What Do You Do With a Problem Like Hibernian?

[Speedway]

The 'Matchday Experience' on Saturday was an interesting insight into the workings at Hibs.

At roughly 2.27pm, Lee Currie, Steve Thicot and Lewis Stevenson were in the club shop posing for photos and signing autographs. Nice touch for the kids I thought and then I thought what it must be like to endlessly smile into the camera on matchday when you're not injured but haven't been picked.

Elsewhere, Scott Lindsay was stood laughing with his mate just inside the entrance to the shop, which was packed. Didn't understand the point of that. He's not very approachable in those circumstances, because you can't ask the searching questions and at that time on a Saturday, has he not got anything else to do, such as wooing a corporate client into giving the club some money?

Then on the park...

Mark Brown, clearly a solid keeper and does talk to his defence but not in the way that Stack would commentate on where he wants everything and everyone to be.

Michael Hart, clearly a solid RB but shouted at by the bench frequently whilst the ball is in his area of responsibility. Why?

Sol Bamba, a CH who always wants the ball. We should be grateful. Also a CH who attacks, we should recognise that. Also a CH who lost the ball almost everytime he tried to play it forward, we might have a clue why no-one bought him with that.

Francis Dickoh, I felt he was a lot more solid than it seemed everyone else thought. His passing and comfort on the ball were questioned. I would suggest that this is because when Dickoh got the ball, he was given it under pressure and he had two options. Bamba, which would be playing it back where it came from or Brown, who was required to play sweeper on Saturday. Dickoh was comfy, his options weren't. Why Hart chose to stand behind his marker when we attacked, I'm not sure.

Johnathan Grounds, a young lad and one that in my humble, FA Coaching qualified opinion, does not know how to play the left back position, so we'll leave it there.

Ed De Graff A very clever player. He knows where the ball is going before he receives it. The problem is that his team mates are too asleep to be ready for it. Miller being the worst culprit and on his heels three times when De Graff played a quick pass into him, making the pass look poor. We want quick passing, we need players who can read a game and know where to be. De Graaf has this, but runs funny and looks knackered all the time so the fans pick him out.

Liam Miller A skillfull small midfielder with the battling qualities of an amputee. Our second biggest villian on Saturday.

Kevin McBride Plenty of fight, no out ball and the need to stand a yard away from Miller at all times, which I don't quite understand.

Wotherspoon/Galbraith Actually appreciated Yogi hooking him quickly when he wasn't performing. Now I hear he's injured which is a shame because his poor performance would have been left alone otherwise. Danny's first touch was to beat two men and whip in a cracking cross. After that we chose not to play the ball to him unless it was in the air with his back to goal. Why?

Riordan Our last hope, our last fighter, far from perfect but a joy to watch.

Nish/Trackys On brief viewing of the sub and extended viewing of the starter, we have the same player from a different country, which is a shame.

The Manager He clearly has a plan, I can see it. I know what he's trying to do and I like his plan. He screams his plan throughout the match. The players just ignore him or argue. This is a concern. They're not doing what he's asking them to do. Mixu's NOTW interview today gives further insight on this.

So, no fight, no creativity, no idea, no pace.

That's a concern.

What do you do with a problem like Hibernian?

[Hibs Class]

Cannot argue with any of that.

[rainman]

You got a link to Mixu's NOTW interview?

[bawheid]

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The Manager He clearly has a plan, I can see it. I know what he's trying to do and I like his plan. He screams his plan throughout the match. The players just ignore him or argue. This is a concern. They're not doing what he's asking them to do. Mixu's NOTW interview today gives further insight on this.

So, no fight, no creativity, no idea, no pace.

That's a concern.

What do you do with a problem like Hibernian?

Good post Speedway.

What do you do? You give the manager the time to empty those who won't/can't stick to his plan.

I know we'll get the "he's had three transfer windows" response, but maybe it just takes longer than that.

[Beefster]

Good post, bawheid. I agree with you about De Graaf too. Far better than he's getting credit for.

[Beefster]

Oops. OP was Speedway so 'Good post, Speedway'!

[Speedway]

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You got a link to Mixu's NOTW interview?

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scot...llie-boss.html

There you go.

I've also contradicted myself in the opening post. I've said that McBride has plenty of fight but then called Deek our last fighter.

What I mean is that McBride has passion, Deek knows what it is to be a Hibby and plays like it. There's a difference.

When we play like the away team at home to the league's bottom club, I'm not convinced that the manager is the main culprit.

[Speedway]

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Good post, bawheid. I agree with you about De Graaf too. Far better than he's getting credit for.

Beefster, it reminds me of Ian Wright when he signed for Burnley. He'd make runs and create space for himself only to see the ball played where he'd just come from.

This made Burnley fans angry that he was running away from the ball when in fact he was actually thinking about two moves ahead of his teamates and as such, didn't last long in that side.

[bighairyfaeleith]

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The 'Matchday Experience' on Saturday was an interesting insight into the workings at Hibs.

At roughly 2.27pm, Lee Currie, Steve Thicot and Lewis Stevenson were in the club shop posing for photos and signing autographs. Nice touch for the kids I thought and then I thought what it must be like to endlessly smile into the camera on matchday when you're not injured but haven't been picked.

Elsewhere, Scott Lindsay was stood laughing with his mate just inside the entrance to the shop, which was packed. Didn't understand the point of that. He's not very approachable in those circumstances, because you can't ask the searching questions and at that time on a Saturday, has he not got anything else to do, such as wooing a corporate client into giving the club some money?

Then on the park...

Mark Brown, clearly a solid keeper and does talk to his defence but not in the way that Stack would commentate on where he wants everything and everyone to be.

Michael Hart, clearly a solid RB but shouted at by the bench frequently whilst the ball is in his area of responsibility. Why?

Sol Bamba, a CH who always wants the ball. We should be grateful. Also a CH who attacks, we should recognise that. Also a CH who lost the ball almost everytime he tried to play it forward, we might have a clue why no-one bought him with that.

Francis Dickoh, I felt he was a lot more solid than it seemed everyone else thought. His passing and comfort on the ball were questioned. I would suggest that this is because when Dickoh got the ball, he was given it under pressure and he had two options. Bamba, which would be playing it back where it came from or Brown, who was required to play sweeper on Saturday. Dickoh was comfy, his options weren't. Why Hart chose to stand behind his marker when we attacked, I'm not sure.

Johnathan Grounds, a young lad and one that in my humble, FA Coaching qualified opinion, does not know how to play the left back position, so we'll leave it there.

Ed De Graff A very clever player. He knows where the ball is going before he receives it. The problem is that his team mates are too asleep to be ready for it. Miller being the worst culprit and on his heels three times when De Graff played a quick pass into him, making the pass look poor. We want quick passing, we need players who can read a game and know where to be. De Graaf has this, but runs funny and looks knackered all the time so the fans pick him out.

Liam Miller A skillfull small midfielder with the battling qualities of an amputee. Our second biggest villian on Saturday.

Kevin McBride Plenty of fight, no out ball and the need to stand a yard away from Miller at all times, which I don't quite understand.

Wotherspoon/Galbraith Actually appreciated Yogi hooking him quickly when he wasn't performing. Now I hear he's injured which is a shame because his poor performance would have been left alone otherwise. Danny's first touch was to beat two men and whip in a cracking cross. After that we chose not to play the ball to him unless it was in the air with his back to goal. Why?

Riordan Our last hope, our last fighter, far from perfect but a joy to watch.

Nish/Trackys On brief viewing of the sub and extended viewing of the starter, we have the same player from a different country, which is a shame.

The Manager He clearly has a plan, I can see it. I know what he's trying to do and I like his plan. He screams his plan throughout the match. The players just ignore him or argue. This is a concern. They're not doing what he's asking them to do. Mixu's NOTW interview today gives further insight on this.

So, no fight, no creativity, no idea, no pace.

That's a concern.

What do you do with a problem like Hibernian?

I agree with most of that except I'm no longer sure that the manager is capable of getting his vision over to he players. I think we look too slow, frankly unfit, and to play the fast passing style yogi wants we have to be much sharper. We had it under collins, but then the players were scarily fit back then.

Your right though, what do you do with a problem like hibernian, I fully expect to be asking that question in thirty years time as well though

[TornadoHibby]

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http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scot...llie-boss.html

There you go.

I've also contradicted myself in the opening post. I've said that McBride has plenty of fight but then called Deek our last fighter.

What I mean is that McBride has passion, Deek knows what it is to be a Hibby and plays like it. There's a difference.

When we play like the away team at home to the league's bottom club, I'm not convinced that the manager is the main culprit.

Who is then Speedway?

[RIP]

Since Mowbray I've been convinced the problems have run much deeper than this years manager

We simply are not run like my idea of a football club

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Who is then Speedway?

I think he's saying the players play a part in this?

[sahib]

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Since Mowbray I've been convinced the problems have run much deeper than this years manager

We simply are not run like my idea of a football club

Care to elaborate? Too many vague accusations abound on this board imho.

[TornadoHibby]

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I think he's saying the players play a part in this?

I assumed that he was alluding to "the players" as it would be unlikely, I would have thought, that the Board would seek to undermine the manager as his success would surely bring corresponding success for the Board!

However, I would seriously doubt that all of the players will be involved if, indeed, this is actually the case, and I wondered if Speedway, or anyone else with actual knowledge of such a situation, might like to share his thoughts/information with the rest of us rather than through an unsubstantiated "maybees aye" thought put out for Hibs.net to contruct it's next "theory" about the team's woeful performances for many months now (with the very odd exception now and then) with!

[Speedway]

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Who is then Speedway?

It's been years since I've seen a side come to ER (Maribor excepted) and driven away from the ground thinking, we were no match for them. Every SPL side I see including the Yams and the OF look beatable with what we've got, to me.

I remember a game against ICT under Mixu, where Bamba was coming forward with the ball from Midfield and everyone in a Hibs jersey was stood with their back to goal watching him (except the fans). He got to the edge of the centre circle in ICT's half and stopped with his hands up as if to say 'anyone want this?'

The fans booed, Mixu needed to GTF etc.

On Saturday both Dickoh and McBride did the exact same thing and I immediately recalled the ICT game. It was like we were playing Hibs netball, no-one can move if you're NOT in possession of the ball.

Dickoh and Mcbride weren't at the club in the ICT game I'm referring to, neither was the manager. Indeed, the manager famously out thought Mowbray at ER from 2-0 down five years ago to win 2-3. When the last time Hibs did that?

Mowbray had the better side.

I'm not saying that the manager is blameless, far from it. I'm saying he's not the main culprit.

Hughes has been reduced to looking at and signing trialists just like Mixu was and was saying earlier on this year how many 'doors had been slammed' in the pursuit for new faces.

Mixu has said how he couldn't play the football expected of him at Hibs with the personnel he was allowed to sign. Collins walked when we wouldn't sanction cash for Hammil. etc etc.

Scott Lindsay was stood having a laugh with his mate in the club shop at 2.30pm. If I was a Chief Exec that had just posted a £2.2m operating loss for the company I'm in charge of, I wouldn't be laughing.

The board are fantastic at finding cash, they're not impressive at allocating it well on the park.

I'm starting to feel that despite what the board publish as their intention, every commercial venture seems important to Hibs except the footie, because that means spending a lot of money for no guaranteed return. Infrastructure delivers forecastable return.

If we could just lose the football team, we'd be a nice profitable business.

I think our vision as a club, needs re-adjusting. Maybe now that we've built the East it will, but this is not the manager's fault. Yogi will be a successful manager elsewhere.

Player acquisition policy (we're looking for the 'right type of player' according to every manager since Mowbray) willingness to deal with certain agents, making sure we have the personnel that people will want to watch etc etc etc. All need looking at in my opinion and that's not down entirely down to the team manager, whoever it is at the time.

[Arch Stanton]

If Hughes really has a plan then he would surely get the fans on his side if he were to articulate it instead of his usual "vision for being in Europe" and "we've got goals in the team". It shouldn't be a secret, should it?

I sit opposite Hughes and I have been noticing when he gets out his seat and he does not look like he is communicating well at all - just vague arm waving - no emphasing any point at all from what I could see.

Last week, for instance, he made a signal to Wotherspoon which could either have been 'play more centrally' or 'swap wings'. Wotherspoon tried to query what was required but Hughes just stood there for a bit before going back to his seat.

Wotherspoon played a bit more centrally for a bit before realising it didn't make any sense so after a few minutes he went back to where he was.

For me it all starts and ends with the manager - whatever other problems are bubbling under it is the manager's job to deal with.

[haagsehibby]

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The Manager He clearly has a plan, I can see it. I know what he's trying to do and I like his plan. He screams his plan throughout the match.
What do you do with a problem like Hibernian?

Care to enlighten us with what this "plan" is from your FA coaching viewpoint. Not a dig - I'm genuinely curious.

[el capitano]

speedway, very good points made and i agree 99%, i can see how different we would be feeling about hibs just now had picked up 6pts in the last 2 games (and before anyone starts , we are the unluckiest team i can remember when it comes to winning thru luck) because imo we have been very very unlucky.

[hibeemad]

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The 'Matchday Experience' on Saturday was an interesting insight into the workings at Hibs.

At roughly 2.27pm, Lee Currie, Steve Thicot and Lewis Stevenson were in the club shop posing for photos and signing autographs. Nice touch for the kids I thought and then I thought what it must be like to endlessly smile into the camera on matchday when you're not injured but haven't been picked.

Elsewhere, Scott Lindsay was stood laughing with his mate just inside the entrance to the shop, which was packed. Didn't understand the point of that. He's not very approachable in those circumstances, because you can't ask the searching questions and at that time on a Saturday, has he not got anything else to do, such as wooing a corporate client into giving the club some money?

Then on the park...

Mark Brown, clearly a solid keeper and does talk to his defence but not in the way that Stack would commentate on where he wants everything and everyone to be.

Michael Hart, clearly a solid RB but shouted at by the bench frequently whilst the ball is in his area of responsibility. Why?

Sol Bamba, a CH who always wants the ball. We should be grateful. Also a CH who attacks, we should recognise that. Also a CH who lost the ball almost everytime he tried to play it forward, we might have a clue why no-one bought him with that.

Francis Dickoh, I felt he was a lot more solid than it seemed everyone else thought. His passing and comfort on the ball were questioned. I would suggest that this is because when Dickoh got the ball, he was given it under pressure and he had two options. Bamba, which would be playing it back where it came from or Brown, who was required to play sweeper on Saturday. Dickoh was comfy, his options weren't. Why Hart chose to stand behind his marker when we attacked, I'm not sure.

Johnathan Grounds, a young lad and one that in my humble, FA Coaching qualified opinion, does not know how to play the left back position, so we'll leave it there.

Ed De Graff A very clever player. He knows where the ball is going before he receives it. The problem is that his team mates are too asleep to be ready for it. Miller being the worst culprit and on his heels three times when De Graff played a quick pass into him, making the pass look poor. We want quick passing, we need players who can read a game and know where to be. De Graaf has this, but runs funny and looks knackered all the time so the fans pick him out.

Liam Miller A skillfull small midfielder with the battling qualities of an amputee. Our second biggest villian on Saturday.

Kevin McBride Plenty of fight, no out ball and the need to stand a yard away from Miller at all times, which I don't quite understand.

Wotherspoon/Galbraith Actually appreciated Yogi hooking him quickly when he wasn't performing. Now I hear he's injured which is a shame because his poor performance would have been left alone otherwise. Danny's first touch was to beat two men and whip in a cracking cross. After that we chose not to play the ball to him unless it was in the air with his back to goal. Why?

Riordan Our last hope, our last fighter, far from perfect but a joy to watch.

Nish/Trackys On brief viewing of the sub and extended viewing of the starter, we have the same player from a different country, which is a shame.

The Manager He clearly has a plan, I can see it. I know what he's trying to do and I like his plan. He screams his plan throughout the match. The players just ignore him or argue. This is a concern. They're not doing what he's asking them to do. Mixu's NOTW interview today gives further insight on this.

So, no fight, no creativity, no idea, no pace.

That's a concern.

What do you do with a problem like Hibernian?

I agree with most of your post except the de graf bit and most of all the Nish part.

How can anyone tell after an 18 mins debut that he is as pish as nish

[down the slope]

The problem with Hibernian fc is that the board could not pick a decent manager to save themselves and i include Mowbry in that lot, every recent manager has been a cheap option which seems to be Rod's way of operating ie we will find a nugget of gold amongst the dross way of thinking which has spectacularly backfired in our most recent history.
I would like to know how much we have spent when managers have been punted and the knock on effect of more players entering /leaving the ER merry go round. This cheapskate way of thinking has to stop now if and when Hughes walks, in any other business the wrong appointments on our scale would result in the chairman getting the bullet but there seems to be little criticism of him on here as he has delivered the new stands/training ground which we all admire but maybe he should stick with the bricks and mortar aspect as he seems to the square root of zero when it comes to football.

[Mickey Edwards]

The personnel issue is simple ; it's fullbacks

Without two good footballers at full back {perhaps even your best players at the club at full back}, the passing game as a consistent stratgey for success is unfortunately a pipedream. Hart is a very good defender one-on-one but that is only part of what the team needs in this system. Without proper footballers at full back the pressure is too great on the front 4/5 to dazzle their way through "the parked bus".

Maybe when Booth returns and slots in at LB we may see a tidier more effective game that we can identify with.

....great OP

[Speedway]

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Care to enlighten us with what this "plan" is from your FA coaching viewpoint. Not a dig - I'm genuinely curious.

No offense taken and not claiming to be an expert, just have a wee bit of insight from a coaching perspective.

Here's what I think the crack is:

What Hughes Wants:
From what I can tell, when the goalie is in possession, he generally wants the goalie to play the ball out to Bamba/Dickoh and have both full backs start to push up as far at the centre line making themselves available for the ball and not too far forward if we lose possession.

He then wants the full bakcs to play the ball into Miller and make themselves available for the ball to go back out wide, whilst staying roughly in line with play whilst De Graff sits in line with Miller for the square ball or to make the late run.

If McBride is a better option for the CHs, he wants McBride to carry the ball and have Miller push forward looking to receive it and/or have two options on either flank, where he wants the ball played in front of them to bomb down the wings with. Then then wants Miller, De Graff to be available on the edge of the box in case Riordan/Nish can't escape their markers.

What Hughes Gets:
What's happening is that often the goalie is punting it if the CH's are under pressure, this comes straight back.

The FB's are sprinting up the park and disappearing behind the opposition full backs making it impossible to find them unless we want to play an offside through ball.

Therefore, we go through the middle where space is tight and no-one's moving which brings the rest of the midfield back inside our own half inviting the opposition to come and press us in that area of the park. Thus the FBs are missing in action and if we lose the ball, the opposition seem to like to play it out wide where a CH now has to go and cover leaving the central channel open.

So Hughes wants the game played in the 3rd quarter of the pitch and we're playing it in the 2nd quarter of the pitch. Hughes wants it wide, players are too thick/slow to play that way and we play through the middle. We don't have backs to goal players who can then bring the likes of De Graff and Miller into play, so we lose the ball that way.

This means that we have to battle for the ball in our own half to get it back and we don't have tacklers in the centre mid positions to do that well. It's left to the CH's to do which is why they then go back to the keeper so often to re-start a move.

Hughes appears to be screaming for the play to be moved up the park but the players simply don't do it or scream that they're too busy marking someone else's player as both Hart and McBride shouted back on Saturday.

That's just my view though.

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I agree with most of your post except the de graf bit and most of all the Nish part.

How can anyone tell after an 18 mins debut that he is as pish as nish

Agreed, he may not be as pish as Nish but in the time he was on, he never jumped for a ball and was in an offside position on our attacks three times. It would have been more, but he was too slow to advance offside. So it looks similar to Nish on that basis.

[basehibby]

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Good post, bawheid. I agree with you about De Graaf too. Far better than he's getting credit for.

And the boo boys wonder why people call them idiots

[Green_one]

While Speedway gives us good insight into some technical areas I think he is missing some points with Hughes's 'plan'.

He is missing width and pace. He refuses to play Galbraith in a forward position and narrows the game. Overall it does not really matter what his plan is, he is simply not executing it. That can be said to be the players but really the buck stops with the manager. Can he not communicate his views? The vast majority of players are Hughes imports, so he cannot blame that area either. Fundementally it is his tactics, his players and his couching we are seeing. The few sucesses are non Hughes e.g. Riordan.

Is the Hughes plan too complex, vague or poor? I have no idea as he simply does not have any real structure executed. For the record I think there are broader things wrong with Hughes beyond some inability to get his plan working. What we are now seeing is a team with no confidence, easily pushed off tactics and not playing as an 11. Its not complex. Fixing it is.

[Hibby Bairn]

Good analysis Speedway. But this should be very coachable to the players over a 10 week period since early July. In addition we should be able to introduce an insurance policy cover by kepping 3 at the back through either full back joining the 2 CH's and forming a back 3 (depending on which wing we are attacking) or if both FB's are attacking then McBride falls back between CH's.

That should make it easier to defend when we lose possession.

THE main problem however remains lack of movement and desire to form attacking moves. We very rarely form small groups of 3 or 4 close together to attack on either flank or through the middle. Making us reliant on 1v1 positions or invariably 1v2 which means we invariably lose possession....and often in the middle third.

End result is not enough chances created by us and too many changes of possession to opposition who then quickly expose our gaps (e.g. ICT goal, Hamilton goal, at least 2 Rangers goals).

Either Hughes isn't communicating or the players aren't listening.

[sparkiehibs]

I felt the big man did well when he came on for Nish

He wanted the ball, was willing to go back to help out and tried to link up with Deek.

I would like to see him start on saturday

As for Hart, he is not making up for his lack of pace with experience in my opinion

And De Graff needs to get on the ball more and drive forward with ball

Brown

Stephens Dickoh Bamba Grounds

Spoony Miller McBride Galbraith

Trakys Deek

[Iain G]

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No offense taken and not claiming to be an expert, just have a wee bit of insight from a coaching perspective.

Here's what I think the crack is:

What Hughes Wants:
From what I can tell, when the goalie is in possession, he generally wants the goalie to play the ball out to Bamba/Dickoh and have both full backs start to push up as far at the centre line making themselves available for the ball and not too far forward if we lose possession.

He then wants the full bakcs to play the ball into Miller and make themselves available for the ball to go back out wide, whilst staying roughly in line with play whilst De Graff sits in line with Miller for the square ball or to make the late run.

If McBride is a better option for the CHs, he wants McBride to carry the ball and have Miller push forward looking to receive it and/or have two options on either flank, where he wants the ball played in front of them to bomb down the wings with. Then then wants Miller, De Graff to be available on the edge of the box in case Riordan/Nish can't escape their markers.

What Hughes Gets:
What's happening is that often the goalie is punting it if the CH's are under pressure, this comes straight back.

The FB's are sprinting up the park and disappearing behind the opposition full backs making it impossible to find them unless we want to play an offside through ball.

Therefore, we go through the middle where space is tight and no-one's moving which brings the rest of the midfield back inside our own half inviting the opposition to come and press us in that area of the park. Thus the FBs are missing in action and if we lose the ball, the opposition seem to like to play it out wide where a CH now has to go and cover leaving the central channel open.

So Hughes wants the game played in the 3rd quarter of the pitch and we're playing it in the 2nd quarter of the pitch. Hughes wants it wide, players are too thick/slow to play that way and we play through the middle. We don't have backs to goal players who can then bring the likes of De Graff and Miller into play, so we lose the ball that way.

This means that we have to battle for the ball in our own half to get it back and we don't have tacklers in the centre mid positions to do that well. It's left to the CH's to do which is why they then go back to the keeper so often to re-start a move.

Hughes appears to be screaming for the play to be moved up the park but the players simply don't do it or scream that they're too busy marking someone else's player as both Hart and McBride shouted back on Saturday.

That's just my view though.



Agreed, he may not be as pish as Nish but in the time he was on, he never jumped for a ball and was in an offside position on our attacks three times. It would have been more, but he was too slow to advance offside. So it looks similar to Nish on that basis.

Interesting observations speedway, obviously I can't see that kind of detail from this side of the world, but one big question, if you are correct, remains:

Are the players incapable of following what is being asked of them, are they unwilling to follow what is being asked of them, or is Yogi incapable of getting his message across to the players?

There is a failure somewhere in there, someone needs to work out how to get over it, or we will have a new manager come the turn of the year.

Personally, I refuse to believe that some of the decent professional players we have, such as Miller/Murray/Hart/Dickoh/Bambas of the squad wouldn't be able to understand the way you suggest Yogi wants the team to play

[Speedway]

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Interesting observations speedway, obviously I can't see that kind of detail from this side of the world, but one big question, if you are correct, remains:

Are the players incapable of following what is being asked of them, are they unwilling to follow what is being asked of them, or is Yogi incapable of getting his message across to the players?

There is a failure somewhere in there, someone needs to work out how to get over it, or we will have a new manager come the turn of the year.

Personally, I refuse to believe that some of the decent professional players we have, such as Miller/Murray/Hart/Dickoh/Bambas of the squad wouldn't be able to understand the way you suggest Yogi wants the team to play

This is linked to my point about our signing policy.

It's not about being able, it's about being ersed.

Our policy is not to pay Transfer fees, because it is dead money and we ain't got much money. Financially, that's sound policy.

However, that means that to meet the expectation of good football at Hibs, you're in the market for technically good players who don't cost money.

This leads us to players who, for whatever reason, are not wanted by their current club or free already.

Now, why are they in either category if they are technically gifted? Liam Miller wasn't wanted by QPR? Why not? Good player, no? Did they have better, similar, cheaper?

I believe that we're signing players who have ability and that appeases the support but are addicted CBeebies (Can't Be Bothereds)

Miller is a prime example. 29, Millionaire, wants a club where he'll be picked no matter what. Hibs is a great destination for him and occasionally he'll light up the place, but mostly he'll not.

Hughes keeps saying that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. I question why he keeps saying that. You certainly don't need confidence to run around a lot and press players.

Hamilton seemed at times to have 20 shaven headed galoots on the pitch. All of them with far inferior ability to our own side but knew that they were the underdogs and decided to make up for being crap by being in our faces all the time.

I think that's what Hughes is saying when he talks about seige mentality, underdogs and boiler suits. He's telling us that the players Hibs sanction are unwanted elsewhere for a reason, even if they have the ability to look superior on paper to any other SPL side.

We saw similar under different managers and different players (Collins' 'Hunting In Packs' philosophy, for instance) Not exactly what we ended up seeing from Filipe Morais, Alan O'Brien or Clayton Donaldson was it, even though all were 'attacked minded players'.

So I see the problem now repeating itself over and over and that tells me that it ain't entirely the manager.

For those older and talented players at ER, you're guaranteed a place in the side and you came to us for regular football and you're not short of a few quid, plus you have a contract anyway. So what else is your motiviation work harder when the manager screams at you to work harder?

[Iain G]

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This is linked to my point about our signing policy.

It's not about being able, it's about being ersed.

Our policy is not to pay Transfer fees, because it is dead money and we ain't got much money. Financially, that's sound policy.

However, that means that to meet the expectation of good football at Hibs, you're in the market for technically good players who don't cost money.

This leads us to players who, for whatever reason, are not wanted by their current club or free already.

Now, why are they in either category if they are technically gifted? Liam Miller wasn't wanted by QPR? Why not? Good player, no? Did they have better, similar, cheaper?

I believe that we're signing players who have ability and that appeases the support but are addicted CBeebies (Can't Be Bothereds)

Miller is a prime example. 29, Millionaire, wants a club where he'll be picked no matter what. Hibs is a great destination for him and occasionally he'll light up the place, but mostly he'll not.

Hughes keeps saying that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. I question why he keeps saying that. You certainly don't need confidence to run around a lot and press players.

Hamilton seemed at times to have 20 shaven headed galoots on the pitch. All of them with far inferior ability to our own side but knew that they were the underdogs and decided to make up for being crap by being in our faces all the time.

I think that's what Hughes is saying when he talks about seige mentality, underdogs and boiler suits. He's telling us that the players Hibs sanction are unwanted elsewhere for a reason, even if they have the ability to look superior on paper to any other SPL side.

We saw similar under different managers and different players (Collins' 'Hunting In Packs' philosophy, for instance) Not exactly what we ended up seeing from Filipe Morais, Alan O'Brien or Clayton Donaldson was it, even though all were 'attacked minded players'.

So I see the problem now repeating itself over and over and that tells me that it ain't entirely the manager.

For those older and talented players at ER, you're guaranteed a place in the side and you came to us for regular football and you're not short of a few quid, plus you have a contract anyway. So what else is your motiviation work harder when the manager screams at you to work harder?

I have thought for sometime there was something wrong with the attitude at Easter Road, perhaps you have hit the nail on the head with some of the above post. I would expect some of the players unwanted by other clubs would want to prove their previous empolyers wrong, but rarely does that seem to happen in our case.

The obvious answer is to pitch in the younger, hungry homegrown players into the squad to compensate for these issues and hopefully energise them, alas Yogi has punted some of those such players out to other clubs instead of putting the pressure on our underachieving experienced players. Only hope when they come back they push straight into the first team set up.

Out of the players we have paid cash for in recent years, only really Deek and Bamba are still in the first team picture, compared to the likes of O'Brien and Makalamby, so you can in some ways see the boards reasoning for being reluctant to give the managers money.

I do suspect there are issues with Yogi and his communication skills in the mix aswell.

[Speedway]

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I have thought for sometime there was something wrong with the attitude at Easter Road, perhaps you have hit the nail on the head with some of the above post. I would expect some of the players unwanted by other clubs would want to prove their previous empolyers wrong, but rarely does that seem to happen in our case.

The obvious answer is to pitch in the younger, hungry homegrown players into the squad to compensate for these issues and hopefully energise them, alas Yogi has punted some of those such players out to other clubs instead of putting the pressure on our underachieving experienced players. Only hope when they come back they push straight into the first team set up.

Out of the players we have paid cash for in recent years, only really Deek and Bamba are still in the first team picture, compared to the likes of O'Brien and Makalamby, so you can in some ways see the boards reasoning for being reluctant to give the managers money.

I do suspect there are issues with Yogi and his communication skills in the mix aswell.

Which was the Mowbray model, albeit that he was forced into adopting that route. This means that we generally will only attract rookie managers prepared to work this way.

Yet we all cry out for experience.

Hughes, from todays Scotsman.

He said: "When I talk about underdogs I am trying to instil a mindset and mentality that we battle and bite for every ball, not going out there thinking it will, or it might happen, but that we are going out to make it happen. As for the 'questions and answers,' the transfer window is closed, we have what we have and we to stick together, to keep battling away and see where that takes us. Football never comes easy, everyone is capable of beating each other as results have already shown this season."

http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Yogi...ans.6540060.jp

I believe Hughes knows exactly what the problems are, I believe he has the answers. I don't believe he or anyone else will be fully allowed to implement the answers though and to be fair to the board, he knew that when he joined.

So he works with what he can get, not always who he wanted as first or even second choice.

Therefore, we revert back to the stick together, won't happen overnight, need the fans support mantras.