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jacomo
02-09-2016, 10:40 AM
Mind all that business, eh?

Two years ago they were leading a full scale insurrection against the club, including highly personal attacks on Petrie and STF.

What I didn't fully appreciate at the time is that they did the same the last time we were relegated.

Back in 1998, Stuart Crowther and others were trying to get STF to sell up to Brian Kennedy :rolleyes:

In 2014, it was a platform for Simon Pia to mouth off and various chancers to try their luck at getting control of the club for a song. They tried to derail the share issue and cause as much trouble as possible.

Their last activity seemed to have been the food bank collection in Dec 2015, and then they fizzled out.

STF's quarter century as owner has been eventful. His detachment has been frustrating at times but has perhaps enabled him to see the bigger picture. His obvious pride in winning the Scottish Cup was good to see and richly deserved.

Rougier45
02-09-2016, 10:44 AM
Not seen him in public for a while - what has Sir T had to say about cup win ? Was he at the final ?

jacomo
02-09-2016, 11:32 AM
Not seen him in public for a while - what has Sir T had to say about cup win ? Was he at the final ?

Yes I think so and he was at the City Chambers presentation on the Sunday, clearly enjoying the occasion as you would expect.

Pretty Boy
02-09-2016, 11:43 AM
I think the new HoH and the previous version were quite different groups led by different people although there may have been some crossover in personnel.

Ozyhibby
02-09-2016, 11:44 AM
Pretty sure I saw him on the open top bus although I might have been a little bit drunk.


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Bishop Hibee
02-09-2016, 12:07 PM
The rally after the last relegation helped 'encourage' Petrie and co to appoint Dempster and Stubbs.

JimBHibees
02-09-2016, 12:08 PM
Pretty sure I saw him on the open top bus although I might have been a little bit drunk.


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Yep definitely on the bus.

TrinityHibs
02-09-2016, 12:10 PM
Sir Tom was at ER for the Morton game

Alex Trager
02-09-2016, 12:11 PM
The rally after the last relegation helped 'encourage' Petrie and co to appoint Dempster and Stubbs.
Not true.

Seh was already appointed, pretty certain she was appointed around March/April

Craig_HFC
02-09-2016, 12:11 PM
The rally after the last relegation helped 'encourage' Petrie and co to appoint Dempster and Stubbs.

Dempster was already in here when the rally took place. She'd accepted the job a couple of months before we got relegated.

In fact, she was having a meeting inside Easter Road with various supporters while the rally was taking place.

Peevemor
02-09-2016, 12:12 PM
The rally after the last relegation helped 'encourage' Petrie and co to appoint Dempster and Stubbs.

No it didn't. Dempster was appointed and announced on the official site over a month prior to relegation.

Alex Trager
02-09-2016, 12:17 PM
Dempster was already in here when the rally took place. She'd accepted the job a couple of months before we got relegated.

In fact, she was having a meeting inside Easter Road with various supporters while the rally was taking place.


No it didn't. Dempster was appointed and announced on the official site over a month prior to relegation.


See! ;)

Viva_Palmeiras
02-09-2016, 12:21 PM
Hibstory eh? There's more that unites us than divides us - scapegoating excepted ;)

NAE NOOKIE
02-09-2016, 01:01 PM
At the time the rally was held it was entirely appropriate. The club had been allowed to flounder for years since the heady days of 2007 and IMO fans were rightly questioning why someone ( STF ) would be the owner of a football club but be so apparently indifferent to the fact that it was failing .... even if that was more due to a lack of communication than his actual lack of input behind the scenes doesn't matter, it looked like apathy and the fans ( myself included ) were rightly angry about it.
It may have been the case that certain folk with an agenda or an axe to grind were taking advantage of the situation at that time, but its too easy to forget that it wasn't them who created the situation in the first place.

When you look back to that time it makes it all the more impressive to see the minor miracle Leanne Dempster has achieved since she walked through the door. Not even due to the fact that we have finally laid to rest the Scottish cup curse, but to the fact that even before that happened she had managed to get the club and the fans back on the same side and had installed a positive vibe around the place .... the fact that that vibe is getting stronger in spite of the fact that we are in our third season in the Championship is nothing short of remarkable, though I wont for a second deny that winning the cup has gone a long way to making that the case.

There is no doubt that this is a watershed season for the Leanne Dempster revolution ...... As far as the feel good factor and fan engagement is concerned I cant remember a better time in the last 40 years, with the possible exception of Mowbray's team .... But fail to get promoted this year and the whole thing could collapse like a house of cards.

Season 1 ...... Not going up could be excused, the club started the season as a basket case and with Hearts and Sevco in the league our chances of going up were probably less than 50/50

Season 2 ..... Sevco were considerably stronger, Falkirk decided to have their best season in years and we hit our first mini collapse since Stubbs had come in, add to that we ran out of luck ( thanks Mr Muir & Mr Thomson ) in the play off semi and even then some fans might have turned. But winning the cup made the bad vibes disappear and the fans would probably have forgiven the club anything in return for that magnificent day.

Season 3 .... We have the team, we have the manager, we have as big crowds as we have had in decades, there is no Hearts or Sevco in the league. This time there will be no forgiveness, no excuses and no amount of cup wins will save the day ... promotion is the be all and end all, make it and the vast majority of current ST holders will renew, a couple of more thousand new ones will probably join them and walk ups will be at a decent level .... we could easily be looking at an average of 16,000 in our first season back in the premiership with a number of capacity 20,000 gates during the season. Unthinkable two or three years ago, in fact unthinkable at any time in the last 30 years. There would be no limit as to what we could achieve.

Fail and the club will be nearly back at square one .... our best players will leave or we will be forced to accept any reasonable offer, we will undoubtedly be looking for yet another new manager and we will be likely looking at crowds of 7,000 or so again.

This is a HUGE season for Hibs which could affect the fortunes of the club for the next 10 years or more. Sorry, off topic a bit, but it all relates.

High-On-Hibs
02-09-2016, 03:59 PM
The rally was right for the time. I hardly think it's appropriate to start pointing fingers at people who whinged the loudest when things were as bleak as they were. People had every right to feel how they felt at the time, even if others were more apathetic.

lord bunberry
02-09-2016, 04:04 PM
My memory might be a bit sketchy, but I remember the first hands on hibs campaign being about keeping us at Easter Road. There was a strong possibility of us moving to straiton rather than develop Easter Road. I supported the first one and think it's unfair to compare the 2. Apologies if I've got things mixed up.

My_Wife_Camille
02-09-2016, 04:08 PM
Stuart Crowther! There's a name I haven't seen in a while! Anyone know what he's up to these days? And Trevor Hannant too?

Have to say I'm not sure he was linked to Brads group but happy to be proved wrong

GreenCastle
02-09-2016, 04:16 PM
The rally was right for the time. I hardly think it's appropriate to start pointing fingers at people who whinged the loudest when things were as bleak as they were. People had every right to feel how they felt at the time, even if others were more apathetic.

Exactly - the club was been poorly run on the pitch and behind the scenes.

There is no coincidence that since we have brought in people who know what they are doing we have seen success and a better team.

Though like someone says above - this season is massive and a league title is vital for the feel good factor and future of our club.

marinello59
02-09-2016, 05:09 PM
The rally was right for the time. I hardly think it's appropriate to start pointing fingers at people who whinged the loudest when things were as bleak as they were. People had every right to feel how they felt at the time, even if others were more apathetic.

The rally was the right thing to do.
It wasn't really anything to do with the newer version of Hands on Hibs though. Paul Kane's group were driving it.

tamig
02-09-2016, 05:24 PM
Not seen him in public for a while - what has Sir T had to say about cup win ? Was he at the final ?

He was on the bus on the Sunday. Got a few good pics of him.

lord bunberry
02-09-2016, 05:30 PM
He was on the bus on the Sunday. Got a few good pics of him.
Well done. I was incapable of holding a camera the next day. There was a brief moment when the hangover went away and the Sunday bevvy kicked in, but I was needing a piss at the time and the moment passed :greengrin

tamig
02-09-2016, 05:31 PM
My memory might be a bit sketchy, but I remember the first hands on hibs campaign being about keeping us at Easter Road. There was a strong possibility of us moving to straiton rather than develop Easter Road. I supported the first one and think it's unfair to compare the 2. Apologies if I've got things mixed up.
Aye the first Hands on Hibs was about staying at ER.

Keith_M
02-09-2016, 05:39 PM
Holding a protest rally outside ER after years of decline resulting in relegation was entirely understandable.

Most people were sickened by the fact that Petrie had overseen it all and thought he should have resigned. That was, and remains, my view as well.

Dempster has done a fantastic job, of that there is no doubt, but Petrie is now more tolerated than lauded by the support.

lord bunberry
02-09-2016, 05:44 PM
Aye the first Hands on Hibs was about staying at ER.
That's the way I remember it. At the time a surprising amount of people were in favour of moving to straiton. I remember seeing the plans and thinking it looked a great idea. It wasn't until the reality of what it meant sunk in that I realised what a catastrophic move it would have been. Hibs away from Easter Road is unthinkable now and the original hands on hibs deserves credit and certainly shouldn't be compared to the latest incarnation and their lunatic ramblings.

greenlad
02-09-2016, 05:46 PM
My memory might be a bit sketchy, but I remember the first hands on hibs campaign being about keeping us at Easter Road. There was a strong possibility of us moving to straiton rather than develop Easter Road. I supported the first one and think it's unfair to compare the 2. Apologies if I've got things mixed up.

1990 Hands off Hibs (anti Mercer)
1998 Hands on Hibs I (anti Farmer)
2003 Stand up and be Counted (anti Straiton)
2014 Hands on Hibs II (anti Farmer)

jgl07
02-09-2016, 05:53 PM
Wasn't there an earlier anti-Straiton campaign in the mid 1990s called Frustraiton?

lord bunberry
02-09-2016, 05:54 PM
1990 Hands off Hibs (anti Mercer)
1998 Hands on Hibs I (anti Farmer)
2003 Stand up and be Counted (anti Straiton)
2014 Hands on Hibs II (anti Farmer)
Stand up and be counted! That was it, my memory isn't what it was.:greengrin That was a campaign we should all be thankful for.

tamig
02-09-2016, 06:03 PM
Stand up and be counted! That was it, my memory isn't what it was.:greengrin That was a campaign we should all be thankful for.

Are you sure that was anti-Straiton? I don't remember Straiton cropping up again after the new main stand was built in 2001.

Wilson
02-09-2016, 06:05 PM
Are you sure that was anti-Straiton? I don't remember Straiton cropping up again after the new main stand was built in 2001.

2003 does seem a bit late...

jgl07
02-09-2016, 06:12 PM
2003 does seem a bit late...
It did resurface around 2003 after heavy losses during the McLeish and Sauzee era. Eventually the point was made that Straiton was unacceptable to the fans.

Wilson
02-09-2016, 06:17 PM
It did resurface around 2003 after heavy losses during the McLeish and Sauzee era. Eventually the point was made that Straiton was unacceptable to the fans.

Ah, it did resurface. That rings a bell.

Ozyhibby
02-09-2016, 06:26 PM
IIRC stand up and be counted was more about making sure we got enough people through the gates to put the club back on an even keel after the debt rose to £17m. Straiton was mentioned again but it was not seriously proposed. It was at this time that Petrie made clear we would need 11,000 a game to break even.


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tamig
02-09-2016, 06:33 PM
IIRC stand up and be counted was more about making sure we got enough people through the gates to put the club back on an even keel after the debt rose to £17m. Straiton was mentioned again but it was not seriously proposed. It was at this time that Petrie made clear we would need 11,000 a game to break even.


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Yes that does ring a bell. I think it also coincided with the collapse of a TV deal - which hammered every club in the league.

lord bunberry
02-09-2016, 06:39 PM
Are you sure that was anti-Straiton? I don't remember Straiton cropping up again after the new main stand was built in 2001.
No I'm not sure at all. All I remember was there was a campaign to stop the move to straiton. Stand up and be counted certainly rings a bell. Maybe the other poster was wrong with the dates.

greenlad
02-09-2016, 08:13 PM
IIRC stand up and be counted was more about making sure we got enough people through the gates to put the club back on an even keel after the debt rose to £17m. Straiton was mentioned again but it was not seriously proposed. It was at this time that Petrie made clear we would need 11,000 a game to break even.


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It was semi-seriously proposed around the summer of 2003 (when attendances had slumped to 8-9000 under Williamson) to the extent of being announced on the official website that a joint feasibility study with Hearts was going to be undertaken around a potential share at Straiton (they were far more keen). Very much on the basis that "we don't want to move at all but the current low crowds mean we must explore all avenues" From this I remember various strains to the campaign:

"Stand Up and be Counted - Turn up every Saturday"
"At Easter Road they STAY"

Rod Petrie came down to Sunnyside and presented VERY well and totally off the cuff about the financial position of the club. Any one doubting his passion for Hibs should have seen this.From that the breakeven crowd figure of 11,000 was established. Within months the idea was binned and by 2004 once Tony Mowbray arrived the crowds started rising again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/2993214.stm

jgl07
02-09-2016, 11:48 PM
My recollection of the Straiton goes something like this.

Hibs had been saved from the clutches of Mercer by Tom Farmer, but the club was owned by a different company to the stadium. All the talk was of Hibs relocating to Meadowbank. This proposal was so horrifying that Straiton seemed not such a bad idea. We were told that the stadium would be state of the art. When it transpired that the stadium might initially have only two stands and be situated in a field with poor public transport, the idea suddenly seemed rather bad.

There was opposition to the move to Straiton but I think it was the City Council who killed it off. Hibs had outline planning permission from Midlothian Council for the Stadium. However they had not got permission for the commercial development on the adjacent land. Since the planning gains from the latter was needed to finance the building of the stadium, this was a problem.

Meanwhile the Edinburgh City Council rejected pleas from Hibs and Hearts to delay the implementation of the Taylor Report. Hearts were also looking to build a new stadium at Millerhill. Neither club could have their new Stadium reading within the City Council's timescale. Hence both clubs opted to stay put rather than spending millions on improvements to grounds that would be demolished within a couple of years.

Hibs put the strange bucket seats in the East Terrace and the South Terrace. A year later the New North Stand and South Stand were built. Hearts built the Wheatfield Stand and put temporary seats in the Gorgie Road End.

We all,assumed that Hibs were safe at Easter Road especially after the West Stand was opened. The problem was that Hibs spent rather too much money getting out of the First Division and establishing themselves in the SPL. This brought the club success but the fans failed to show up in sufficient numbers and the losses mounted. This was made worse after the departure of McLeish and Sauzee and the arrival of Williamson with a cost cutting brief.

The spectre of Straiton re-emerged. This may have been a bargaining ploy from Petrie to try and shock the support into backing the club. That launched the 'Stand up and be Counted' campaign. It may even have been sponsored by the club.

It was successful and the Straiton project was abandoned for the second time. Since the opening of IKEA it is doubtful if the roads would have been adequate for Hibs crowds on a Saturday plus the IKEA, Sainsbury, Homebase, Costco, and all the other shops.

I was not convinced that the move was dead until the East Stand was built.

jacomo
03-09-2016, 08:11 AM
1990 Hands off Hibs (anti Mercer)
1998 Hands on Hibs I (anti Farmer)
2003 Stand up and be Counted (anti Straiton)
2014 Hands on Hibs II (anti Farmer)

Yes this is the correct timeline.

The move to Straiton was floated as a possibility after the collapse in the TV deal and consequent pressing need to deal with our debt - £17m or so and rising.

But instead of selling ER, cost cutting and rising attendances did the job.

I realise that the two iterations of Hands on Hibs had different people leading them, but both were triggered by relegation and both directed very personally against Petrie and Farmer.

Moulin Yarns
03-09-2016, 08:31 AM
Found these which helps to clear up the Straiton proposal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eFijrAd9-s

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/hibs-fans-make-a-stand-on-straiton-proposal-1-654346