RIP
14-08-2022, 12:31 PM
In November 2019 Hecky was dismissed having lost 9 games out of 32.
'Former Hibernian midfielder Michael Stewart on Sportsound
The Hibs supporters have not been happy for a long time. I think Paul Heckingbottom's problem has been his recruitment in the summer, it just has not worked. He let go of some players that I think would be doing a lot better than the guys that he's brought in and he's ultimately paid the price because of that recruitment in the summer that has left a gaping hole through the spine of their team.’
This was incredibly harsh given that back then, Paul was not in charge of player recruitment. In spite of him only replacing NL nine months earlier, and steering us to fifth, the new owners bottled it as soon as we slumped to tenth. They did the same with Jack even though he’d steered the club to third six months earlier. I was more disgusted with the lack of spine shown by club management than by the lack of a spine in the team, important as that is.
Now we have set up three squads, released and signed a dozen players, invested more money than ever before in signings and are at the start of a new league campaign. Marshall, Cadden, Cabraja, Kenneh, Bushiri, Porteous, Boyle and Youan all look like 8 starters for me but will need a few months playing together to gel into a settled team.
Even by November we may still be in transition with a couple to return from injury. We might also be bringing a youngster or two in from the Development Squad. If we are still between 8th or 9th in the league at that time, let’s pray that the board have the balls to see through this transformation.
The lack of a spine at board level is almost solely responsible for the managerial and player revolving door that has been the cause of our instability these past fifteen years or so. So just this once, let’s all judge where we are by Christmas instead of spitting the dummy this early in the league campaign.
'Former Hibernian midfielder Michael Stewart on Sportsound
The Hibs supporters have not been happy for a long time. I think Paul Heckingbottom's problem has been his recruitment in the summer, it just has not worked. He let go of some players that I think would be doing a lot better than the guys that he's brought in and he's ultimately paid the price because of that recruitment in the summer that has left a gaping hole through the spine of their team.’
This was incredibly harsh given that back then, Paul was not in charge of player recruitment. In spite of him only replacing NL nine months earlier, and steering us to fifth, the new owners bottled it as soon as we slumped to tenth. They did the same with Jack even though he’d steered the club to third six months earlier. I was more disgusted with the lack of spine shown by club management than by the lack of a spine in the team, important as that is.
Now we have set up three squads, released and signed a dozen players, invested more money than ever before in signings and are at the start of a new league campaign. Marshall, Cadden, Cabraja, Kenneh, Bushiri, Porteous, Boyle and Youan all look like 8 starters for me but will need a few months playing together to gel into a settled team.
Even by November we may still be in transition with a couple to return from injury. We might also be bringing a youngster or two in from the Development Squad. If we are still between 8th or 9th in the league at that time, let’s pray that the board have the balls to see through this transformation.
The lack of a spine at board level is almost solely responsible for the managerial and player revolving door that has been the cause of our instability these past fifteen years or so. So just this once, let’s all judge where we are by Christmas instead of spitting the dummy this early in the league campaign.