Budgets etc

[James70]

Any sympathy we earned last Wednesday due to a difference in budget size has now vanished. Today we lost to a club with financial resources a fraction of our own and we can't even blame their plastic pitch.

We have known for months that Cadden would be missing for a prolonged period but haven't brought in a new right back. Instead we give a central defender the job of playing out of position, a fact not lost on the Livi manager who took advantage of that fact and deliberately exploited it. This central defender has been sitting on the bench for most of the season so far.

We must have the oldest defence in the league with Marshall, Hanlon and Stevenson all regular starters. Maybe some of the large fee paid for Vente could have been used on our defence instead.

Other teams do their research on our side as confirmed by SJM who said Villa had a whole team studying our matches and knew our frailty at crosses. I wonder if we spend much time studying other teams matches.

I really despair at the whole set up at ER. They knew our resources would be stretched playing in Europe but did not do enough to strengthen where required.

[DIXIHIBS]

Surely Miller and Megwa are right backs but Johnson chose to play neither. People were screaming for Hanlon/Stevenson to be dropped...they were....and the defence was still a shambles. Who to blame players/ manager/both. Its reached the point of no return imho. We need a hard faced bas$€rd in to sort what needs sorted. Same old problem though...players need moved on before new ones come in...its the magic roundabout.

[Forza Fred]

Surely Miller and Megwa are right backs but Johnson chose to play neither. People were screaming for Hanlon/Stevenson to be dropped...they were....and the defence was still a shambles. Who to blame players/ manager/both. Its reached the point of no return imho. We need a hard faced bas$€rd in to sort what needs sorted. Same old problem though...players need moved on before new ones come in...its the magic roundabout.

Reading recent comments it seems to me that Johnston does not see Miller as someone he will pick much.

When he reeled off his reasons for the latest changes he mentioned them for just about every player except Miller.

Archie Lovell, commenting on Hibs tv called for Miller to get a run of games, but appears our current coach thinks differently.

[HarpOnHibee]

I said during the week there that the goals we conceded against Aston Villa were the sort of goals that we would concede against any team and they will ultimately cost us over the course of the season. The defence does not look sure of itself at all and we're losing goals that we really shouldn't be, regardless of the level of the opposition.

[Daily Hibs]

Any sympathy we earned last Wednesday due to a difference in budget size has now vanished. Today we lost to a club with financial resources a fraction of our own and we can't even blame their plastic pitch.

We have known for months that Cadden would be missing for a prolonged period but haven't brought in a new right back. Instead we give a central defender the job of playing out of position, a fact not lost on the Livi manager who took advantage of that fact and deliberately exploited it. This central defender has been sitting on the bench for most of the season so far.

We must have the oldest defence in the league with Marshall, Hanlon and Stevenson all regular starters. Maybe some of the large fee paid for Vente could have been used on our defence instead.

Other teams do their research on our side as confirmed by SJM who said Villa had a whole team studying our matches and knew our frailty at crosses. I wonder if we spend much time studying other teams matches.

I really despair at the whole set up at ER. They knew our resources would be stretched playing in Europe but did not do enough to strengthen where required.
Very good post.

The whole club seems very disjointed just now to the point that the way the club operates is unprofessional. Certainly appears behind in terms of modern standards with proper scouting; not only players to sign but also scouting opposition teams.

[matty_f]

Any sympathy we earned last Wednesday due to a difference in budget size has now vanished. Today we lost to a club with financial resources a fraction of our own and we can't even blame their plastic pitch.

We have known for months that Cadden would be missing for a prolonged period but haven't brought in a new right back. Instead we give a central defender the job of playing out of position, a fact not lost on the Livi manager who took advantage of that fact and deliberately exploited it. This central defender has been sitting on the bench for most of the season so far.

We must have the oldest defence in the league with Marshall, Hanlon and Stevenson all regular starters. Maybe some of the large fee paid for Vente could have been used on our defence instead.

Other teams do their research on our side as confirmed by SJM who said Villa had a whole team studying our matches and knew our frailty at crosses. I wonder if we spend much time studying other teams matches.

I really despair at the whole set up at ER. They knew our resources would be stretched playing in Europe but did not do enough to strengthen where required.

I agree broadly with the overall point and have said many times that it should be a reasonable expectation to beat Livi given the gap in finances.

What I disagree with, is that this is in any way comparable with Villa.

The gap between Hibs' squad value and Livi's squad value is, at a guess, £7-8m

Hibs to Villa is over half a billion pounds.

Equating the two isn't realistic and using this game to say we can't complain about finances v Villa doesn't really work.

Both points can be correct, we should beat Livi with all the advantages we have, no question, and over the season we will likely finish above them more often than not - reflecting our advantage.

Give us £500m+ to build the squad and I would suggest that we blow Livi add anyone else in Scotland out the water each time we play.

[Daily Hibs]

I agree broadly with the overall point and have said many times that it should be a reasonable expectation to beat Livi given the gap in finances.

What I disagree with, is that this is in any way comparable with Villa.

The gap between Hibs' squad value and Livi's squad value is, at a guess, £7-8m



Economies of scale.

That gap between Hibs and Livingston in a Scottish Football sense is huge.

How much are Marshall, Hanlon, Stevenson and Boyle on a week? At least 7k each a week? £1.5m a year they are costing the club? Livingston arent affording that, that's for sure.

[matty_f]

Economies of scale.

That gap between Hibs and Livingston in a Scottish Football sense is huge.

How much are Marshall, Hanlon, Stevenson and Boyle on a week? At least 7k each a week? £1.5m a year they are costing the club? Livingston arent affording that, that's for sure.

Agree, they're not affording that. They're much, much closer to affording that than we are to paying Dagne's wages though.

To reiterate, I'm fully agreeing that Hibs' financial advantage should require to advantage on the pitch and Hibs winning against Livi more often than not. I think we probably just about do that, but not as much as we should.


It's completely incomparable to Hibs v Villa.

[Since90+2]

Economies of scale.

That gap between Hibs and Livingston in a Scottish Football sense is huge.

How much are Marshall, Hanlon, Stevenson and Boyle on a week? At least 7k each a week? £1.5m a year they are costing the club? Livingston arent affording that, that's for sure.

Marshall, Hanlon and Stevenson won't be on anything like 7k a week, be half that if they're lucky.

Boyle might be.

[snedzuk]

Any sympathy we earned last Wednesday due to a difference in budget size has now vanished. Today we lost to a club with financial resources a fraction of our own and we can't even blame their plastic pitch.

We have known for months that Cadden would be missing for a prolonged period but haven't brought in a new right back. Instead we give a central defender the job of playing out of position, a fact not lost on the Livi manager who took advantage of that fact and deliberately exploited it. This central defender has been sitting on the bench for most of the season so far.

We must have the oldest defence in the league with Marshall, Hanlon and Stevenson all regular starters. Maybe some of the large fee paid for Vente could have been used on our defence instead.

Other teams do their research on our side as confirmed by SJM who said Villa had a whole team studying our matches and knew our frailty at crosses. I wonder if we spend much time studying other teams matches.

I really despair at the whole set up at ER. They knew our resources would be stretched playing in Europe but did not do enough to strengthen where required.

We could also have kept Mikey Devlin