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View Full Version : my take on relegation etc....



geordie_hibs
27-05-2014, 12:34 PM
On April 25th 1993, Kevin Keegan’s first full season as Newcastle United manager was drawing to an end. His fabulously attacking, open side were closing in on the First Division title and a well-deserved promotion to the Premier League. The Magpies’ opponents on that soaking wet Sunday lunchtime were local rivals sunderland; if the game had been played in conditions conducive to proper football, it seems likely the home side would have won by a cricket score. As it was, the points stayed on Tyneside after a single goal victory, courtesy of an early free kick by Scott Sellars, who bent the ball round the wall and in off the post at the Leazes end in front of the demoralised and drenched away support. Perhaps the only noticeable thing about the visiting side’s sluggish, insipid performance that day was that most of the players appeared to have been suffering from ringworm, which was the most plausible explanation for the fact that almost all of them had had their heads shaved in the lead up to the game. Risibly, the truth was actually that this trichological aberration had been at the instigation of then sunderland manager Terry Butcher, who had sequestered his team away the night before at Otterburn Army Barracks in the wilds of the Northumberland National Park the night before, in an attempt to instil the idea that they were commandoes on a dawn raid into the minds of his squad. This risible attempt at cod psychology was so successful that sunderland had one shot on target all game and continued to flirt precariously with relegation for the rest of the campaign, avoiding the drop on the final day by a single point. Butcher, whose pitiful version of tactics appeared to consist of crass populist post-match cheering and singsongs in front of the away fans, a la Paolo Di Canio, rather than any significant tactical intervention, was relieved of his duties in November 1993 after a 3-1 home loss to Southend saw the Wearsiders fall to the foot of the table.
On May 24th 2009, much to the vicarious glee of a reported 83% of football fans, Newcastle United were relegated from the Premier League after a spineless, woeful 1-0 loss away to Aston Villa. After a season marked by unnecessary managerial change and atrocious decisions in the boardroom, complacency and cowardice on the pitch and a riven support that veered between rabid anger with the owners and mute disgust at the decline of the club, this final day performance summed up everything that had gone wrong in the whole season. All that was needed was one goal, but lethargic underachievers unwilling to bother their ***** played alongside timid plodders who had no reason to be in the first time, while an impotent management team seemed utterly unable to change anything or inspire the one last push required and the top flight status won with such a flourish by Keegan’s charges 16 years previous, was senselessly squandered. The result was a deserved relegation for a team that ought, if the season had been properly managed, to have finished in the top half of the table.
On May 25th 2014, Hibernian concluded the Scottish season in traditional fashion, by being ritually humiliated in the final game of the domestic senior campaign, losing the second leg of the SPL promotion / relegation play-off 2-0 to Hamilton Academicals. This made the score 2-2 on aggregate and Hibs went on to complete this sporting self-immolation by losing 4-3 on penalties. As a Newcastle and Hibs fan, this felt far worse than NUFC’s demotion in 2009, even if it was as equally unnecessary and completely preventable, because unlike the Villa Park fiasco, I was actually present to see this limp disintegration with my own eyes. It was hideous from start to finish. Unspeakably so. Sadness and anger still exist in equal measures and I feel far, far worse than I did 5 years ago.
Of course, with Hibs having opened the 2013/2014 home campaign with an iconic 7-0 loss to Malmo in the Europa League qualifiers, dire embarrassing routs at Easter Road are nothing new under the sun. In 2012, this ritual end of season pummelling was courtesy of a 5-1 defeat to Hearts in the Cup final. In 2013, a 3-0 loss to Celtic involved another fruitless trip to Hampden. Presumably, in Terry Butcher’s world, losing 2-0 at home to Hamilton Academicals in the SPL promotion and relegation play-off is a tangible form of progress and a solid base on which to build, as the net number of goals involved in the defeat is diminishing by one each year. Consequently, next season there will undoubtedly be a single goal loss in the same promotion or relegation play-off to endure, providing Hibs can manage to avoid defeats to the likes of Alloa, Cowdenbeath and Dumbarton, never mind the supposed giants in the league, in the shape of Rangers and Hearts and very handy outfits such as Raith Rovers, who won at Easter Road in the Cup in the season just ending of course and Falkirk. For completeness, the division will also include Livingston and Queen of the South. Fir Park no more! Pittodrie no more! Tannadice no more! Parkhead no more!
Let’s be brutally honest about this; relegation, which had only been avoided in the first place because of the points deduction endured by Hearts, is the only appropriate eventuality for any team that loses 2-0 at home to a side from the division below, days after seemingly doing the hard work by beating said lower league side away from home by the same score. The eventual defeat on penalties was almost incidental; long before Kevin Thomson and Jason Cummings, the former being his final touch of the ball as a Hibernian player, had their spot kicks saved, the script had been written. Unlike the glorious evening at Broadwood in 1997 that marked Darren Jackson’s last game as a Hibee, when Hibs came back from the dead to see off Airdrie, only to predictably go down without a whimper the following season, there was to be no get out of jail card.
Ignoring the statistics, the actual pattern of the Hamilton Academicals home game saw the away side deservedly win the prize of a place in the top flight. From the minute Danny Haynes limped off after 8 minutes, the timid performance of the team and dreadful tactics of Butcher played into the visitors’ hands. Jason Scotland is almost 36; however the Hibs defence appeared to believe he was South Lanarkshire’s answer to Lionel Messi. Ryan McGivern didn’t kick the ball straight all day, so giving the ball away to the Accies striker for the opening goal was a predictable error that set the tone for a woeful 120 minutes. Williams ought to have saved the shot, but predictably he didn’t and it squirmed in with barely 12 minutes on the clock. The only hope was abandonment as the incessant downpours left puddles on the pitch. Sadly, even the weather deserted us and by the time Hamilton prevailed, the glorious sunshine that beat down on Leith hinted at pathetic play rather than pathetic fallacy.
From the point Scotland scored onwards, with the near sell-out crowd containing an appreciable number of fair-weather fans who appeared to have turned up expecting to be entertained and ready to complain at the slightest error, the game became as tense and unpleasant as any game I can recall. Hibs offered nothing and Hamilton always seemed to be able to snatch another goal, at least until Kevin Thomson appeared after 68 minutes. Suddenly, with the appearance of someone who could actually pass the ball with a degree of accuracy and a modicum of vision, it looked as if Hibs could actually grab an equaliser. Sadly Butcher, whose cartoon histrionics on the bench failed to hide the presence of a tactical incompetent and frightened paper tiger in the manager’s role, decided to play it safe by taking off Heffernan for Tudur-Jones. Here we were, playing 4-5-1 at home, trying to defend a 1-0 loss to Hamilton Academicals. Predictably, drawing the opposition on drew one last Hail Mary and, with 40 seconds of injury time left, they made it 2-0. That was it; the phoney war of extra time, whereby Williams spent 30 minutes aimlessly launching high balls while the tallest player on the pitch (Tudur-Jones) stood nowhere near the general direction of centre forward, and the penalties were an unnecessary codicil. The steady stream of deserters from the stand and the mute acceptance of our fate at full time, certainly where I was sat in the West Upper, showed that the fans knew the game was up long before the end.
I lost count of the number of conversations I heard on the way out that included variations on the phrase “this has been coming for 3 years now.” This isn’t being wise after the event; it’s an understanding of the fatal culture of incompetence and mismanagement that has been prevalent in boardroom and dug-out at Easter Road for too long now. Sadly I wish I had the confidence to state that things are going to change, but I don’t. I have no belief that this relegation will prove to be the cleansing experience it was for Newcastle in 2009/2010. I simply can’t see the current incumbents rebuilding the squad to provide a realistic promotion challenge next year, despite the positive outcomes of the last 2 demotions and attendant immediate returns to the top flight.

geordie_hibs
27-05-2014, 12:34 PM
I love going to Easter Road; it is one of the finest football stadia in the world. Setting foot inside it, either stone cold sober after the gloriously life-affirming, invigorating walk down from Waverley, or half cut after several in The Guildford and a taxi down to the Iona for a few extra scoops, makes my heart sing. The Hibernian football shirt is the most beautiful in world football, without question. Sadly, on Sunday May 25th, those shirts and that famous ground were disgraced by the players who wore them, the management team who comprehensively failed to coach them to an adequate standard and the board of directors who have overseen a disgusting fall from grace by the team. In the absence of Hearts and Rangers, there is simply no reason why Hibs should not be 5th in the table, behind only Celtic, Aberdeen, Dundee United and Motherwell. The reason Hibs are not, to my eyes, is the joint responsibility of Terry Butcher and the man who appointed him, Rod Petrie.Now I don’t get to see Hibs anywhere near often enough; this was only my second game of the season, after the superb 3-0 trouncing of Kilmarnock at the end of December (see http://payaso-de-******.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/happy-easter.html). However, I can state now that I was both deeply unhappy with the removal of Pat Fenlon from the manager’s job, not just because I’m also a fan of Bohemian, and even more alarmed by the appointment of Butcher, because I can remember what he was like over twenty years ago when he ran the Mackems. In the same way, I knew that Colin Calderwood would be a disaster as manager at Easter Road on the basis of his previous record and input as NUFC assistant boss to Chris Hughton (now he’d be a wonderful choice as boss!) and he was. It is my take on the current situation that this ridiculous, preventable relegation was caused by an idiot appointing another idiot. Petrie is to blame for giving Butcher the job and Butcher is to blame for failing to get the players to perform adequately.

Following the win over Hearts on January 2nd, the team won 1 and drew 4 of the remaining 18 league games, including a season-ending run of 13 without a victory; that is simply unacceptable and, as has been stated before, relegation form in any other season. It is simply incomprehensible to me how a centre half, who captained his country, gained 90 international caps and appeared at 3 successive World Cups is utterly unable to organise a team to defend a 2 goal lead over a lower division side, whose attack is led by Jason Scotland…
So, where do we go from here? Well, 14 players have been released, with others being told to accept a pay cut or a free transfer, despite “football finance expert” David Glen of Price Waterhouse Cooper claiming relegation will not unduly affect the club’s finances as Rod Petrie “runs a tight ship.” The great news is that Petrie will remain in an overseer’s role, with Leann Dempster arriving from Motherwell as Chief Executive and Butcher will continue as manager. Fabulous eh? It’s easy to be wise after the event, but Butcher should never have been appointed and Fenlon would never have allowed the club to fall so low. But what can you do; walk away from supporting a club I’ve followed for over 40 years? Not a chance!
I’m next in Scotland for the weekend on 15th and 16th August; Teenage Fanclub at Kelvingrove Bandstand on the Friday night as part of my belated 50th birthday celebrations. There will be a game watched on Saturday 16th, though which one is yet to be decided. Ideally I’d like to be at Alloa or Dumbarton away, cheering on Hibs to a thumping victory, but there’s a squad to be rebuilt before then. I’m just frightened at the thought of Terry Butcher being allowed to do that…

Jones28
27-05-2014, 03:13 PM
Great read. A succession of insipid and uninspiring decisions at every level of the club culminated in relegation into a league that, in my view, we don't have a hope of coming out of in the next 2 years. My guess is rangers and hearts will go up next season, followed by Dundee next season, no play-off winner in the first division that season, followed by us the following season.

The chink of light in all this is that we have a chance to promote a lot of our younger players. Why not? Give the youngsters a chance to shine and we may just go back up with some of the hottest properties in Scottish football.