The Chairmans Message

[Davy Mac]

The biggest mistake the board have made here is saying anything at all. There are still far too many people who are quick to twist what's been said to show them in a bad light. The selective quoting of RP's statement is a prime example.

They need to keep their heads down until we've actually turned the corner. Until then it doesn't matter what they say, it'll be turned against them.

Mikey. I enjoy reading your posts and I often agree with what you post, but seriously this guy is full of it and well past his sell by date.

I have great respect for what RP has achieved over the years and we should be enternally greatful.

However the guy is all washed up and has no new ideas.

For me, he needs to walk away with his head held high and be proud of what he has done but honestly, I work and own businesses that are heavily reliant on client feedback and I'm sad to say Hibs have seriously failed and the buck stops with him.

Sorry Mikey, the guy needs to move on.

[Mikey]

Mikey. I enjoy reading your posts and I often agree with what you post, but seriously this guy is full of it and well past his sell by date.

I have great respect for what RP has achieved over the years and we should be enternally greatful.

However the guy is all washed up and has no new ideas.

For me, he needs to walk away with his head held high and be proud of what he has done but honestly, I work and own businesses that are heavily reliant on client feedback and I'm sad to say Hibs have seriously failed and the buck stops with him.

Sorry Mikey, the guy needs to move on.

That's a different point altogether.

What I'm saying is that there's absolutely nothing in what he's said that lays any blame on the fans. For anything! Ever!

[TheEastTerrace]

The biggest mistake the board have made here is saying anything at all. There are still far too many people who are quick to twist what's been said to show them in a bad light. The selective quoting of RP's statement is a prime example.

They need to keep their heads down until we've actually turned the corner. Until then it doesn't matter what they say, it'll be turned against them.

I believe the current board are past the point of no return if that's the case. If you're damned if you do and damned if you don't when communicating with your supporters, what hope do you have?

FWIW, I don't think RP's message was antagonistic

[Sir David Gray]

Don't you agree that reduced attendances are damaging the club? I do.

Don't you think bad results are keeping supporters away? I do.

He's 100% right.

There is a way of putting it though and I don't think he got the content of his message correct.

The "easy to speculate" comment suggests that Petrie thinks that there are other reasons, besides bad results, for why crowds at Easter Road are dropping.

The fact of the matter is that if we had a decent side on the park that was competing at the right end of the league, we would be talking about crowds of about 14-15,000. We got that during the good times under Mowbray and if people know that they're going to be getting to see good football in return for handing over their cash, then people will flock to Easter Road.

The way I see it is, we have a core support of around 6-7,000 who will come and watch Hibs even if we were playing in the East of Scotland Junior Leagues. Those extra fans won't be paying £20 odd every other week and paying £400 for a season ticket, if they're going to be watching utter dross every other week.

It's just not going to happen and no amount of pleading from the board is going to change that.

Petrie and the others on the board need to provide a team on the park that is worth watching before we're going to bring any significant number of people back to Easter Road any time soon and I don't think that message has been recognised in that statement.

[Pedantic_Hibee]

What rankles with me I think, more than anything else, throughout the whole managerial saga of the past few years is the completely missed opportunity of the summer.

If we had had a committed manager in the summer with Hibs at heart then we could have used the opportunity to clear the deadwood and reshape the whole culture and personnel of the club. With so many players out of contract, an interested manager (which may have prompted more backing financially from the board) could have completely rejuvenated us.

Instead, we floundered for weeks with anxiety, questions, hesitancy and instability which would not only put players off, but also meant we lost valuable time to recruit.

[Feed McGraw]

It was heartening to see 3,500 Hibernian fans attend East End Park last Saturday and dominate the atmosphere. Many of you were there. You saw what it meant to the players. Hopefully today we can see a big crowd and create a daunting atmosphere within Easter Road Stadium. The team needs support home and away, but it is only attendances at home that add to our revenues.
Together we must reach out to other like-minded supporters, who for whatever reason are not here today. For the team to progress and for the club to flourish we need everyone on board for the journey.

It is easy to speculate that the poor run of results in 2011 has kept supporters away. Reduced attendances damage the club therefore also damage the team. We have to be self sustaining - there is no-one out there who wants to subsidise the cost of our football. So what we have we generate from our own efforts. We have the ability to be the third best attended stadium in the SPL. We should aim to fulfil that potential in 2012.



The team is in transition - we all know that. The players and the coaching staff need encouragement and support. We can approach each game with confidence knowing that they are fully committed and determined to make great strides forward in 2012.



I have not read the full article in the programme and have cut and pasted the two quotes from it together as I assume it was written rather than the OP in isolation. Can someone correct it if its wrong please?

Can someone point me to any part of this where the fans are blamed? If someone can or indeed post the full article correctly and show me then I will gladly back down. If not can we just hit this fans are to blame for the mess we are in nonsense once and for all? Thanks in advance.

I posted before that I felt it was like he was ALMOST blaming the fans, or more specifically
the fans who have had enough and are staying away. For instance this - "Reduced attendances damage the club and therefore the team". He should have followed that passage up with something like :" We accept that the mistakes we`ve made have been a major factor that has caused attendances to drop and we apologise for that ". But no, claptrap about 2011 -oh, how we all wish it had just been that year that was the problem. More guff about being in transition. Rod, dear chap we are ALWAYS in ******* transition !

I don`t think he`s a football man, but he`s done pretty good for Hibs. IMHO though, he has an awful lot to the thank the scout(s) who brought those brilliant laddies to the club and enabled him to bring improvements to the infrastructure .

Thanks Rod, but now that infrastructure IS in place, I think it`s time to step aside and let`s get some football people in with some new fresh ideas to REALLY get this club moving forward again.

[--------]

Sorry, Doddie, it looks like you've taken a stance and you're going to stubbornly defend it. Either that or you've completely over reacted.

I don't read any "trust me" plea at all. I read a fairly bland statement written to fill his wee column in the programme.

I'm not even convinced it was designed to get a reaction.

You clearly feel strongly and you're entitled to hold those views, but Petrie isn't deserving of criticism for his programme article.


No, I agree about the article, having finally seen the whole article and not someone's edited highlights. The article thing's just a fuss about nothing.

But no, I don't think I can be argued out of my position regarding where we are right now and why. This is just one boorach too many, frankly. Maybe I'm just too old and been around too long to bounce back yet again.

[EasterRoad4Ever]

The biggest mistake the board have made here is saying anything at all. There are still far too many people who are quick to twist what's been said to show them in a bad light. The selective quoting of RP's statement is a prime example.

They need to keep their heads down until we've actually turned the corner. Until then it doesn't matter what they say, it'll be turned against them.

That's a problem in itself and speaks volumes. Fans have completely lost confidence in the Hibs Board. You can argue all you want about the fairness, justification or otherwise of this, it is a fact and cannot be changed through argument.

No vision
No strategy.
No leadership.
No passion.
No understanding.

They are as clueless and inept as Clueless Colin. Floundering about while the club sinks deeper and deeper into the mire. Procrastination, indecision, poor judgement, awful decision-making. They must be following the dummies guide to crap management. we will all look back in a few years time and wonder why we put up with Petrie and his cohorts for so long. Either that, or we'll be sitting in the lower leagues with a 20k white elephant of a stadium and the best training ground in the 1st div.

[joebakerforever]

The way I see it is, we have a core support of around 6-7,000 who will come and watch Hibs even if we were playing in the East of Scotland Junior Leagues. Those extra fans won't be paying £20 odd every other week and paying £400 for a season ticket, if they're going to be watching utter dross every other week.

It's just not going to happen and no amount of pleading from the board is going to change that.

Petrie and the others on the board need to provide a team on the park that is worth watching before we're going to bring any significant number of people back to Easter Road any time soon and I don't think that message has been recognised in that statement.

Agree that Rod's actual statement had an anodyne content, but as you succinctly described above, it is the failure by Petrie et al to recognise the reason why the majority outwith the core support (whom I would describe as "discerning customers") have decided to no longer patronise Easter Road.

If the Board do not believe that the poor fare on offer for more than two seasons, together with the high admission prices, is the cause for declining attendances, perhaps they should enlighten us all as to what they consider has resulted in the increasing revenue losses.

I would assume that the Club has a database of recently lapsed season ticket holders and it might be worthwhile contacting them in order to identify why so many have withdrawn their custom.

[Peevemor]

Agree that Rod's actual statement had an anodyne content, but as you succinctly described above, it is the failure by Petrie et al to recognise the reason why the majority outwith the core support (whom I would describe as "discerning customers") have decided to no longer patronise Easter Road.

If the Board do not believe that the poor fare on offer for more than two seasons, together with the high admission prices, is the cause for declining attendances, perhaps they should enlighten us all as to what they consider has resulted in the increasing revenue losses.

I would assume that the Club has a database of recently lapsed season ticket holders and it might be worthwhile contacting them in order to identify why so many have withdrawn their custom.

But that's exactly what he is saying. :confused:



It is easy to speculate that the poor run of results in 2011 has kept supporters away.

This thread's ridiculous.

[Hibbyradge]

There is a way of putting it though and I don't think he got the content of his message correct.



I see. Semantics. How evil.

Hammer the man because the content of a throwaway paragraph in the match programme wasn't to your liking and attack him for what he didn't say.

It seems that the use of the word "speculate" has caused all this frenzy. Had he just said, "the poor run of results in 2011 has kept supporters away", I doubt this thread would exist.

However, it's use in this context is perfectly correct.

spec·u·late   [spek-yuh-leyt]
verb (used without object), -lat·ed, -lat·ing.

1. to engage in thought or reflection; meditate (often followed by on, upon, or a clause).

Although I too think (speculate) that attendances are down because of what's been happening on the pitch, in fact, there are many reasons why people have stopped going.

For example, Doddie won't go while Petrie is at the club. TQM wasn't going anyway. Some folk are feeling the pinch of the global downturn, some have jobs to go to on a Saturday and I like golf.

If Petrie had said that the reason for these stayaways were purely the results, he really would have been wrong.

But that's just semantics.

[joebakerforever]

But that's exactly what he is saying. :confused:




This thread's ridiculous.


Looks like you and others are either having comprehension problems with the quote "it is easy to speculate", or are deliberately misinterpreting the correct meaning.

FYI speculate is defined as "Form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence." or in a single word "guess".

If you really think that his statement is acknowledging /admitting that "the poor run of results in 2011 has kept supporters away", then you are certainly on a different wavelength to others.

I notice you ignored the suggestion that lapsed season ticket holders should be contacted to ascertain their reasons for withdrawing their support.

It is those who have voted with their feet that the Board should be actively entering into dialogue with.

Have their been any initiatives taken to do this or is this an anathema to Rod, given his reluctance to enter into dialogue with the media in general ?