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Dashing Bob S
07-11-2011, 03:10 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

Peevemor
07-11-2011, 03:17 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties t say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and is family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasn’t gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

Great post. I agree 100%.

GreenCastle
07-11-2011, 03:21 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

:top marks

Michael O'Neill for me also - hungry and up and coming manager

ScottB
07-11-2011, 03:26 PM
Agree with all that.

For the most part, on paper, at the time, all of them post Duffy look like good bets (except, possibly, Mowbray). Sure, with hindsight we can dissect them of course, but for most of them, I don't recall many complaints about their appointments.

If anything CC struck me as the Board trying almost too hard to pick someone the supporters weren't talking about, an over reaction to the sequence of Collins, Mixu and Hughes.

KWJ
07-11-2011, 03:35 PM
Would've liked to have seen Sauzee given more time, that's about the only thing that got my goat. Oh and Duffy should've been gone long before.

The issue with Petrie and the board is the unrest that managers seem to be facing with them behind the scenes. I hope it's just a case of managers wanting to spend outwith the clubs means but there seems to be more to it.

ScottB
07-11-2011, 03:38 PM
Would've liked to have seen Sauzee given more time, that's about the only thing that got my goat. Oh and Duffy should've been gone long before.

The issue with Petrie and the board is the unrest that managers seem to be facing with them behind the scenes. I hope it's just a case of managers wanting to spend outwith the clubs means but there seems to be more to it.

I'd have preferred him being player assistant to someone experienced. The club was in turmoil and we lost our best player and captain to a role he wasn't ready for. He would then have been ready to step up once he had some experience.

Saorsa
07-11-2011, 03:42 PM
Would've liked to have seen Sauzee given more time, that's about the only thing that got my goat. Oh and Duffy should've been gone long before.

The issue with Petrie and the board is the unrest that managers seem to be facing with them behind the scenes. I hope it's just a case of managers wanting to spend outwith the clubs means but there seems to be more to it.:hmmm:

GreenCastle
07-11-2011, 03:43 PM
I'd have preferred him being player assistant to someone experienced. The club was in turmoil and we lost our best player and captain to a role he wasn't ready for. He would then have been ready to step up once he had some experience.

Add to that - a great player and personality doesn't want to be seen back at the club even though he's a huge fans favorite - says it all for me about the decisions being made.

down the slope
07-11-2011, 03:51 PM
Correct me if i'm wrong but i think Petrie became chairman a few months after Mowbray was appointed. If that is the case then would he have been choosing the manager when he was just another board member serving under one of the previous chairmen ?, check him out on Wicki but i know it can be wrong. If his only appointments were the last three it says it all !.

Brebners Bookie
07-11-2011, 03:54 PM
I would still be pretty fuming at Collins leaving if it wasn't for him blowing big money on complete dross like kerr, o'brien and gatheussi. He had the right ideas but was too good a pro for that group of players, the same sort of thing i think managers like Roy Keane suffer from.

It would be michael o'neill for me too, or maybe gordon as a long shot, but whoever it is, petrie, or whoever actually appoints the boss, has to get it right this time or they will have to go.

Stevie Reid
07-11-2011, 03:59 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

Great post Bob, pretty much agree with everything.

O'Neill for me too.

Andy74
07-11-2011, 04:11 PM
I think it's all fair and I have backed Petrie more than most!

However, whilst we have probably recruited well on the face of it, what isn't working? For me there must be something which is causing these manager's not to achieve what they can. We seem to be the same on buying players these days. you can see the argument on paper but they rarely work out.

This is what I'd like to see addressed and Petrie has to try and pin point the reason or accept that his oversight of the club as a sporting organisation has failed, and step down.

Having see the other Exec Directors do their stuff in Behind the Goals each week which mainly consists of sitting with the same crowd at the tables and talking crap I've not got that much confidence that the right team has been assembled.

KWJ
07-11-2011, 04:14 PM
Correct me if i'm wrong but i think Petrie became chairman a few months after Mowbray was appointed. If that is the case then would he have been choosing the manager when he was just another board member serving under one of the previous chairmen ?, check him out on Wicki but i know it can be wrong. If his only appointments were the last three it says it all !.

If it wasn't he that appointed Mowbray then the Mowbray's first season dvd has an awfy complicated and rehearsed lie in it :greengrin

Eaststand
07-11-2011, 04:15 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

:top marksExcellent post Bob and I agree with you on all points

GGTTH

Franck Stanton
07-11-2011, 04:29 PM
More or less agree with post and am glad there are some sensible, level-headed posters and comments rather than some of the over-the-top reactions seen elsewhere. Michael O'Neil would , imo be a great appointment, who, given a couple of seasons would have us competing in the top 4 every season.

rj hibs
07-11-2011, 04:38 PM
Can't believe you'd give Hughes a higher rating than Collins or Mixu. It's OK to say for a while it worked but we were absolutely terrible for half of his reign. He made some appalling key decisions which the club is still feeling the effects of now.

stantonhibby
07-11-2011, 08:34 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.



Have to say DBS a lot of the time you write a lot of nonsense but this post is the best summing up of our recent appointments I have seen. I agree that MON ticks most of the boxes . I think he was in for the job last time and if anything is a stronger candidate this time round after further success in Ireland. I think Billy Davies is outwith our budget and JJ would be too divisive a choice. There may be some other choices similar to Mowbray who are currently only coaching in the Premiership/Championship ( like Lomas) but then again this is where we picked up CC from.

Dashing Bob S
07-11-2011, 10:41 PM
Have to say DBS a lot of the time you write a lot of nonsense but this post is the best summing up of our recent appointments I have seen. I agree that MON ticks most of the boxes . I think he was in for the job last time and if anything is a stronger candidate this time round after further success in Ireland. I think Billy Davies is outwith our budget and JJ would be too divisive a choice. There may be some other choices similar to Mowbray who are currently only coaching in the Premiership/Championship ( like Lomas) but then again this is where we picked up CC from.

I know, I know, apologies for letting my standards slip. Soon be back to writing the usual senseless gobbledegook.

Dashing Bob S
07-11-2011, 10:48 PM
Can't believe you'd give Hughes a higher rating than Collins or Mixu. It's OK to say for a while it worked but we were absolutely terrible for half of his reign. He made some appalling key decisions which the club is still feeling the effects of now.

It's not much a rating of the manager (though Hughes did get us into Europe, and that and/or a trophy has to be a big deal for any Scottish club outside the OF) as a rating of the way Petrie dealt with the appointment and the subsequent dismissal.

Billy Whizz
07-11-2011, 10:48 PM
It just goes to show that Petrie is a shrewd business man. The completed stadium, training centre and "rock solid" business figures were all during his chairmanship.
With regards to Managers he has made a bit of a mess. That's why we need a football person on the board making these sort of decisions.
He's an accountant and that's his skill, leave football to football people.
Who do you think other than the Board have advised on these Managerial decisions or do they read Hibs.net.

jacomo
07-11-2011, 11:17 PM
It's not much a rating of the manager (though Hughes did get us into Europe, and that and/or a trophy has to be a big deal for any Scottish club outside the OF) as a rating of the way Petrie dealt with the appointment and the subsequent dismissal.

A bit baffled by this. Collins resigned, so unless you are alledging constructive dismissal I don't see how this works?

Anyhow, JC won a cup and had Hibs playing the best football we've seen for a decade, at times. So merits a higher score.

Hibbyradge
07-11-2011, 11:28 PM
A bit baffled by this. Collins resigned, so unless you are alledging constructive dismissal I don't see how this works?

Anyhow, JC won a cup and had Hibs playing the best football we've seen for a decade, at times. So merits a higher score.

I thought the football we played under Collins was awful.

Cup final aside.

matty_f
07-11-2011, 11:39 PM
I thought the football we played under Collins was awful.

Cup final aside.

There were a few great performances (81%, cup final, 0-1 ole game at Ibrox, Celtc 3-2 at home) but some rank rotten ones as well. I think overall though, I'm in agreement with your assessment.

Jones28
08-11-2011, 12:25 AM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

Most sensible and well reasoned post I've read on this board about Petrie:agree:

GreenCastle
08-11-2011, 04:09 PM
There were a few great performances (81%, cup final, 0-1 ole game at Ibrox, Celtc 3-2 at home) but some rank rotten ones as well. I think overall though, I'm in agreement with your assessment.

What game is this ? :confused:

Jones28
08-11-2011, 04:16 PM
What game is this ? :confused:

The CIS cup game against Hearts, we had 81% possession

erin go bragh
08-11-2011, 04:24 PM
What game is this ? :confused:

League cup quarter final v hearts at the san siro , jones 1 nil, going on 7 :greengrin





GGTTH

GreenCastle
08-11-2011, 04:33 PM
Didn't realize it was 81% possession! Wonder about the stats for the 6-2 game - possession etc :greengrin

Dashing Bob S
08-11-2011, 04:56 PM
Didn't realize it was 81% possession! Wonder about the stats for the 6-2 game - possession etc :greengrin

100% possession from FJK alone. Trouble is that it was possession of marijuana, which he needed to constantly smoke to calm his nerves to get through the game.

basehibby
08-11-2011, 05:56 PM
Shame Rodders reputedly won't be involved in the appointment. I've been thinking about his previous appointments, and I still think he was a lot to offer in the selection process.



It seems as if Rod Petrie’s Easter Road legacy will be the man who built one of best stadiums in Scotland, a state of art training centre, kept the club’s finances on a sound footing, yet couldn’t pick his nose regarding managers. He was on the board from 1996 the Duffy era onwards, but as he was only chairman from 2004, Mowbray onwards.

So let’s take a semi-objective look at Petrie’s picks.

As Board Member (1996-2004)

Jim Duffy

Duffy had a terrible record at Easter Road, pretty much out on his own till Colin Calderwood arrived. It wasn’t an inspired appointment and the board waited to long to get rid of him- we were all but relegated when Big Eck arrived.

2/10 –as bad it gets for a club like Hibs.


Alex McLeish

McLeish was a great appointment, he got us up straight away, built a great team around Sauzee, Latapy, O’Neil, and brought some quality crowd pleasers like Zitelli to ER, taking us back into Europe. In a sense, this was a golden age of Scottish football, fuelled by TV money. Eck jumped ship for the Huns, but it probably wasn’t a bad thing for us in that all his management jobs have characterized by a dramatic, highly successful eighteen months, followed by doldrums thereafter.


8.5/10 –probably almost as good as it gets for a club like Hibs – cup would have been nice and more than possible with that team.


Franck Sauzee

Franck probably wasn’t the right man, and certainly wasn’t given enough time, so the board can be blamed on both those counts. However, they were against almost unbelievable fan pressure. So another way of looking at is that they gave us what we want and acted decisively when it didn’t work out.

5/10 – not in the job for long enough to decide, thus the neutral score.


Bobby Williamson


Two ways of looking at he Blobby appointment; 1) as a guy who was lured here under false circumstances, then, with the TV money collapsing, given a zero budget and asked to take a pay cut, and got on with it , or 2) produced some eye-bleeding football, and while he did give youth a chance out of necessity, tried to swap half of our best ones for Bobby Mann.

Williamson though, ticked all the boxes of the successful SPL manager who had gotten his club into Europe/won trophies. It’s hard to see how people who now advocate the likes of Jimmy Calderwood and Jim Jeffries could say that this was a bad idea.

What the Williamson appointment showed was the importance of getting somebody in who plays the game the way the fans want.

5/10 – steady, and probably did an okay job under the circumstances, but devoid of inspiration.


Tony Mowbray

A brilliant, inspired choice. Mowbray was the right person to get he best out of some gifted youngsters and construct a team, which, but for an ongoing goalkeeping crisis, could probably have done even than in the short-term it was always going to be around for. But Petrie at least got top-dollar from the predators – money which looks increasingly good in light of the subsequent achievements of those players.

9/10 – we bring through a lot of talent but Mowbray, like McLeish, brought the crowds back with some great football.


John Collins


Nobody was complaining when JC came back. He obviously had he right ideas, but lacked the person-management skills to impose them without causing a dressing room reaction. He also was terrible in the transfer market and we fell away badly when the team stopped playing for him. On the plus side, albeit with Mowbray’s team, he won us the League Cup. Collins suffered as he was the one in office when the ‘golden generation’ player sales went through, and they were always going to be hard to replace. Did himself no favours though with dross like A’OB and Kerr.


6/10 –can’t fault him wanting the best and high standards, Petrie should have backed him.


Mixu Paateleinen


Mixu looked the part, and he could win a derby – strange phenomenon for a Hibs manager. Again, nobody complained when he was appointed. Mixu’s reign is still a puzzling one. We were a dull, stodgy, frustrating team. I think he fell into the trap that crushes a lot of Hibs legends – he wanted it too much. Since shown that he can do a decent job.

6/10 – a decent and popular appointment, shame it never worked.


John Hughes


Another crowd-pleasing appointment by Petrie, and anybody who was at Yogi’s first game in charge of the club, the friendly against Dunfermline, could be forgiven for thinking, ‘we really got it right.’ We were winning games, with Riordan, Stokes and Zommer ripping defences apart. But once we were sussed out, our frailties were exposed and we went into that dramatic downward spiral. Yogi’s sole strategies seemed to be to shout louder at the players, who just seemed to switch of more in response, and talk more slavering pish to the media. Although unable to arrest the spectacular decline, it should be remembered that he did get us into Europe and had a very decent six months at the start of his tenure.


6.5/10 – again Petrie playing to the gallery, and for a while it worked.



Colin Calderwood

Up there with Duffy as our worst manager in modern times. While Petrie could scarcely blamed for appointing a guy with a good management record and solid coaching reputation, and not playing to the fans gallery with a ex-idol, he badly mis-managed the situation with CC in the summer.

He should have seen that Calderwood was underperforming in the final phase of last season, and when the Midlands offers came along, that was the time for both parties to say ‘it hasn’t worked out’ and part ways with dignity and mutual gain. Calderwood’s behavior then should have indicated to RP that he was unsettled. I think the problem with him is that he’s been a part-time semi-detached manager with his eye on the Midlands and his family. No shame in that, but he should know himself better and never have come here.

3.5/10 – I’m scoring this higher than Duffy, as Petrie at least acted before we were relegated and Calderwood has brought some decent players to the club, even if he hasnt gotten any consistency from them.


All in all, I think Rod’s done best when he’s gone with his gut and picked a young, enthusiastic manager. I’d like to see him get back into that mode again, rather than pleasing us by picking legends. I thought that Mowbray would a terrible appointment, but it was spectacular success. I’d love to see Michael O’Neill in the job, because he’s smart and already successful, having taken a club going nowhere in Ireland, and brought it into the Group stages of European competition. I don’t care about his Hibs background at all – it’s his management skills and enthusiasm that interest me.


But it's all very much a crap-shoot. You never know if somebody is going to gel with a particular club or not. If Petrie's been guilty of anything, it's been trying to be too accommodating to fan pressure and make popular appointments.

:top marks excellent even handed assessment of the P-Tache's hiring and firing record Bob - which shows I think that he's handled that aspect of running Hibs reasonably well. I think the questions arise when it comes to the relationship there's been between the board and these managers - how they've been resourced and supported and just the general mechanics of how players are identified and pursued (or not as the case may be) - who really holds the reins when it comes to deciding HOW the budget will be spent and the team constructed???
I don't think it can be denied that something has been going wrong in these respects as, despite consistently spending a budget in excess of most of the rest of the SPL, under four different managers we have been going steadilly backwards over the last 4 years.