booth, Antell, Taggart, Smith, Crawford, Galbraith, Wotherspoon all under the age of 24 with at least 2 or 3 seasons of SPL football under thier belt.

[persevere1875]

Id just like to ask Junior if he can have a word with all his Ghanaian mates who keep asking me by email if I'll help with the transfer of £14.6 million dollars to do one cause there starting to get right on my thruppneys, if there's that much spare wealth in the country, why would you want to bother playing football for a living :aok:

[Franck is God]

The position we're in at the moment the best thing we could probably do is to take it on the chin and actually give these youngsters a chance in the next couple of years. What sort of state would we be in if, when Tony Mowbray took over, we decided that its going to be a tough couple of years so we couldn't rely on our young talent to produce the goods so bought in run-of-the-mill, cheap players with a little bit more experience and left the likes of Riordan, Brown and Whittaker on the bench or in the stands :dunno:

If we're going to develop first team quality players through our youth ranks then they need to be given the chance to experience the first team and the manager and, we the fans, have to have confidence in them (and a little bit of patience if they do happen to make a mistake) to do the job they are being asked.

If this is the case then come season 2013/14 we could have the "golden generation" mk2 with Hanlon, Stephens, Booth, Antell, Taggart, Smith, Crawford, Galbraith, Wotherspoon all under the age of 24 with at least 2 or 3 seasons of SPL football under thier belt.

This is the view that I am taking and have been since the end of last season, nobody has had anything but good things to say about our new young squad members from their performances in the friendlies so far.

We won't know if we have a new Kevin Thomson, Scott Brown or Steven Whittaker until they get a chance in the SPL. KT got his chance by fluke as his performances in the reserves didn't merit his inclusion, Brown got his debut as a striker and Whittaker first played in left midfield, Mowbray made him into a right back.

Any one or more of Horner, Welsh, Taggart, Crawford, Booth, Hanlon could end up being far better players for us but they need the chance to play and the support from the stands to be able to have a few bad games along the way.

[CMcP]

The position we're in at the moment the best thing we could probably do is to take it on the chin and actually give these youngsters a chance in the next couple of years. What sort of state would we be in if, when Tony Mowbray took over, we decided that its going to be a tough couple of years so we couldn't rely on our young talent to produce the goods so bought in run-of-the-mill, cheap players with a little bit more experience and left the likes of Riordan, Brown and Whittaker on the bench or in the stands :dunno:

If we're going to develop first team quality players through our youth ranks then they need to be given the chance to experience the first team and the manager and, we the fans, have to have confidence in them (and a little bit of patience if they do happen to make a mistake) to do the job they are being asked.

If this is the case then come season 2013/14 we could have the "golden generation" mk2 with Hanlon, Stephens, Booth, Antell, Taggart, Smith, Crawford, Galbraith, Wotherspoon all under the age of 24 with at least 2 or 3 seasons of SPL football under thier belt.

:agree::top marks

[frazeHFC]

Horner and Crawford have been great, and i will be very disappointed if they do not feature next season. Not saying shove them straight in, i mean bring them into the first team gradually.

[MCC Hibs]

What will Batfink if he signs!

[matty_f]

The position we're in at the moment the best thing we could probably do is to take it on the chin and actually give these youngsters a chance in the next couple of years. What sort of state would we be in if, when Tony Mowbray took over, we decided that its going to be a tough couple of years so we couldn't rely on our young talent to produce the goods so bought in run-of-the-mill, cheap players with a little bit more experience and left the likes of Riordan, Brown and Whittaker on the bench or in the stands :dunno:

If we're going to develop first team quality players through our youth ranks then they need to be given the chance to experience the first team and the manager and, we the fans, have to have confidence in them (and a little bit of patience if they do happen to make a mistake) to do the job they are being asked.

If this is the case then come season 2013/14 we could have the "golden generation" mk2 with Hanlon, Stephens, Booth, Antell, Taggart, Smith, Crawford, Galbraith, Wotherspoon all under the age of 24 with at least 2 or 3 seasons of SPL football under thier belt.


This is the view that I am taking and have been since the end of last season, nobody has had anything but good things to say about our new young squad members from their performances in the friendlies so far.

We won't know if we have a new Kevin Thomson, Scott Brown or Steven Whittaker until they get a chance in the SPL. KT got his chance by fluke as his performances in the reserves didn't merit his inclusion, Brown got his debut as a striker and Whittaker first played in left midfield, Mowbray made him into a right back.

Any one or more of Horner, Welsh, Taggart, Crawford, Booth, Hanlon could end up being far better players for us but they need the chance to play and the support from the stands to be able to have a few bad games along the way.

Absolutely - the only way we're going to continue to produce good talent is by giving them the stage to shine on.

Calderwood has improved the squad, IMHO, and I'm hugely encouraged by his willingness to bleed youth into the first team as well. The key thing is getting the right mix of youth and experience, and also ensuring that whichever end of their careers they are, that they're first and foremost good enough to play.

[Mon Dieu4]

The position we're in at the moment the best thing we could probably do is to take it on the chin and actually give these youngsters a chance in the next couple of years. What sort of state would we be in if, when Tony Mowbray took over, we decided that its going to be a tough couple of years so we couldn't rely on our young talent to produce the goods so bought in run-of-the-mill, cheap players with a little bit more experience and left the likes of Riordan, Brown and Whittaker on the bench or in the stands :dunno:

If we're going to develop first team quality players through our youth ranks then they need to be given the chance to experience the first team and the manager and, we the fans, have to have confidence in them (and a little bit of patience if they do happen to make a mistake) to do the job they are being asked.

If this is the case then come season 2013/14 we could have the "golden generation" mk2 with Hanlon, Stephens, Booth, Antell, Taggart, Smith, Crawford, Galbraith, Wotherspoon all under the age of 24 with at least 2 or 3 seasons of SPL football under thier belt.

I agree with alot you say there, but that was a different time when there were major cost cuttings going on, Mowbray never really had an option but to play all these players and for once it turned out well.

We no doubt have a few decent ones coming through again, but to take the chance on lightening striking twice is a big gamble in my opinion, I would be happy for 2-3 of the youngsters a year to be blooded unless they are truly execptional.

As Matty says we need to find a blend between youth and experience and at this moment in time and for the last few seasons we have been crying out for it, Hibs have more money now probably than ever before, especially now the likes of Miller, Deek etc are off the wage bill.

Garry O is a good start as an experienced player I would be looking for, but I would also be looking for a couple more, imagine the golden generation as you put it with a Sauzee or Latapy thrown in to help them (Not that we will get someone of that ilk again).

I still think it's a big ask to rely on untested players.

[hibsbollah]

If he signs, we could literally have a new player on our hands.

[since90plustwo]

Not seen this anywhere on here but we have the lad on trial. another big brusier of a striker.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12876_7038326,00.html

[ancient hibee]

If there's one thing that sums up CC for me it's that he got Booth into the team at the first opportunity.

[FranckSuzy]

The big question for Hearts though, is will they be able to keep all their players away from the school gates?

(Fast becoming our George Street.)

Shirley, old chap, that should read their? :wink:

[MyJo]

I agree with alot you say there, but that was a different time when there were major cost cuttings going on, Mowbray never really had an option but to play all these players and for once it turned out well.

So when we had one hand tied behind our back financially and we were forced to give our youth players a chance we developed a group of 6 players (Brown, Thomson, Whittaker, O'Connor, Riordan & Fletcher) that have, to date, achieved the following between them:

£25 million in transfer fee's
7 SPL winners medals
5 Scottish Cup Winners Medals
9 Scottish League Cup Winners Medals
2 UEFA cup runners up medals
1 Russian cup winners medal
61 scotland caps

What have we seen over the past 4 years to suggest that anything other than following this path again isnt the right thing to do regardless of our improved financial position.



We no doubt have a few decent ones coming through again, but to take the chance on lightening striking twice is a big gamble in my opinion, I would be happy for 2-3 of the youngsters a year to be blooded unless they are truly execptional.

As Matty says we need to find a blend between youth and experience and at this moment in time and for the last few seasons we have been crying out for it, Hibs have more money now probably than ever before, especially now the likes of Miller, Deek etc are off the wage bill.

Its not lightening striking twice IMO its a combination of good scouting, good coaching, good facilities and good education combined with the right opportunities that give us players like Hanlon and Booth et al and its up to the manager to mould these players into first team quality when he gets them after several years of hard work through the youth ranks to reach that point.

Calderwood seems to be getting right with the mix of players with a lot of youth and raw talent in the squad supplemented with older heads like O'Connor, Sproule, O'Hanlon, Stack, Murray etc given that he is looking at another experienced striker in Agogo its a good sign that we'll have a good blend that will help the younger players to develop.


Garry O is a good start as an experienced player I would be looking for, but I would also be looking for a couple more, imagine the golden generation as you put it with a Sauzee or Latapy thrown in to help them (Not that we will get someone of that ilk again).

I still think it's a big ask to rely on untested players.

How then do you propose that these players are "tested" then if they are to be kept away from first team duties? Roll out the cliches.....if your good enough your old enough to be thrown in at the deep end and its sink or swim :greengrin

[matty_f]

So when we had one hand tied behind our back financially and we were forced to give our youth players a chance we developed a group of 6 players (Brown, Thomson, Whittaker, O'Connor, Riordan & Fletcher) that have, to date, achieved the following between them:

£25 million in transfer fee's
7 SPL winners medals
5 Scottish Cup Winners Medals
9 Scottish League Cup Winners Medals
2 UEFA cup runners up medals
1 Russian cup winners medal
61 scotland caps

What have we seen over the past 4 years to suggest that anything other than following this path again isnt the right thing to do regardless of our improved financial position.




Its not lightening striking twice IMO its a combination of good scouting, good coaching, good facilities and good education combined with the right opportunities that give us players like Hanlon and Booth et al and its up to the manager to mould these players into first team quality when he gets them after several years of hard work through the youth ranks to reach that point.

Calderwood seems to be getting right with the mix of players with a lot of youth and raw talent in the squad supplemented with older heads like O'Connor, Sproule, O'Hanlon, Stack, Murray etc given that he is looking at another experienced striker in Agogo its a good sign that we'll have a good blend that will help the younger players to develop.



How then do you propose that these players are "tested" then if they are to be kept away from first team duties? Roll out the cliches.....if your good enough your old enough to be thrown in at the deep end and its sink or swim :greengrin


:top marks Only because there's not a smilie with a higher rating!

Absolutely great post!:thumbsup: The bit in bold in particular is impressive.

[GreenCastle]

Yeh, thought I would probably ruffle a few feathers, the doom and gloom posts were as predictable as night follows day, so lets take another wee look, shall we?

First of all a correction, I said one recognised striker signed, meant to say available, with the injury to Sodje which unfortunately sounds like a bad one, paper today says 6 weeks out, and yes we would be in a better place if we had Gary and Akpo in a position to start the season, would have been good to see how they played together.

One previous poster rhymed off 11 players in our midfield for the coming season, most of whom got a chance last season in a midfield which was constantly dominated and more worrying, out worked by teams who we would have expected to beat, Hamilton being one of them. Individually some good players in there, but can you really point to many games last season where our midfield really clicked, really took the game for 90 minutes to our opponents, its going to be a short list.
Still think we are missing a playmaker but I will be happy to be proved wrong.

Defensively I still think we have problems in the full back department, we are expecting a lot from Booth, who is going to be a star no doubt, but he is still a very young player. Right back we should be used to, because now that we have lost Towell, we are back to nobody of any consequence in that position, something which Hughes apparently never noticed, am I really the only person out there who thinks that quite simply, we need to go out and sign a right back??

Last year we were told on numerous ocassions that our preparation for the upcoming season had been meticulous, we were better prepared than ever, ready to hit the ground running etc. We all know what happened, and when CC came in we hoped for better, but apart from a 5 week spell which quite literally saved our whole season, did it improve? I really hoped that over the summer CC would have been able to put his mark on this seasons side, he got rid of much of the dross thankfully, but because he has clearly been pre-occupied with other matters away from our club, which is unforgiveable, I simply pointed out that our preparation has in my opinion, been compromised, and I feel we are under prepared.

Please feel free to come on here and rip me a new one if we take 3 off Celtc on the opening day, I for one would love that situation to happen, and if we get Sheridan, Agogo, a playmaker and a right back in by the start of August I will be a lot more confident. Oh and I stand by what I said earlier, CC out and a manager who wants to actually be the Hibs manager in !!

I think the abuse you are getting is uncalled for and the reality is that everything you say is pretty close to being correct.

The question which will be answered very soon will be which of CC's side turns up for the season -

1 - the all fighting team which had a good spell to drag us away from relagation

2 - the side which isn't bothered and lacks shape and competiveness that lost many games at the end of last season.

We have added more players with heart but still short of back up and quality which will get us 4th or anywhere near 3rd.

[hibsbollah]

You never win anything with kids. You need old heads on old shoulders in this game. Four in the hand is worth two in the bush.

When does the season start again?

[down-the-slope]

best season I have had last 5 was watching league / cup wining U19's (gave up season ticket that year in frustration)

watching young boys become men in the footballing sense, skill and no fear to be in posession of the ball (even if sometimes errors were made) - only bad bit were there were still numpties sometimes at the matches giveing abuse to the youths when they made mistakes :rolleyes: unbeleivable.....

I would rather seee out young talent (even while still learing / having the odd reverse) that journeymen huddies. Booth has been a joy to watch on occasions...has he had poor games? yes..but on balance well worth his place on the team..CC has that ability that TM had which was to beleive in those he thought were good enough...which in turn leads them to start beleiving it as well


I'll stick my neck out and say we will have 2 younsters who have yet to play a compeditive ist team game as regulars by this seasons end.....

[down-the-slope]

You never win anything with kids. You need old heads on old shoulders in this game. Four in the hand is worth two in the bush.

When does the season start again?

Personally I would rather two turds in the bush over four in the hand :rolleyes:

[Mon Dieu4]

So when we had one hand tied behind our back financially and we were forced to give our youth players a chance we developed a group of 6 players (Brown, Thomson, Whittaker, O'Connor, Riordan & Fletcher) that have, to date, achieved the following between them:

£25 million in transfer fee's
7 SPL winners medals
5 Scottish Cup Winners Medals
9 Scottish League Cup Winners Medals
2 UEFA cup runners up medals
1 Russian cup winners medal
61 scotland caps

What have we seen over the past 4 years to suggest that anything other than following this path again isnt the right thing to do regardless of our improved financial position.




Its not lightening striking twice IMO its a combination of good scouting, good coaching, good facilities and good education combined with the right opportunities that give us players like Hanlon and Booth et al and its up to the manager to mould these players into first team quality when he gets them after several years of hard work through the youth ranks to reach that point.

Calderwood seems to be getting right with the mix of players with a lot of youth and raw talent in the squad supplemented with older heads like O'Connor, Sproule, O'Hanlon, Stack, Murray etc given that he is looking at another experienced striker in Agogo its a good sign that we'll have a good blend that will help the younger players to develop.



How then do you propose that these players are "tested" then if they are to be kept away from first team duties? Roll out the cliches.....if your good enough your old enough to be thrown in at the deep end and its sink or swim :greengrin

Sorry I cant do the whole multiquote thing yet

1) I didnt say it was not the right route to go down, I agree that an Auxerre type system of delevoping your own youngsters is always going to be of benefit to a team of our size, however and a big however, you cannot constantly churn out players the calibre we have in the past on a 2 or 3 year basis, otherwise every single club in the world would be following the same approach. Its a football fans idillic dream that wont always work in theory in my view.

And if we fully embrace this method then what is the plan for the future really?, to build a team of talented youngsters season upon season only for other clubs to buy them and we funnel the funds into yet more youngsters to repeat the process.

We have been trying this for near on 7/8 years now and as you say we have made £25m from it, sure we have a lovely new stadium and great training facilities (all great things I add) and are on a "Rock solid financial footing", other than one CIS Cup win and a couple of games in Europe what do we have to show for it on the pitch where it really matters?.

In my opinion Hibs have vastly underachieved against our peers with the tools at our disposal, we seem to be constantly in transition and hearing about the next set of youngsters that are going to set the heather alight.

I guess for one of the first times in my life even though I have just purchased my 16th Season ticket I am pretty indifferent with the way things are going just now.

2) As for Calderwood getting it right, that is all speculation about seeming to be getting it right we wont know that until later on in the season but at the moment I am still pretty worried about the amount of players on our books and the reliance on the younger players(I know the transfer window still has over a month to go)

Also other than our wee unbeaten streak last season, in which we still played pretty rotten to be honest, I dont have a lot of faith in wether Calderwood has what it takes to turn it round and all the recent speculation cant really have been helped matters any, we are 9 days away from the first game of the season and I wouldnt say that the squad has been strengthened any to be honest.

3) As I said, they will be tested if a couple or so make the breakthrough and are playing beside experienced better players that will develop their game, but we are complete off our heads if we think that will happen season upon season or if we think that a bunch of youngsters will just all be thrust into the limelight and take the game by storm.

Normally I am pretty positive about Hibs and I would absolutely love to be proved wrong but at this stage all I can see is mid table mediocrity at best and I really expect more from Hibs than that, outside the Old Firm there is absolutely no excuse why we have not consistantly challenged the Yams and Dundee Utd for 3rd place over a more sustained period.

Yours sincerely Reverend I M Jolly :faf:

PS. Who knows when I wake up tomorrow I might just think we are world beaters again

[Kaiser1962]

Many clubs agogo ..

1997–2000 Sheffield Wednesday 2 (0)
1999 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 2 (0)
1999 → Chester City (loan) 10 (6)
1999 → Chesterfield (loan) 4 (0)
1999–2000 → Lincoln City (loan) 3 (1)
2000 Chicago Fire 1 (0)
2000–2001 Colorado Rapids 32 (11)
2001 San Jose Earthquakes 14 (4)
2002 Queens Park Rangers 2 (0)
2002–2003 Barnet 39 (19)
2003–2006 Bristol Rovers 126 (41)
2006–2008 Nottingham Forest 64 (20)
2008–2009 Zamalek SC 15 (4)
2009– Apollon Limassol 24 (6)


Does he come into the category of "experienced"?:greengrin

[Tyler Durden]

There seems to be alot of optimism on this thread and some others, lead by certain posters, with regard to our youngsters. However IMO there's no real rationale behind this, it's just blind optimism.

The comparisons with the "golden generation" don't really hold up. Brown, GOC, Riordan all had at least 1 full successful season behind them before Mowbray arrived, with Thomson and Whittaker not far behind. Fletcher had made his debut when barely 17 and was always destined for big things.

This crop we have Wotherspoon who had a great season at RB and has since regressed as a midfielder. We're no nearer to knowing what his position is and neither seemingly is he. Personally I think he's only got a future as a RB.

Hanlon has had 3 years of mediocrity and shows no signs of learning from mistakes and being more physical/aggressive. Easily bullied.

Stephens and Taggart have shown only fleeting glimpses of potential as they've not had much opportunity to be fair. I'm slightly worried that Taggart barely made the Ayr Utd starting 11 when on loan last year but that might mean nothing.

Booth, IMHO is the only genuine class act who can be compared to the likes of Brown, Fletcher etc.

Again, IMO we have all this optimism, basically cos things look bleak and hoping these guys can repeat the feats of Mowbray's crop is all we have to cling to.

Depressing, but hopefully Frank is God is correct and I'm just bitter and cynical!

[greenlex]

Does he come into the category of "experienced"?:greengrin
Dunno but a goal every three games or so looks decent. He could agogo down well in the SPL.:agree: :greengrin

[Franck is God]

The comparisons with the "golden generation" don't really hold up. Brown, GOC, Riordan all had at least 1 full successful season behind them before Mowbray arrived, with Thomson and Whittaker not far behind. Fletcher had made his debut when barely 17 and was always destined for big things.

Depressing, but hopefully Frank is God is correct and I'm just bitter and cynical!

All those players had featured for the first team on a good number of occasions and were maybe a year or so older than our current lot but the similarities are definitely there, it was Sauzee that actually gave Riordan and O'Connor there first senior long term contracts.

The main reason I am optimistic is there's no reason not to be, its a new season, everybody starts at zero again. Come on the Hibees!

And don't worry Tyler, I am right!

[MyJo]

Sorry I cant do the whole multiquote thing yet

I can :na na: :greengrin


1) I didnt say it was not the right route to go down, I agree that an Auxerre type system of delevoping your own youngsters is always going to be of benefit to a team of our size, however and a big however, you cannot constantly churn out players the calibre we have in the past on a 2 or 3 year basis, otherwise every single club in the world would be following the same approach. Its a football fans idillic dream that wont always work in theory in my view.

The pressures of succeeding in the modern game and the culture of big bucks and managers getting sacked for farting the wrong way have resulted in a stifling of young british players making the breakthrough and being given the chance in the first team of british clubs in favour of importing expensive foreign imports and paying them huges wages. We in scotland are attempting to follow the lead of england but we have not got the money to do this. Look at almost every other league in the world and you'll find teams filled with home nationalality players, even the biggest clubs like Barca, Real, Bayern Munich, Milan etc still have a large core number of spanish/german/italian players many of which have been brought up through youth development and your spot on in saying that you cannot consistently, every year produce these caliber of players but we dont need to, 4 or 5 making it into the first team each year with just a couple of these making the grade and establishing themselves over a couple of seasons would be a good return.


And if we fully embrace this method then what is the plan for the future really?, to build a team of talented youngsters season upon season only for other clubs to buy them and we funnel the funds into yet more youngsters to repeat the process.

In a word......Yes.
We dont have the income from the league we play in to pay funny money like the english leagues and we dont have the support base and income generated by the old firm to become a big fish in our little pond. The reality of our club is that we are waaaaay down the pecking order for players and our best bet is to produce talent players that will gain us decent transfer fee's when the eventually move on to teams that can afford to pay them wages far beyond our own capabilities and play in a more attractive league. The last batch of players have set us up with a stadium and training centre, the next batch could see us completely debt free with all the money generated from future sales having no other purpose than to be spent on the product on the park, developing more talent through our academy that we can keep for longer when they do break through and having better quality experienced players in the first team alongside them


We have been trying this for near on 7/8 years now and as you say we have made £25m from it, sure we have a lovely new stadium and great training facilities (all great things I add) and are on a "Rock solid financial footing", other than one CIS Cup win and a couple of games in Europe what do we have to show for it on the pitch where it really matters?.

What do Hearts have to show for spending something like £70m in the same time period? A scottish cup win and a few more games than us in Europe? Would you rather trade our position for thiers for what is a relatively similar level of "success on the pitch"?

Also......Why we continue to belittle the CIS cup win as if it wasn't important, or isn't considered a success for the club baffles me. That was probably one of my best days as a hibs fan and I still get goosebumps when i listen to Sunshine on Leith after that day


In my opinion Hibs have vastly underachieved against our peers with the tools at our disposal, we seem to be constantly in transition and hearing about the next set of youngsters that are going to set the heather alight.

I guess for one of the first times in my life even though I have just purchased my 16th Season ticket I am pretty indifferent with the way things are going just now.


Totally agree


2) As for Calderwood getting it right, that is all speculation about seeming to be getting it right we wont know that until later on in the season but at the moment I am still pretty worried about the amount of players on our books and the reliance on the younger players(I know the transfer window still has over a month to go)

Also other than our wee unbeaten streak last season, in which we still played pretty rotten to be honest, I dont have a lot of faith in wether Calderwood has what it takes to turn it round and all the recent speculation cant really have been helped matters any, we are 9 days away from the first game of the season and I wouldnt say that the squad has been strengthened any to be honest.

It is all speculation but what im reassured by is that he is addressing the problems we are all identifying. We've got a football player in the middle of the park in Thornhill and a bit of dig with Palsson and Scott that should stop us being bullied in there, granted another midfielder is required but there is still 7 weeks of the transfer window left. We've got Pace and Height in the team at long last and the young players we have used in pre-season are showing they are up for the challenge and given a good showing of themselves so far.

How can signing O'Hanlon, O'Connor and Sproule be considered anything other than strengthening the team? they are far superior players to any of those that we released over the summer with the exception of Deeks.


3) As I said, they will be tested if a couple or so make the breakthrough and are playing beside experienced better players that will develop their game, but we are complete off our heads if we think that will happen season upon season or if we think that a bunch of youngsters will just all be thrust into the limelight and take the game by storm.

Nobody is suggesting thrusting them into the limelight and making them integral to the first team without proving themselves but too many people are writing these young guys off as incapable of even filling in for a few weeks if we pick up injuries or suspensions and want us to spend more money on more players to sit on the bench rather than letting kids make the breakthrough




Normally I am pretty positive about Hibs and I would absolutely love to be proved wrong but at this stage all I can see is mid table mediocrity at best and I really expect more from Hibs than that, outside the Old Firm there is absolutely no excuse why we have not consistantly challenged the Yams and Dundee Utd for 3rd place over a more sustained period.

Yours sincerely Reverend I M Jolly :faf:

PS. Who knows when I wake up tomorrow I might just think we are world beaters again


Who knows

[down-the-slope]

Sorry I cant do the whole multiquote thing yet


Yours sincerely Reverend I M Jolly :faf:

PS. Who knows when I wake up tomorrow I might just think we are world beaters again

Ludite...:agree:

Your happiness may be dictated by whether last night included too much alcohol and another incident with a set of stairs :wink:

[Mon Dieu4]

What do Hearts have to show for spending something like £70m in the same time period? A scottish cup win and a few more games than us in Europe? Would you rather trade our position for thiers for what is a relatively similar level of "success on the pitch"?

Also......Why we continue to belittle the CIS cup win as if it wasn't important, or isn't considered a success for the club baffles me. That was probably one of my best days as a hibs fan and I still get goosebumps when i listen to Sunshine on Leith after that day





Sorry but the would you rather be in our position or Hearts in financial terms always seems to be the default setting for many Hibs fans, not once did I mention we should get ourselves into a ridiculous amount of debt the Scottish League at the moment is pretty dire and a couple of say £500k signings would not break the bank but could change our season from mediocre into something a bit more meaningful in my opinion and could get us challenging more than every 5 years for a change.

Neither did I belittle the CIS Cup win, that was a truly memorable occassion and up there with my best as a fan, I said and I still think that a couple of goes in Europe and a CIS Cup win in the space of 5 or 6 years with the amount of cash we have raked in is pretty rotten.

[Mon Dieu4]

Ludite...:agree:

Your happiness may be dictated by whether last night included too much alcohol and another incident with a set of stairs :wink:

No drunken injuries to report as of late buddy, although I havent had to watch Hibs in a couple of months, will see what today brings :faf:

[MyJo]

Sorry but the would you rather be in our position or Hearts in financial terms always seems to be the default setting for many Hibs fans, not once did I mention we should get ourselves into a ridiculous amount of debt the Scottish League at the moment is pretty dire and a couple of say £500k signings would not break the bank but could change our season from mediocre into something a bit more meaningful in my opinion and could get us challenging more than every 5 years for a change.

Neither did I belittle the CIS Cup win, that was a truly memorable occassion and up there with my best as a fan, I said and I still think that a couple of goes in Europe and a CIS Cup win in the space of 5 or 6 years with the amount of cash we have raked in is pretty rotten.

The mention of hearts was purely an example of what can be "acheived" by spending lots of money like they have in a league like ours......and that is very little, a few more games in europe and finishing higher in a tin-pot league than us sometimes is hardly worth the money they have spent compared to our "penny-pinching" approach.

The CIS cup thing wasnt aimed at you as such, more just a general gripe :greengrin

[FromTheCapital]

A replcacement for Sodje?

[silverhibee]

All those players had featured for the first team on a good number of occasions and were maybe a year or so older than our current lot but the similarities are definitely there, it was Sauzee that actually gave Riordan and O'Connor there first senior long term contracts.

The main reason I am optimistic is there's no reason not to be, its a new season, everybody starts at zero again. Come on the Hibees!

And don't worry Tyler, I am right!


Sorry wrong again FIG, it was Williamson that gave Derek his long term contract.

The bit in bold, cant agree with you there apart from Booth who seems to be destined for better things in the future, Wotherspoon, when he broke in to the team he done very well at RB, dropped for that game at ibrox and has really never been the same player since then,young David can be very frustrating at time's to watch during games now, Hanlon, really needs a good season this season, he was part of the problem that leaked so many goals last season from the defence, i am not knocking the young lads but just dont see the similarities that you see with this young bunch and the young bunch that Williamson brought through.
I do have high hopes for Galbraith if he can get in to the starting 11 this season.

[Tyler Durden]

Sorry wrong again FIG, it was Williamson that gave Derek his long term contract.
The bit in bold, cant agree with you there apart from Booth who seems to be destined for better things in the future, Wotherspoon, when he broke in to the team he done very well at RB, dropped for that game at ibrox and has really never been the same player since then,young David can be very frustrating at time's to watch during games now, Hanlon, really needs a good season this season, he was part of the problem that leaked so many goals last season from the defence, i am not knocking the young lads but just dont see the similarities that you see with this young bunch and the young bunch that Williamson brought through.
I do have high hopes for Galbraith if he can get in to the starting 11 this season.

Actually, it wasn't Williamson. See http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Nicol-signs-up-as-Sauzee.2295045.jp

Not that it matters either way, but I had a memory of Deek coming on as sub under Sauzee's reign when a last minute equaliser from John O'Neil got us a draw at Tynie one Xmas.

[Barney McGrew]

Sorry wrong again FIG, it was Williamson that gave Derek his long term contract

Was that before or after he tried to swap him for Bobby Mann? :greengrin

[frazeHFC]

A replcacement for Sodje? As in because Akpo is injured or because you don't rate him?

[silverhibee]

Actually, it wasn't Williamson. See http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Nicol-signs-up-as-Sauzee.2295045.jp

Not that it matters either way, but I had a memory of Deek coming on as sub under Sauzee's reign when a last minute equaliser from John O'Neil got us a draw at Tynie one Xmas.

Your memory is good, yes he came on as a sub that night and was unlucky not to score, Sauzee gave him his first start away to Motherwell, not the best game did a Well player not get a hattrick that day, and BW brought him on as a sub against the sheep to make his home debut which he scored in or did he get two and Broony getting one.

[Billy Whizz]

Your memory is good, yes he came on as a sub that night and was unlucky not to score, Sauzee gave him his first start away to Motherwell, not the best game did a Well player not get a hattrick that day, and BW brought him on as a sub against the sheep to make his home debut which he scored in or did he get two and Broony getting one.

David Ferrere was the Mothers player that scored the hat-trick. We were on a bad run and had just lost to Ayr Utd innthe CIS Cup semi Final at Hampden!!!

[shamo9]

Your memory is good, yes he came on as a sub that night and was unlucky not to score, Sauzee gave him his first start away to Motherwell, not the best game did a Well player not get a hattrick that day, and BW brought him on as a sub against the sheep to make his home debut which he scored in or did he get two and Broony getting one.

His first goal for Hibs was against Livingston in April 2003. A typical free kick to put us 2-0 up in the second half, which we also typically conspired to throw away by conceding two goals in the last ten minutes.

I remember that period well. We narrowly missed out on the top six which resulted in Brown, Whittaker and Riordan getting their big break in the last 5. We won 4/5 with Brown playing as the main striker and looking pretty accomplished in the position, scoring a fair few. Matty Jack also got a nice swan song with a couple in his final games.

[Cocaine&Caviar]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_7009862,00.html

All of my energy would be going into the above

[R'Albin]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_7009862,00.html

All of my energy would be going into the above

Rumour doing the rounds down here is he is going to the sheep, I hope not:rolleyes:

[Leitherhibs]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_7009862,00.html

All of my energy would be going into the above

Can somebody write to the club to ensure they at least look at this? Would score for fun in the SPL and has an awful lot more than goals to his game, bad enoguh we missed out on him first time.

[CropleyWasGod]

Can somebody write to the club to ensure they at least look at this? Would score for fun in the SPL and has an awful lot more than goals to his game, bad enoguh we missed out on him first time.

Giggling at this.

Journalist "So, Colin, what prompted you to sign Leigh Griffiths?"

CC "Well, I got a letter from a supporter...."

[R'Albin]

Giggling at this.

Journalist "So, Colin, what prompted you to sign Leigh Griffiths?"

CC "Well, I got a letter from a supporter...."

:greengrin

[Viva_Palmeiras]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_7009862,00.htmlAll of my energy would be going into the above I'm sure MacArthy would relish doing business with the tache ;)