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Tom Hart RIP
09-02-2017, 12:11 PM
Good article. Worth a read. Sorry can't add link

Forza Fred
09-02-2017, 12:17 PM
Good article. Worth a read. Sorry can't add link

Excellent article, and Caldwell comes across in a matter of fact way, and reinforces that professional football is a very, very tough gig, which can turn in a moment.

dave62
09-02-2017, 12:17 PM
Link here. (http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/ross-caldwell-recalls-hibs-derby-winner-butcher-fall-out-1-4361811)

Carheenlea
09-02-2017, 12:32 PM
I was up at Dingwall for that game, and to be fair, it wasn't just Butcher that was getting frustrated at him for his less than enthusiastic chasing down efforts near the end as we were hanging on for the win.

21.05.2016
09-02-2017, 12:53 PM
A very open and honest interview. It's a shame things didn't work out for him and I agree Butcher didn't do anything to encourage and help him but I don't think he can completely lay it all down to Butcher and his terrible man management skills. Taking him off after only being on for 10 minutes was an insult to the guy, no wonder he felt humiliated and it sounds as if Caldwell felt Butcher singled him out which can't be good for any young players confidence but that was just one incident. Fall outs with managers are not uncommon.

I often felt that after his derby winner, Caldwell kind of believed that that was it, that he'd made it. His tweet a year or 2 later where he posted a picture of him scoring in the derby with the caption "throwback to when I gave a ****" sort of said to me that he has a bit of an attitude problem and that he's bitter that things didn't go the way he wanted. I do get it, as he said in the interview when you do something like score such an important goal and suddenly your face is all over the papers, fans are praising you etc you will start to get sucked into the fantasy that your gonna be a success and have a glittering career so it can be tough to take if it doesn't pan out that way. However, if he is ever hoping to get back to a higher level again he needs to cut that out and accept where he's at. He showed early promise but I think the bottom line is he simply wasn't good enough. He's not the first young player to make a good breakthrough, show some exciting promise then fail to live up to the hype and he most certainly wont be the last.

Peevemor
09-02-2017, 12:53 PM
Off topic, but noticed this too. http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/murder-accused-told-counsellor-about-son-s-cup-final-goal-1-4361743

High-On-Hibs
09-02-2017, 12:56 PM
To be fair to him, i'd have an attitude problem as well if my career went off track because of clueless morons like Butcher. The worlds full of them though.

Diclonius
09-02-2017, 01:09 PM
Seems to have matured since the incident with Butcher. Shame it didn't work out, he looked a player in those last few games of the 12-13 season.

NAE NOOKIE
09-02-2017, 01:16 PM
Feel for the boy, but perhaps that goal was the worst thing that could have happened to him at the time. It made him a bit of a hero with us and the publicity probably made him think 'that's it I'm in'

What Butcher did to him was humiliating and who can blame him for hating the bugger for it ...... but having said all that he cant really blame Butcher for what has happened since, if Caldwell was a decent player he would have made a dent at one of his other clubs and he hasn't.

I wonder if Kurtis Byrne now plying his trade in Irish football wonders what might have been if his dad hadn't decided he was too good for Hibs and turned the lads head.

Chip shop Joe
09-02-2017, 01:18 PM
Peach of a goal mind! Cheers Ross.

21.05.2016
09-02-2017, 01:27 PM
Feel for the boy, but perhaps that goal was the worst thing that could have happened to him at the time. It made him a bit of a hero with us and the publicity probably made him think 'that's it I'm in'

What Butcher did to him was humiliating and who can blame him for hating the bugger for it ...... but having said all that he cant really blame Butcher for what has happened since, if Caldwell was a decent player he would have made a dent at one of his other clubs and he hasn't.

I wonder if Kurtis Byrne now plying his trade in Irish football wonders what might have been if his dad hadn't decided he was too good for Hibs and turned the lads head.

Is that what happened? Often wondered about him. He was one of the shining stars in the very successful youth team and there was a lot of excitement around him then he just seemed to disappear off the radar. Sad he never stuck around to have a crack at the first team. Another one who will be left with many "ifs, buts and maybes".

Your right, if Caldwell was good enough he would have settled a club and not be left with a list of failed stints at clubs to now be struggling to get off the bench for Brechin at the age of 23. I hate Butcher, the mans a utter cock and doesn't have a clue, as we sadly found out the hard way, but I feel Caldwell is trying to kind of give it "it wasn't my fault, it was all Butchers fault, if it wasn't for him I would have made it at hibs". Butcher didn't do anything to help but I think Caldwell needs to take a bit of responsibility and look at bit closer to home when figuring out why his career went down the toilet.

emerald green
09-02-2017, 02:16 PM
I bet there are quite a few other footballers (both good and not so good) out there who could tell a story or two about Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas' dinosaur man management skills.

If what Caldwell says is indicative of what was going on at Hibs under Butcher & Malpas, it surely contributed hugely to why this club ended up being relegated.

21.05.2016
09-02-2017, 02:36 PM
I bet there are quite a few other footballers (both good and not so good) out there who could tell a story or two about Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas' dinosaur man management skills.

If what Caldwell says is indicative of what was going on at Hibs under Butcher & Malpas, it surely contributed hugely to why this club ended up being relegated.

Two arrogant ****ers who have no clue on how to man manage. He walked into the dressing room in the January after taking charge at hibs and told most of the squad they weren't good enough and wanted rid of them come the summer then still expected the players to give everything and the morale to be up. We were a struggling team ffs, the morale was already extremely low and he goes and tells most of them he wants them out the club at the next window because he doesn't rate them. I get that the players should have still given their all for the club as we were paying their wages but that would have been a big confidence knock. I don't know about you but if my boss came to me and told me he thought I was useless and he wanted me away asap, I certainly wouldn't be feeling very valued and I wouldn't be as keen to give my best for him/her. He shot to hell any sort of togetherness, any sort of morale and we were left with a group of individuals who took their eye off the ball because they knew they had no future at hibs and were probably already more concerned about where their next move was going to be.

Butcher has been found of for the clueless clown he really is at several clubs so why oh why is he still getting a punditry gig?! I guess it just goes to show how far being an ex-hun player will get you. Have that on your CV and your sorted, regardless of how little you have to offer. His co-commentary for the hearts v celtic game last week was cringeworthy and you could tell even the main commentator was getting a bit embarrassed.

My_Wife_Camille
09-02-2017, 03:08 PM
I bet there are quite a few other footballers (both good and not so good) out there who could tell a story or two about Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas' dinosaur man management skills.

If what Caldwell says is indicative of what was going on at Hibs under Butcher & Malpas, it surely contributed hugely to why this club ended up being relegated.I know one ex-Hibs player still playing in Scotland a who will back up Caldwells thoughts and then some when it comes to Butcher and Malpas. Luckily for this guy he was a bit better as a footballer than Caldwell and has ended doing ok for himself

Hiber-nation
09-02-2017, 03:14 PM
I was in corporate that day he scored the winner at swiney with a guy from Hamilton who knew him and said he was a complete and utter bam and was surprised he was starting for Hibs but he knew had a goal or 2 in him. The boy stuck £25 on 2-1 Hibs Caldwell last goal....not bad!

Stantons Angel
09-02-2017, 04:39 PM
Feel for the boy, but perhaps that goal was the worst thing that could have happened to him at the time. It made him a bit of a hero with us and the publicity probably made him think 'that's it I'm in'

What Butcher did to him was humiliating and who can blame him for hating the bugger for it ...... but having said all that he cant really blame Butcher for what has happened since, if Caldwell was a decent player he would have made a dent at one of his other clubs and he hasn't.

I wonder if Kurtis Byrne now plying his trade in Irish football wonders what might have been if his dad hadn't decided he was too good for Hibs and turned the lads head.

Kurtis' dad did him an injustice coming out with that crap about being too good for Hibs and should have been at Celtic.
I dont know if it did turn his head but i know he wasnt happy at all with him saying that and especially to the newspapers too.

Hughes never fancied Kurtis much as a player, kept saying he was never ready to play first team football and he hardly got a game under him.

Then he was let go and Adams took him up to Ross County, where he was living on his own and feeling isolated. He got some game time there and scored a few goals too.

He is now back at home and playing football and i often wonder why a young man with so much talent in our under 19 cup and league double was never given a chance. Personally i dont think it was down to attitude that he didnt make it here.

emerald green
09-02-2017, 07:53 PM
Two arrogant ****ers who have no clue on how to man manage. He walked into the dressing room in the January after taking charge at hibs and told most of the squad they weren't good enough and wanted rid of them come the summer then still expected the players to give everything and the morale to be up. We were a struggling team ffs, the morale was already extremely low and he goes and tells most of them he wants them out the club at the next window because he doesn't rate them. I get that the players should have still given their all for the club as we were paying their wages but that would have been a big confidence knock. I don't know about you but if my boss came to me and told me he thought I was useless and he wanted me away asap, I certainly wouldn't be feeling very valued and I wouldn't be as keen to give my best for him/her. He shot to hell any sort of togetherness, any sort of morale and we were left with a group of individuals who took their eye off the ball because they knew they had no future at hibs and were probably already more concerned about where their next move was going to be.


I know one ex-Hibs player still playing in Scotland a who will back up Caldwells thoughts and then some when it comes to Butcher and Malpas. Luckily for this guy he was a bit better as a footballer than Caldwell and has ended doing ok for himself

Reading both of the above posts reminded me of the following quote:

"No no no Lisa. If adults don't like their jobs, they don't go on strike. They just go in every day and do it really half-assed."

The one and only Homer Simpson in "The Simpsons."

neil7908
09-02-2017, 08:11 PM
I was delighted when we signed Terry Butcher. Can't believe how wrong I was. Everything that's come out since he left has shown him and Malpas to be neanderthal bullies. So glad Leanne had the sense to get rid when she arrived. A lot of other executives with have given him a chance to get us up. That would have been absolutely fatal for us.

Carheenlea
09-02-2017, 08:40 PM
I was delighted when we signed Terry Butcher. Can't believe how wrong I was. Everything that's come out since he left has shown him and Malpas to be neanderthal bullies. So glad Leanne had the sense to get rid when she arrived. A lot of other executives with have given him a chance to get us up. That would have been absolutely fatal for us.

Looking back on the thread in the aftermath of the Dingwall episode, most of us were on the side of "Tel" rather than Caldwell 🙈

http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?274913-Caldwell&highlight=Ross+Caldwell

silverhibee
09-02-2017, 09:36 PM
I bet there are quite a few other footballers (both good and not so good) out there who could tell a story or two about Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas' dinosaur man management skills.

If what Caldwell says is indicative of what was going on at Hibs under Butcher & Malpas, it surely contributed hugely to why this club ended up being relegated.

Think i did mention it before we signed Butcher Malpas and the scout :rolleyes:, they cost us a small fortune to get them away from Inverness, gave them good wages, and then had to pay them off, all in the space of 6 months or so, I mentioned that i had heard from someone who was away with the Scotland squad and they 2 were doing the coaching and they were not liked at all by any of the squad, "Malpas is a f***ing weirdo, just screams and shouts at everyone", it was well known in Scottish football how they behaved up in Inverness as well, how Petrie signed this lot, i don't no, maybe i do but can't say anything about it, even worse that they were not sacked the next day after we got relegated, I don't think Petrie was going to sack them, I always remember Grant Stott leaving the ground the day we got relegated and him saying something along the lines of "you can't expect the club to get rid of them, we need to give them the chance to rebuild the team as we have invested a lot of money getting them here" :rolleyes:

Petrie should have relieved them of there duties the next again day, then wrote a letter of resignation and handed it to STF, and it should have been excepted as well from STF.

marinello59
09-02-2017, 09:52 PM
Looking back on the thread in the aftermath of the Dingwall episode, most of us were on the side of "Tel" rather than Caldwell 🙈

http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?274913-Caldwell&highlight=Ross+Caldwell

I was at Dingwall and there wasn't much sympathy for Caldwell amongst the support. Butcher still had a lot of us fooled at that time, myself included. I thought he was the right man for the job. I will grudgingly admit I was wrong now. In fact I don't think I like him very much now. :greengrin

silverhibee
09-02-2017, 09:59 PM
I know one ex-Hibs player still playing in Scotland a who will back up Caldwells thoughts and then some when it comes to Butcher and Malpas. Luckily for this guy he was a bit better as a footballer than Caldwell and has ended doing ok for himself


Caldwell didn't think much of Barry Smith and his coaching skills when he was on loan at Alloa either.

emerald green
09-02-2017, 10:02 PM
Think i did mention it before we signed Butcher Malpas and the scout :rolleyes:, they cost us a small fortune to get them away from Inverness, gave them good wages, and then had to pay them off, all in the space of 6 months or so, I mentioned that i had heard from someone who was away with the Scotland squad and they 2 were doing the coaching and they were not liked at all by any of the squad, "Malpas is a f***ing weirdo, just screams and shouts at everyone", it was well known in Scottish football how they behaved up in Inverness as well, how Petrie signed this lot, i don't no, maybe i do but can't say anything about it, even worse that they were not sacked the next day after we got relegated, I don't think Petrie was going to sack them, I always remember Grant Stott leaving the ground the day we got relegated and him saying something along the lines of "you can't expect the club to get rid of them, we need to give them the chance to rebuild the team as we have invested a lot of money getting them here" :rolleyes:

Petrie should have relieved them of there duties the next again day, then wrote a letter of resignation and handed it to STF, and it should have been excepted as well from STF.

Instead it was left to Leeann Dempster to clear up the mess, the damage already having been well and truly done.

IMHO they should have been sacked before the club was relegated, and we might just have got the one win required to keep us up. It would have been costly to sack them, but not nearly as costly as 3 years in the Championship I would suggest.

Anyhow, looking forward, the club is now better in every single respect. Hibs just need to get out of the Championship now. This season.

Sir David Gray
09-02-2017, 10:31 PM
I'm certainly no fan of Butcher but when it's not just Hibs that Caldwell's failed at, but also five other clubs since, and he now can't get a regular game for a part-time team then it maybe tells you a thing or two about Caldwell himself.

He maybe needs to take a look closer to home rather than blaming it all on Butcher for his downward spiral.

Heisenberg
09-02-2017, 10:48 PM
Aye, Caldwell clearly isn't very good. That's not Butchers fault. I'm not defending Butcher by the way. He's a ****.

Just Jimmy
09-02-2017, 10:52 PM
Instead it was left to Leeann Dempster to clear up the mess, the damage already having been well and truly done.

IMHO they should have been sacked before the club was relegated, and we might just have got the one win required to keep us up. It would have been costly to sack them, but not nearly as costly as 3 years in the Championship I would suggest.

Anyhow, looking forward, the club is now better in every single respect. Hibs just need to get out of the Championship now. This season.
In hindsight maybe. That said i wouldn't change a thing between then and now because last may was worth every second. The club is now on the up. Stubbs started the rebuild and now lennon is pushing forward. I think we needed the two steps back for a massive one forward. We'll be back in the top flight having ended that hoodoo and regardless of what happens this sunday, we're no longer frightened of them.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

HoboHarry
10-02-2017, 05:36 AM
Think i did mention it before we signed Butcher Malpas and the scout :rolleyes:, they cost us a small fortune to get them away from Inverness, gave them good wages, and then had to pay them off, all in the space of 6 months or so, I mentioned that i had heard from someone who was away with the Scotland squad and they 2 were doing the coaching and they were not liked at all by any of the squad, "Malpas is a f***ing weirdo, just screams and shouts at everyone", it was well known in Scottish football how they behaved up in Inverness as well, how Petrie signed this lot, i don't no, maybe i do but can't say anything about it, even worse that they were not sacked the next day after we got relegated, I don't think Petrie was going to sack them, I always remember Grant Stott leaving the ground the day we got relegated and him saying something along the lines of "you can't expect the club to get rid of them, we need to give them the chance to rebuild the team as we have invested a lot of money getting them here" :rolleyes:

Petrie should have relieved them of there duties the next again day, then wrote a letter of resignation and handed it to STF, and it should have been excepted as well from STF.
Don't really agree with this. It seems to be rarely mentioned on .net but LD had agreed to come on board prior to us being relegated, and at that point it was quite simply not in Rod Petrie's remit to fire Butcher and Malpas. That power had quite rightly been transferred to LD and she did just that.

As for the Rod Petrie should have resigned because of Butcher, again I don't agree. The argument has been done to death in previous threads but the fact remains that a great number of Hibs fans (me included) thought he was the correct appointment at the time. How wrong I and others were is well documented but like another poster alluded to, as bad as it was at the time, winning the cup more than erased those horrid memories. It's also an absolute fact that in spite of us still being in a lower division (and all of the prophesies of doom), we are attracting huge crowds, enjoying our footie, and I for one am thoroughly enjoying being a Hibs fan again.

Unseen work
10-02-2017, 06:11 AM
I liked Ross when he was here.

Big strong lad who could hold the ball up well and always seemed very composed.

I 100% get where he is coming from re coming on last 10 and it being hard to catch your breath when you are doing doggies. It is sometimes hard to get up to the speed of a game nevermind when you're a man down.

For butcher to take him off after 8 or so minutes was a way to humiliate a young boy and show him who is boss. Also showed him for the bully he was widely reported of being.

Pretty Boy
10-02-2017, 07:56 AM
Looking back on the thread in the aftermath of the Dingwall episode, most of us were on the side of "Tel" rather than Caldwell 🙈

http://www.hibs.net/showthread.php?274913-Caldwell&highlight=Ross+Caldwell

Haven't read the thread but I'm sure I was one of them.

At the time it really didn't look like Caldwell was trying up in Dingwall when 9 other players were running themselves into the ground. I'd been up since 5am, was freezing and raging about Paul Cairneys red card so there wasn't too much sympathy for Caldwell from me, or many others if I recall correctly. For a few years we had complained players at Hibs were too soft and we needed someone to 'sort them out'. Butcher had plenty of us fooled into believing he was that man, I'll admit it even if others won't.

I think the whole Butcher episode was really proof that that style of managememt doesn't work anymore.

keep the faith
10-02-2017, 09:07 AM
In hindsight maybe. That said i wouldn't change a thing between then and now because last may was worth every second. The club is now on the up. Stubbs started the rebuild and now lennon is pushing forward. I think we needed the two steps back for a massive one forward. We'll be back in the top flight having ended that hoodoo and regardless of what happens this sunday, we're no longer frightened of them.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Agree with this 100%

Tom Hart RIP
10-02-2017, 09:23 AM
I was also 100% behind TBs appointment at the time.
I also think we would have had a better chance of coming straight back up with him in charge as he would have brought in lots of Hearts style signings all over 6ft and powerful who would have bullied teams (like Hearts did).
For the record i think 3 years in Championship was worth cup win and prefer to watch us play football rather than hoofball.

bigwheel
10-02-2017, 09:51 AM
I was also 100% behind TBs appointment at the time.
I also think we would have had a better chance of coming straight back up with him in charge as he would have brought in lots of Hearts style signings all over 6ft and powerful who would have bullied teams (like Hearts did).
For the record i think 3 years in Championship was worth cup win and prefer to watch us play football rather than hoofball.


I can't believe there is anyone who would have trusted that man to take our football club forward, after relegating us from an almost unrelegatable position...

ekhibee
10-02-2017, 10:09 AM
Kurtis' dad did him an injustice coming out with that crap about being too good for Hibs and should have been at Celtic.
I dont know if it did turn his head but i know he wasnt happy at all with him saying that and especially to the newspapers too.

Hughes never fancied Kurtis much as a player, kept saying he was never ready to play first team football and he hardly got a game under him.

Then he was let go and Adams took him up to Ross County, where he was living on his own and feeling isolated. He got some game time there and scored a few goals too.

He is now back at home and playing football and i often wonder why a young man with so much talent in our under 19 cup and league double was never given a chance. Personally i dont think it was down to attitude that he didnt make it here.
Totally agree with this, I really don't think it was Kurtis Byrne's attitude that was the problem at all. I just don't think he was given that much of a chance to show what he could do in the senior team, whereas Caldwell had more of a billy bigbaws approach. That said, if Caldwell had had the proper guidance from a coaching perspective, I dare say he could have become a player like Cummings. He's still a young man though, but he still needs some kind of support mechanism to help him focus, and I'm not sure if there is much of that kind of support within the Scottish game.

Heisenberg
10-02-2017, 10:10 AM
There's not a chance Butcher takes us back up if he doesn't get sacked. He's failed at every club he's been at minus one good season with Inverness.

jacomo
10-02-2017, 11:56 AM
I can't believe there is anyone who would have trusted that man to take our football club forward, after relegating us from an almost unrelegatable position...


Unmitigated disaster. Butcher got other clubs promoted but had already destroyed any credibility he had by the time we got relegated.

I will never, ever understand why Leeann had to sack him. Any man with an ounce of integrity would have offered their resignation the day after losing the play off.

21.05.2016
10-02-2017, 11:58 AM
I can't believe there is anyone who would have trusted that man to take our football club forward, after relegating us from an almost unrelegatable position...

Agreed. I wouldn't have trusted him to run the pie stand let alone the team after that shambles. I'm so glad Leaann saw him for what he was, him leaving the club and Stubbs coming in was one of the best things to ever happen to this club. I'll never forgive him for what he did to this club. Yes some may argue we were a club in decline and sleep walking towards relegation since about 2007/08 but I have no doubt we would have stayed up if it hadn't have been for him. From about January onwards we went into an absolute free fall. Him and his arrogant wee minion side kick created a horrible morale around the club, it was a very grim time to be a hibs fans.

Getting rid of him and Malpas was the first step in the rebirth of this club and marked the end of the long going rot of bad managers signing wave after wave of mediocre journeymen. This club is night and day from what it was and many of the bridges that were burnt with fans have been mended.

21.05.2016
10-02-2017, 12:01 PM
Unmitigated disaster. Butcher got other clubs promoted but had already destroyed any credibility he had by the time we got relegated.

I will never, ever understand why Leeann had to sack him. Any man with an ounce of integrity would have offered their resignation the day after losing the play off.

Because he was too arrogant, he believes his style of management is correct. Weren't they both still claiming money off hibs afterwards or something?

jacomo
10-02-2017, 12:07 PM
Because he was too arrogant, he believes his style of management is correct. Weren't they both still claiming money off hibs afterwards or something?


Yes, up until his ill-fated appointment at Newport I think.

Total wage thief.

J-C
10-02-2017, 12:55 PM
Because he was too arrogant, he believes his style of management is correct. Weren't they both still claiming money off hibs afterwards or something?


I think the AGM after the sackings said they were not paid any monies after they were sacked, a one off redundancy payment.

JDHibs
10-02-2017, 03:32 PM
Read some garbage on here over time, but someone saying Butcher would have got us promoted after getting us relegated has to be the absolute topper!!

Congratulations.

Tom Hart RIP
10-02-2017, 03:48 PM
I didn't say he would have got us promoted. My point was that he would have signed big powerful players e.g. sow was due to come to us. That worked for Hearts who walked the league. That style worked for them as they steamrolled teams.
I wasn't suggesting that we should have kept him

NAE NOOKIE
10-02-2017, 04:28 PM
Kurtis' dad did him an injustice coming out with that crap about being too good for Hibs and should have been at Celtic.
I dont know if it did turn his head but i know he wasnt happy at all with him saying that and especially to the newspapers too.

Like you I cant say positively that his dad turned his head, but it seemed to me at the time that Kurtis's dad was playing the pushy parent role and almost trying to use the press to either pressure Hibs into giving him a starting place or alert Celtic that if they came knocking Byrne senior would be happy to get his laddie to push for a transfer ...... either way it doesn't seem to have done the guy any favours in the end, which is a shame.


[QUOTE=21.05.2016;4938449]

Getting rid of him and Malpas was the first step in the rebirth of this club and marked the end of the long going rot of bad managers signing wave after wave of mediocre journeymen. This club is night and day from what it was and many of the bridges that were burnt with fans have been mended.

That's the way history will see it ....... Relegation is never a good thing, but the fact that Butcher was such a disaster finally, finally, brought sharply into focus the direction we had been going in for far too long .... Butcher and Malpas were just the straw that broke the Camel's back .... the whole sorry saga which had started after winning the League cup in 2007 lead to as big a gulf between club and fans as I can ever remember in 40 odd years as a supporter.

The one good thing we managed was getting Leeann Dempster to come to the club ( 2 years too late ) the work she has put in to mend fences and restructure the mess we were left in with the help of an intelligent young manager has been truly remarkable. Even the things that cause disagreements between club and fans is different ..... it used to be dissatisfaction with a total lack of communication and engagement with the fans .... now at least the arguments are over whether one initiative or another to bring fans and club together is working properly and I don't think we should lose sight of that fact when we do disagree.

As you say ....... Hibs as an entity, and by that I mean club and fans together, is night and day from the years before we were relegated and long may it continue ...................... we need to go up to keep that momentum going though and I'm sure nobody knows that better than Leeann Dempster .... nothing matters more, not even beating the Yams on Sunday.

21.05.2016
10-02-2017, 05:11 PM
That's the way history will see it ....... Relegation is never a good thing, but the fact that Butcher was such a disaster finally, finally, brought sharply into focus the direction we had been going in for far too long .... Butcher and Malpas were just the straw that broke the Camel's back .... the whole sorry saga which had started after winning the League cup in 2007 lead to as big a gulf between club and fans as I can ever remember in 40 odd years as a supporter.




Absolutely. I will never say relegation was a good thing, a club of this size should never be anywhere near that but we were in a rot we just couldn't seem to get out of. New managers, new players but we were still hobbling along very mediocre. The club needed a total re-vamp years before the final kick in the teeth that was relegation.

I mean look at the players we used to sign. Have a look at the "forgotten players" or the "worst hibs XI" threads and some of the names really will give you nightmares. Bring in a barrel load of lower english league journeymen. The odd time we would unearth a good signing but unfortunately that was far too few and far between.

The mentality in derbies as well. We seemed to just accept that we would get beat where as at hearts, the moment a player signed it was immediately drilled into them how important it was to beat hibs and that loosing to us simply wasn't an option. Call it arrogant, call it obsessed but thats part of the reason they got so many results against us. They simply wanted it more and lifted themselves more for it. We have a far better menality now and have far more swagger going into derbies. Will that mean we always win? Of course not but we aren't going in with the same timid attitude anymore. The 2-2 derby last year shows that. Had we been 2-0 down at HT at tynecastle in the Butcher era, the heads would have gone down, we would have accepted that the game was over and most likely we would have gone on to lose more goals in the second half.

Mikey09
10-02-2017, 06:08 PM
I have to say I thought we had made the right appointment with both. I was still giving them the benefit of the doubt when one night the club I assisted played the Hibs youngsters, who were in the East of Scotland League, in a Semi Final at East Mains. Was a belter of a game with a big crowd, mostly made up of the Hibs lads families. Next thing Malpas turned up and started effing and C'ing at the young boys. Everyone was astounded with James McDounagh utterly embarrassed. Make no mistake Malpas and Butcher were/are a couple of bullies. I have never witnessed anything like the verbal abuse Malpas dished out to those young lads that night in all my time in football.

21.05.2016
10-02-2017, 06:29 PM
I have to say I thought we had made the right appointment with both. I was still giving them the benefit of the doubt when one night the club I assisted played the Hibs youngsters, who were in the East of Scotland League, in a Semi Final at East Mains. Was a belter of a game with a big crowd, mostly made up of the Hibs lads families. Next thing Malpas turned up and started effing and C'ing at the young boys. Everyone was astounded with James McDounagh utterly embarrassed. Make no mistake Malpas and Butcher were/are a couple of bullies. I have never witnessed anything like the verbal abuse Malpas dished out to those young lads that night in all my time in football.

I can quite believe that, Mikey. I really can. Malpas even turned around and started shouting at fans behind the dugout.


Utter ****ers the pair of them.