Do you think we'll win the league?

[GlasgowHibee]

A simple yes or no, with some reasoning. Let's not make up false situations and say, if that happens, then we can win it.


As of right now, do you think we will win the league?

[Ozyhibby]

Yes

[Keith_M]

Why not turn this into a poll

[andrew70]

Yes by 15 points plus.

[Greencore]

Last season we were the second best team in the league. We had the better players over total crap we we're facing (the Rangers) they have new players, not so good players and lack of experience.

We will win the league, in fact we will crush them and run away with it.

They'll be battling against Falkirk and queens. So

Yes. We will win the league.

[bingo70]

No, I think the rangers will be much better than last year and I'm not convinced we've improved that much.

Imo we'll come second but get promoted due to league reconstruction.

[Platinum Scotty]

Yes

[HappyAsHellas]

Yes!

[marinello59]

Yes.

[Bostonhibby]

Yes

[Waxy]

Yes

[MrSmith]

No, I think the rangers will be much better than last year and I'm not convinced we've improved that much.

Imo we'll come second but get promoted due to league reconstruction.

Agree!

Don't think there is enough about us right now to win it!

[flash]

No, I think the rangers will be much better than last year and I'm not convinced we've improved that much.

Imo we'll come second but get promoted due to league reconstruction.

Surprise to see you take a negative view Bingo.

[jacomo]

Why not? Tis the time for optimism.

We score goals and don't concede many. Key will be making the break through when the team is having an off day or opposition is playing for a point. Goals from midfield are crucial in this respect.

The Rangers are an unknown quantity, we have to have belief in ourselves as a group.

[Billychaotic182]

Head says no heart says yes.

Hope we do

[Steve20]

No.

We could win the playoffs this time though.

[Thecat23]

Yes.

But the league will be changing anyway so if we did finish second we will still go up!

[lord bunberry]

Yes. If we had started the way we finished the league last season we'd have run the cheats much closer than we did. The same again from us(excluding the first 3 months) will be good enough.

[Sir David Gray]

Yes, Sevco's our only competitor for promotion and they're pish so I think we will go up as champions.

[Brightside]

Yes. But it really doesn't matter as we are all going up anyway.

[patlowe]

I think a lot will (obviously) depend on whether Allan stays (and stays fit) but equally important is how well Carmichael and Bartley fit into and enhance our midfield when available. For me, the 11 and bench against Dunfermline is fine but not strong enough to steamroller this league. It lacks bite and cutting edge, attributes we have to hope the aforementioned midfielders provide.

We shouldn't forget Boyle as an option too. Hopefully he comes back the player he threatened to be at the end of the season, given time, and we will have much more variety in our play IMO which we will need to win those nasty games in which we dropped points last season.

If all of the above is well then yes, I think we will win the league.

[Jim44]

Yes. But it really doesn't matter as we are all going up anyway.

Is there a cut off date for announcing reconstruction? I was led to believe that a full season's statement of intent was required.

[scoopyboy]

Yes, but we will need a bit of luck regarding injuries and suspensions.

As a by the way, we should forget all talk of reconstruction that will save the day should we not win the league. We should be totally focussed on winning every game as opposed to sitting back and thinking reconstruction will save us anyway.

[Baldy Foghorn]

Yes 100%

[Smartie]

Yes.

It's important we get off to a good start and lead from the front though.

[WeeRussell]

vote YES.

Reasoning: I think we will make the necessary 'quick start' to get out in front and dominate the league from there.

Here's hoping.

[Andy74]

I think we are 2 or 3 players short and then players that miss pre season (and we have a few) also tend to struggle to get really where they need to be and can pick up lots of niggles.

So, I think no, but we should be well placed to at least win the play off semi.

[Famous Fiver]

Not a hope in hell.

Not a single new face has appeared yet and the present lot were not good enough last year. By the time our new arrivals are fit and ready the Sevco horse will have bolted. We couldn't score last night and the Falkirks, Raiths and Qoss will be equally hard to break down this year. Where are the goals coming from?

Will I be along supporting us? You bet I will, starting on Saturday.

League reconstruction is our best chance.

Tin hat on.

[WeeRussell]

Not a hope in hell.

Not a single new face has appeared yet and the present lot were not good enough last year. By the time our new arrivals are fit and ready the Sevco horse will have bolted. We couldn't score last night and the Falkirks, Raiths and Qoss will be equally hard to break down this year. Where are the goals coming from?

Will I be along supporting us? You bet I will, starting on Saturday.

League reconstruction is our best chance.

Tin hat on.

Why do I keep reading people suggesting we haven't signed anyone new from last season? Have I genuinely dreamed them all :confused:

[Gordy M]

Not a hope in hell.

Not a single new face has appeared yet and the present lot were not good enough last year. By the time our new arrivals are fit and ready the Sevco horse will have bolted. We couldn't score last night and the Falkirks, Raiths and Qoss will be equally hard to break down this year. Where are the goals coming from?

Will I be along supporting us? You bet I will, starting on Saturday.

League reconstruction is our best chance.

Tin hat on.

Your opinion and therefore no need for a tin hat...however....what makes you think that the rangers are so good? They have played one game with new players and got beat, and were by no means impressive? Just wondered why you think they are so much better than us. It may be they are, but ive seen nothing so far to 'know' this??

[GreenArmyyy!]

Not a hope in hell.

Not a single new face has appeared yet and the present lot were not good enough last year. By the time our new arrivals are fit and ready the Sevco horse will have bolted. We couldn't score last night and the Falkirks, Raiths and Qoss will be equally hard to break down this year. Where are the goals coming from?

Will I be along supporting us? You bet I will, starting on Saturday.

League reconstruction is our best chance.

Tin hat on.

Have to agree unfortunately. Although I do think if we find a different style of play that allows us to break defensive teams down we have a big chance. We did fine in the Hearts and Rangers games last year it was the so called lesser teams especially at home that seemed to be the problem.

[Thecat23]

Your opinion and therefore no need for a tin hat...however....what makes you think that the rangers are so good? They have played one game with new players and got beat, and were by no means impressive? Just wondered why you think they are so much better than us. It may be they are, but ive seen nothing so far to 'know' this??

exactly what i was going to post. The Rangers have done nothing to suggest they will run away with it.

[Ozyhibby]

Your opinion and therefore no need for a tin hat...however....what makes you think that the rangers are so good? They have played one game with new players and got beat, and were by no means impressive? Just wondered why you think they are so much better than us. It may be they are, but ive seen nothing so far to 'know' this??

I agree, the players they have signed are in the same pedigree bracket that we sign players from. They may turn out to be decent but we have no way of knowing yet.

[nellio]

If we start fast then yes. A lot of folk ruling Falkirk out, I think they could be better than folk think.

[erin go bragh]

Yes . But I think The Rangers will run us close .

GGTTH

[PeeJay]

It's too early to say, surely? We haven't seen the team play any meaningful games yet and the new players have not even appeared (as far as I'm aware) - We'll have a better idea on Saturday evening. Our failure last season to convert chances into goals is a major worry: if that problem has not been sorted, we won't win the league.

[lyonhibs]

Yes, as long as we hit the ground running. A start anything close to last season's and it'll be a No from me.

[Mikey09]

Not a hope in hell.

Not a single new face has appeared yet and the present lot were not good enough last year. By the time our new arrivals are fit and ready the Sevco horse will have bolted. We couldn't score last night and the Falkirks, Raiths and Qoss will be equally hard to break down this year. Where are the goals coming from?

Will I be along supporting us? You bet I will, starting on Saturday.

League reconstruction is our best chance.

Tin hat on.


First bit in bold... REALLY?!!! Not a hope in hell?!!
Second bit in bold... I take it you mean new signings have not yet played?! apart from Reguero of course!! And you seriously think Allan, Fyvie, Fontaine, Cummings, Gray etc were not good enough last year?! I dunno who you expect us to bring in better than those guys. You're entitled to your opinion but I think it's nonsense.

[The_Horde]

No.

[CraigHibee]

Nope

[Iceman1875]

Yes!


At Easter Road we play...

[Coults1875]

Yes

[Johnny_Leith]

Yes, by the skin of our teeth.

Make no mistake hibs and rangers will still drop points to the likes of Falkirk, Queens, St mirren etc but I think we have enough to come out on top.

The consistency shown at the end of the season past with essentially the same group of players plus some quality additions in midfield of Danny Carmeichel and Bartley with the ruthlessness of Keatings and a fully fit Farid upfront hopefully will make the difference.

Rangers will be much more of a challenge this season and won't go through a McDowell stage of handing points to everyone for a month. They still have the self implosion/scandal type event waiting in the wings I think which is what undermines their new management team. Hibs on the other hand seem to be all pulling together and if we can back the lads to the hilt it'll be a massive advantage.

Can't wait for the start of the season!

[IWasThere2016]

exactly what i was going to post. The Rangers have done nothing to suggest they will run away with it.

:agree: and we must start better than last season. Though, we do need an auld heid or two IMHO.

[Pretty Boy]

No idea.

I don't think Rangers will be anywhere near as bad as some want to believe. They have started to bring in new faces and a lot of them seem young, hungry types. How good they are is another matter of course but to discount them is dangerous.

Ultimately it was our results against other teams that cost us last year as over the course of the season we did ok against Rangers and Hearts. It was the points lost elsewhere that really cost us, and that wasn't exclusively early in the season although it was worse then.

As it stands I don't think anyone can make a real judgement on who will win the league, I expect us to be competitive and we need a good start but it will be a few weeks into the season before we really know where anyone stands.

[hibees 7062]

No

[Dalianwanda]

Yes

[21.05.2016]

Great chance to win the league. Warburton seems to be coming out and saying all the right things to the hun following so they're cocky as ever which suits me fine. Lets them come out in the press and write us off, give it the big un etc, we've seen how thats bit them in the arse before. The huns have strengthened and I think they have finally found themselves a decent manager so it will be a tough battle but we have a good squad to who i'm sure will give them a real run for their money.

[Dav1986]

Yes. We have a settled core with a great spirit in the squad.

I do think we need another 2 or 3 players to strengthen for the whole season but still 5/6 weeks of the transfer window left so not too worried about that right now. Come September and no more additions then that would be a worry.

Also think with more competition up top we will see a better conversion rate from our strikers as there will always be someone ready to step in and make a difference which wasn't always the case last season.

A better start than last year is imperative though.

[Famous Fiver]

Mikey09

I respect your reply and your view. The players you list were a great improvement on what went before and provided some great moments but the cold hard fact is that we did not win the league and could not win promotion through the play offs. Apart from Ruguero our new players have not made an appearance between them. Rangers have recruited experienced professionals (admittedly not marquee signings a la Gascoigne) but they are already embedded and playing. They have the second biggest budget in Scotland by a fair distance. Probably at least four times greater than ours. Logic dictates they will be a force, McCoist is gone.

By the time we are in full flow they could be off into the distance and with our failure to break down 10 men behind the ball time after time last year I fear the same happening this year.

Getting paranoid now, throw in the Glasgow biased refs and we have got a long hard road to travel. I am sure that ref in the play off at ER last season got a lift home on the Rangers bus

I might be talking nonsense and 60 odd years of following Hibs has clouded my judgement but it's my opinion.

[21.05.2016]

Yes, as long as we hit the ground running. A start anything close to last season's and it'll be a No from me.

Absolutely, we cannot allow ourselves to fall behind early again. Last season we started off so badly and by the time we got our act together it was to late as we had fallen to far behind hearts who raced out from the starting blocks. I can understand our poor start last season a bit though, we had a pretty shambolic summer where we got a manager in late who basically had to build an entire team from scratch and there was a lot of upheaval and transition at the club. This season however there are no excuses, we've kept more or less the same squad together with a few additions so we've had a full summer to prepare.

[Fergus52]

I don't see why so many posters are fearing rangers.

They're brought in a few league 1 rejects and will probably have a stronger team than last year, but their squad is no where near complete and the players that have come in will take time to settle.

The core of our team is already in place and know eachother well.

The fear being shown is pretty embarrassing IMO, we will win the league.

[bingo70]

Surprise to see you take a negative view Bingo.

I get the impression there's a touch of sarcasm in there ;-)

I used to be firmly in the happy clappers camp but I've got to admit all positivity and optimism regarding hibs has left me over the last few years.

Hope I'm wrong and I'll continue to renew regardless though.

[NAE NOOKIE]

No

Sad to say the Current Buns will be a better team than last season and I haven't seen anything in Hibs pre season to suggest we will be better than we were. That does not mean we are a bad team, we are actually a pretty good one in my opinion and well worth paying to watch.

I would perhaps be more optimistic if Stubbsy had been able at any time to field his strongest team, but until Carmichael, Boyle, El Alagui, Keatings and Bartley are available how can anybody judge if we will be better or not. I don't know if we will, but I'm positive the Huns will be, simply because they cant possibly have a season as bad as last year and even then, they still beat us to the play off final ..... I know they were to an extent lucky to do that, but the fact remains that they did.

Its also a bit annoying that we haven't arranged a friendly against anybody we can really be tested against. I know friendlies don't mean a lot, but a 0 - 0 draw with Leeds Utd or Union Berlin does more for confidence than one with Ayr Utd I would have thought.

I suppose come Saturday we will have a better idea of where we are at.

[bingo70]

I don't see why so many posters are fearing rangers.

They're brought in a few league 1 rejects and will probably have a stronger team than last year, but their squad is no where near complete and the players that have come in will take time to settle.

The core of our team is already in place and know eachother well.

The fear being shown is pretty embarrassing IMO, we will win the league.

It's hardly fear, it's just football fans making predictions.

I think people just dismissing the rangers are being pretty naive, I fully expect them to be considerably better than last year so we'll need to be as well.

[andrew70]

It's hardly fear, it's just football fans making predictions.

I think people just dismissing the rangers are being pretty naive, I fully expect them to be considerably better than last year so we'll need to be as well.

May I ask why?

Out of their squad there's only two/three I'd take ahead of our players or to complement our squad.

Jason Holt - brilliant player would be perfect in the midfield alongside Allan, Fyvie and Bartley
Lee Wallace - IF he could get himself fit again he'd walk into any side in Scotland
Cammy Bell - more for experience than anything else but Oxley will do fine for me

[Keith_M]

I have absolutely no idea, as nobody really knows what difference our new signings will make. We also really don't know how DerHun are gonna perform this season.

So, that's a 'Dunno' from me.


If I WAS a gambling man..... I still wouldn't put any money on it :wink:

[Tha Cabbage Kid]

Head says Yes

Heart Says YES!

[Spike Mandela]

Yes

We have virtually the same team as last year which had such a bad pre season , terrible results at start of season and yet still finished second .

We have a settled team, players that know their team mates, know the league and what went wrong last year.

Start taking more of our chances, see off teams that last year were nicking draws against us and I think our points tally will significantly improve. Add to that some decent signings that will gradually bed in to the team once they are fit and I think we are in a good place.

Rangers may or may not have improved, remains to be seen, but I see no reason why we should fear them or the challenge ahead.

[Mango Man]

It's hardly fear, it's just football fans making predictions.

I think people just dismissing the rangers are being pretty naive, I fully expect them to be considerably better than last year so we'll need to be as well.

Spot on, this is exactly how I feel, we are a decent team at the moment but I can see it just being the usual Hibs luck that we stay down here for another season while they go up. Hibs have made me like this.

[sauzeelegod]

Can we make this a poll?

[Mango Man]

No

Sad to say the Current Buns will be a better team than last season and I haven't seen anything in Hibs pre season to suggest we will be better than we were. That does not mean we are a bad team, we are actually a pretty good one in my opinion and well worth paying to watch.

I would perhaps be more optimistic if Stubbsy had been able at any time to field his strongest team, but until Carmichael, Boyle, El Alagui, Keatings and Bartley are available how can anybody judge if we will be better or not. I don't know if we will, but I'm positive the Huns will be, simply because they cant possibly have a season as bad as last year and even then, they still beat us to the play off final ..... I know they were to an extent lucky to do that, but the fact remains that they did.

Its also a bit annoying that we haven't arranged a friendly against anybody we can really be tested against. I know friendlies don't mean a lot, but a 0 - 0 draw with Leeds Utd or Union Berlin does more for confidence than one with Ayr Utd I would have thought.

I suppose come Saturday we will have a better idea of where we are at.
Spot on.

[bingo70]

May I ask why?

Out of their squad there's only two/three I'd take ahead of our players or to complement our squad.

Jason Holt - brilliant player would be perfect in the midfield alongside Allan, Fyvie and Bartley
Lee Wallace - IF he could get himself fit again he'd walk into any side in Scotland
Cammy Bell - more for experience than anything else but Oxley will do fine for me

Just because they were so bad last year. They had a few awful spells when they dropped points at home to the likes of alloa and cowdenbeath, I'd be amazed if that was to happen again, I'd also be surprised if our head to head record is as one sided in our favour and I'd also expect them to take more points from games against st mirren than they took off hearts.

With the amount of silly points we dropped I'm amazed we finished second and I'm not convinced we've improved that much from last year.

[hfc rd]

Depends who can stay the more consistent over the course of the season. It'll be a close margin.

[Mikey09]

Mikey09

I respect your reply and your view. The players you list were a great improvement on what went before and provided some great moments but the cold hard fact is that we did not win the league and could not win promotion through the play offs. Apart from Ruguero our new players have not made an appearance between them. Rangers have recruited experienced professionals (admittedly not marquee signings a la Gascoigne) but they are already embedded and playing. They have the second biggest budget in Scotland by a fair distance. Probably at least four times greater than ours. Logic dictates they will be a force, McCoist is gone.

By the time we are in full flow they could be off into the distance and with our failure to break down 10 men behind the ball time after time last year I fear the same happening this year.

Getting paranoid now, throw in the Glasgow biased refs and we have got a long hard road to travel. I am sure that ref in the play off at ER last season got a lift home on the Rangers bus

I might be talking nonsense and 60 odd years of following Hibs has clouded my judgement but it's my opinion.


I agree that The Rangers won't be as bad as last season and Warburton was always going to bring in his players. I just get the feeling some on here are now over hyping them whilst, because we have our new signings out through injury, have started panicking a bit. Your example of Gascoigne is very apt in my opinion. If they were back to the days of making these kind of signings I would concede we were very much 2nd favourites to win the league... However, the signings they have made would not, and do not have me feeling like that. I can't compete with you re how long we have watched Hibs (you deserve a medal for that alone, although I'm sure you've seen some pretty good times!) however I am passionate and respectful. So to say you were talking nonsense was wrong for which I apologise. Whatever happens this season it will be very interesting. However I still think we will win the league................... And The Scottish Cup!! :thumbsup:

[andrew70]

Just because they were so bad last year. They had a few awful spells when they dropped points at home to the likes of alloa and cowdenbeath, I'd be amazed if that was to happen again, I'd also be surprised if our head to head record is as one sided in our favour and I'd also expect them to take more points from games against st mirren than they took off hearts.

With the amount of silly points we dropped I'm amazed we finished second and I'm not convinced we've improved that much from last year.

Fair enough. Some of that I agree with particularly your last point.

Unless Cummings has improved his chance conversion rate then we will need Keatings to return sooner rather than later.

I think keeping a settled back line and Fyvie will stand us in good stead. A full pre season for the majority of the squad will be more beneficial than anything else and I am certain we'll come out firing.

Rangers and ourselves have threadbare squads outside our 'starting XIs' and as much as they will be improved this season it will take them time to gel. We'll take advantage of that and be 10-12 points ahead of them by the end of September.

[Smartie]

Just because they were so bad last year. They had a few awful spells when they dropped points at home to the likes of alloa and cowdenbeath, I'd be amazed if that was to happen again, I'd also be surprised if our head to head record is as one sided in our favour and I'd also expect them to take more points from games against st mirren than they took off hearts.

With the amount of silly points we dropped I'm amazed we finished second and I'm not convinced we've improved that much from last year.

We're much the same as we were at the end of last year. That was good enough to beat most teams but fell a bit short in the biggest games against The Rangers in the playoff and Falkirk in the semi.

We're night and day from what we were at the start of last season though and that's when we dropped a lot of points. Heffernan was around the squad, Nelson played the first few, Booth was getting a game, Harris playing regularly but badly out of sorts. Allan wasn't playing regularly as he got his fitness up, Kennedy blowing hot and cold, Stubbs working out what to do with Handling, Fontaine establishing himself, Oxley getting used to how the defenders played, Craig (and Robertson) still being vilified for every mistake.

A lot of our younger players are older and wiser for the experience, as will Stubbs be. He'll not make the same mistakes again, he was a rookie in his first year and he did well.

We've added to what we had, and we had improved to that position over the course of the season.

[bingo70]

We're much the same as we were at the end of last year. That was good enough to beat most teams but fell a bit short in the biggest games against The Rangers in the playoff and Falkirk in the semi.

We're night and day from what we were at the start of last season though and that's when we dropped a lot of points. Heffernan was around the squad, Nelson played the first few, Booth was getting a game, Harris playing regularly but badly out of sorts. Allan wasn't playing regularly as he got his fitness up, Kennedy blowing hot and cold, Stubbs working out what to do with Handling, Fontaine establishing himself, Oxley getting used to how the defenders played, Craig (and Robertson) still being vilified for every mistake.

A lot of our younger players are older and wiser for the experience, as will Stubbs be. He'll not make the same mistakes again, he was a rookie in his first year and he did well.

We've added to what we had, and we had improved to that position over the course of the season.

Out of interest, does anyone know how many points we got in the last quarter of league games in the season. I still seem to remember us dropping a few daft points but happy to stand corrected if I'm wrong.

[Smartie]

Out of interest, does anyone know how many points we got in the last quarter of league games in the season. I still seem to remember us dropping a few daft points but happy to stand corrected if I'm wrong.

We had a nightmare spell in April when we lost to The Rangers at home, Falkirk in the cup, Raith away and QotS at home. I thought we did well to win our last 5 (?) in a row after that though and we went into the The Rangers game in good form having not been beaten for a while.

We did have an annoying habit of dropping silly points though. We all thought we were in good form after Christmas but we still managed to chuck leads against Falkirk and Raith at home.


Over the piece though were we not in a pretty perilous looking position in about October? When we drew at home to Dumbarton it wasn't looking at all good for us, we'd already lost and drawn a lot of games at that point.

I'll let someone else do the digging for the facts though…….

[bingo70]

We had a nightmare spell in April when we lost to The Rangers at home, Falkirk in the cup, Raith away and QotS at home. I thought we did well to win our last 5 (?) in a row after that though and we went into the The Rangers game in good form having not been beaten for a while.

We did have an annoying habit of dropping silly points though. We all thought we were in good form after Christmas but we still managed to chuck leads against Falkirk and Raith at home.


Over the piece though were we not in a pretty perilous looking position in about October? When we drew at home to Dumbarton it wasn't looking at all good for us, we'd already lost and drawn a lot of games at that point.

I'll let someone else do the digging for the facts though…….

Going by that it appears it's a bit of a myth our end of season form would get us promoted next season, I don't think taking a 5 game winning run is a big enough sample of games.

[FastEddieFelson]

we'll beat the yams in the playoffs

[jacomo]

We had a nightmare spell in April when we lost to The Rangers at home, Falkirk in the cup, Raith away and QotS at home. I thought we did well to win our last 5 (?) in a row after that though and we went into the The Rangers game in good form having not been beaten for a while.

We did have an annoying habit of dropping silly points though. We all thought we were in good form after Christmas but we still managed to chuck leads against Falkirk and Raith at home.


Over the piece though were we not in a pretty perilous looking position in about October? When we drew at home to Dumbarton it wasn't looking at all good for us, we'd already lost and drawn a lot of games at that point.

I'll let someone else do the digging for the facts though…….

We were always playing catch up last season. We were the form team in spells but Hearts were incredibly consistent.

This is why a strong start is so important. If we can establish a lead early on it will put more pressure on Der Hun.

[Smartie]

Going by that it appears it's a bit of a myth our end of season form would get us promoted next season, I don't think taking a 5 game winning run is a big enough sample of games.

Fair enough.

I had meant that we'd gone into the game with the huns in April in quite good form. So we had a good spell, a horror spell then a good spell again, over that period it was probably just about enough to get us promoted (all depends on what the other teams do though).

I suppose it depends which of those teams turns up.

Even then I thought we were night and day from the start of the season. We missed loads of chances and had lots of the ball in the games we've lost. All of Stubbs signings appear to be attempts to address that.

[greenlex]

Yes. More about us going forward when the new guys are fit. Add that to one of the meanest defences and some of last years top scoring forwards in the league and I reckon jobs a good un. We really must be at it from the off tho. Early momentum is key.

[Keith_M]

There were a lot of games last season where other sides packed their defense and we had no plan B or were toothless up front. The ultimate example of this was the semi-final against Falkirk.

If the new players give us the extra options to overcome that, we will win the league. If not, it's gonna be another struggle. Unfortunately, all our new signings are injured or not yet match fit, so it's impossible to tell.

If the unthinkable happens and we lose Scott Allan (especially to them), then forget it.

[blackpoolhibs]

I have no idea, but with this being Hibs the odds are they will let us down.

They do 99% of the time, hopefully this year they produce the 1%.

[Famous Fiver]

FastEddie

10/10!!!!!!

I'll settle for that!!!

[silverhibee]

http://fistfuloftalent.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/70-Why-Not-Just-Sit-on-the-Fence-460x250.jpg

[California-Hibs]

Surely the thread starter has made a mistake in the title and forgot to insert the word 'when' at the beginning?!

Anyway, first week in April me thinks.

[ancient hibee]

Just because they were so bad last year. They had a few awful spells when they dropped points at home to the likes of alloa and cowdenbeath, I'd be amazed if that was to happen again, I'd also be surprised if our head to head record is as one sided in our favour and I'd also expect them to take more points from games against st mirren than they took off hearts.

With the amount of silly points we dropped I'm amazed we finished second and I'm not convinced we've improved that much from last year.

Don't follow the reasoning -they have different team so we don't know whether they'll drop stupid points or not.We have mainly the same team who should know what's required.

[bill the hibby]

If you had asked me a few weeks ago I would've said without a doubt however since Rangers have started making signings and seeing their starting 11 last night, they are starting to look a lot stronger than us

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

Yes for me.
Although we are under pressure to go up, that manky squad along the road are under it ten-fold if not more. For all that they may look good in terms of players, the mechanics of that club are still all over the place. Come the festive period, if they don't have it wrapped up, they will either implode there and then, or panic buy.

[Franck Stanton]

Using last season as our yardstick - when the rangers had Sally in charge, they were not organised, unfit, and had a "couldn't care less attitude", and we had some good victories over them, however.........when McCall took over, for the short period of time he was there, he had them better prepared / organised / fitter and looking like they knew what was expected of them. We failed to beat them during this period. Now I am no expert in their new manager, but if he is any good, [his rep in the game suggests he is], then we could/will struggle against them this year. Can we win the league ? - Yes of course we can. WILL we win the league ? hmmm personally think it will be a close run thing and may even be decided in the 4 x head-to-head games between us.

[Gordy M]

Using last season as our yardstick - when the rangers had Sally in charge, they were not organised, unfit, and had a "couldn't care less attitude", and we had some good victories over them, however.........when McCall took over, for the short period of time he was there, he had them better prepared / organised / fitter and looking like they knew what was expected of them. We failed to beat them during this period. Now I am no expert in their new manager, but if he is any good, [his rep in the game suggests he is], then we could/will struggle against them this year. Can we win the league ? - Yes of course we can. WILL we win the league ? hmmm personally think it will be a close run thing and may even be decided in the 4 x head-to-head games between us.
Em we did beat rangers under mccall, and im sure the points to game ratio showed that fat sally had a better record than mccall?? Tho im not 100% sure....

[Greentinted]

I like to think I can be objective even where I have an emotional investment in something.
And so it's a big YES fi me! :flag:

[SunshineOnLeith]

Yes. And even if they beat us on Saturday there will be no knee jerk panic from me.

Hearts showed last season that consistency wins this league rather than just turning up for the big games. We've got a largely settled team/squad compared to rangers so are well placed to hit the ground running whereas I expect a few silly draws/defeats for rangers in the first round of fixtures. Once we get a lead, we'll maintain it.

[B.H.F.C]

Don't really know what we're going to be up against so I'm not sure.

I do think we will need to win quite a few games more than we did last year though.

A lot will depend on what happens between now and the end of the window as I'm still not convinced we have improved on how we finished last year.

[Pete]

I believe:flag:



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gyWVia7hzGs

[Franck Stanton]

Em we did beat rangers under mccall, and im sure the points to game ratio showed that fat sally had a better record than mccall?? Tho im not 100% sure....


Could be wrong here as I don't recall the date McCall took charge, but we last beat them 0-2 in Feb of this year, lost the game at E/R. ok we won 1-0 in play-off but my post was about league games.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Yes, I think we will. We just need to ensure a good start this time.

[Deansy]

Heart says 'YES' - head says 'NO' !

[lord bunberry]

Using last season as our yardstick - when the rangers had Sally in charge, they were not organised, unfit, and had a "couldn't care less attitude", and we had some good victories over them, however.........when McCall took over, for the short period of time he was there, he had them better prepared / organised / fitter and looking like they knew what was expected of them. We failed to beat them during this period. Now I am no expert in their new manager, but if he is any good, [his rep in the game suggests he is], then we could/will struggle against them this year. Can we win the league ? - Yes of course we can. WILL we win the league ? hmmm personally think it will be a close run thing and may even be decided in the 4 x head-to-head games between us.
Rangers were above us when Sally was in charge. It's the Huns that need to improve on last season and it's debatable whether they have.

[Eyrie]

Yes.

Although that is the usual case of pre-season optimism triumphing over decades of supporting Hibs rather than based on anything substantial.

[Franck Stanton]

Rangers were above us when Sally was in charge. It's the Huns that need to improve on last season and it's debatable whether they have.


You are quite correct, they were above us when sally was in charge, however , that only gave us an opportunity to not only catch them but overtake them. Had sally been binned earlier and McCall given longer in the job, then IMO they would have not lost as many games as they did under sally and we would not have had the opportunity to stay in touch.

[emerald green]

No idea.

I don't think Rangers will be anywhere near as bad as some want to believe. They have started to bring in new faces and a lot of them seem young, hungry types. How good they are is another matter of course but to discount them is dangerous.

Ultimately it was our results against other teams that cost us last year as over the course of the season we did ok against Rangers and Hearts. It was the points lost elsewhere that really cost us, and that wasn't exclusively early in the season although it was worse then.

As it stands I don't think anyone can make a real judgement on who will win the league, I expect us to be competitive and we need a good start but it will be a few weeks into the season before we really know where anyone stands.

:agree: This is how I see it too.

A couple of points I would add. The bit in bold - it remains to be seen how good / bad / indifferent The Rangers new squad turns out to be. One thing I'm fairly sure about though is they will be better than they were under McCoist & his immediate successor (who hated being in the job) for most of last season. Surely it would be too good to be true for them to be worse this season? Does anyone really believe that?

Second point - Hibs season could very much hinge on keeping Scott Allan, and him remaining injury free. I think Hibs, as a team, revolves around / relies upon this one player too much.

[DH1875]

I dunno, will be close though.

[Zazu62]

Yeah why no eh .

[HibbyAndy]

Yes we will.

[Ozyhibby]

We had a nightmare spell in April when we lost to The Rangers at home, Falkirk in the cup, Raith away and QotS at home. I thought we did well to win our last 5 (?) in a row after that though and we went into the The Rangers game in good form having not been beaten for a while.

We did have an annoying habit of dropping silly points though. We all thought we were in good form after Christmas but we still managed to chuck leads against Falkirk and Raith at home.


Over the piece though were we not in a pretty perilous looking position in about October? When we drew at home to Dumbarton it wasn't looking at all good for us, we'd already lost and drawn a lot of games at that point.

I'll let someone else do the digging for the facts though…….

Breaking last season down into quarters we got 11pts, 20pts, 21pts, and 18pts.

[McKenzie]

At a canter. Allowing us to rest players for the Scottish cup final next season. I'll be disappointed if we don't win at least a double.

[semaj64]

yes, as we will be better as a team it may however be closer than last season but hopefully have it won win a few games left