Could relegation finish us for a good few years?

[Stan Laurel]

If we get relegated and let's not kid ourselves on that it's not a distinct possibility, I fear Hibernian FC could be finished as a major player in Scottish football for a good few years to come.

For starters, life in Division One won't be as easy as we've found it before. It won't be nearly as easy to get out of it as we've found it to be in the past. For starters it will mean loading our side up with players who are capable of battling in the manner required to win games down there and who may not necessarily be good enough for the SPL should they get us back there.

So the scenario could well be that we lose however many players at the end of this season and the manager has to build a team to win promotion back to the SPL. Then we have to dismantle a fair part of that team and build one capable initially of staying in the SPL before we can push on to the level that this once great club should really be at. The prospect really doesn't bear thinking about and will cost an arm and a leg in the long run.

Worryingly, I fear this is a real possibility.

[--------]

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If we get relegated and let's not kid ourselves on that it's not a distinct possibility, I fear Hibernian FC could be finished as a major player in Scottish football for a good few years to come.

For starters, life in Division One won't be as easy as we've found it before. It won't be nearly as easy to get out of it as we've found it to be in the past. For starters it will mean loading our side up with players who are capable of battling in the manner required to win games down there and who may not necessarily be good enough for the SPL should they get us back there.

So the scenario could well be that we lose however many players at the end of this season and the manager has to build a team to win promotion back to the SPL. Then we have to dismantle a fair part of that team and build one capable initially of staying in the SPL before we can push on to the level that this once great club should really be at. The prospect really doesn't bear thinking about and will cost an arm and a leg in the long run.

Worryingly, I fear this is a real possibility.

I would take exception to only one word in your OP, Stan.

Not "if" - "when".

When we get relegated, that is.

Can't see any way we can avoid it right now.

Would YOU bet money on us beating ANYONE in the SPL right now?

Yes, mate, it WILL be a lot harder to get back up than it was last time around. We're a bleeding shambles right now, and I see no sign of anyone at board level with the faintest clue as to how to sort it out.

[simple]

There's a real possibility of going down, but we're far too big for the 1st division, yeah maybe lasttime mcleish brought in some good players and we won it at an canter, but we would still easliy win that league.

Our unders 19's would win that league!!

We're not going down anyway, but it will be close.

[DH1875]

We have 16 players out of contract in the summer, how do we replace them if we've been relegated? We don't have the cash like last time so what do we do? Bring in 1st division players? Great if we win promotion but then what? We are stuck with 16 first divison players.
Won't be the end if we go down but it would take years to recover.

[Leishy1995]

If we go down, probably the scariest thought to have, we will need money. We should have some. We need passion, we need some. We need to have commitment, we don't have that. Let's pray we do not go down

[Jim44]

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If we get relegated and let's not kid ourselves on that it's not a distinct possibility, I fear Hibernian FC could be finished as a major player in Scottish football for a good few years to come.

For starters, life in Division One won't be as easy as we've found it before. It won't be nearly as easy to get out of it as we've found it to be in the past. For starters it will mean loading our side up with players who are capable of battling in the manner required to win games down there and who may not necessarily be good enough for the SPL should they get us back there.

So the scenario could well be that we lose however many players at the end of this season and the manager has to build a team to win promotion back to the SPL. Then we have to dismantle a fair part of that team and build one capable initially of staying in the SPL before we can push on to the level that this once great club should really be at. The prospect really doesn't bear thinking about and will cost an arm and a leg in the long run.

Worryingly, I fear this is a real possibility.

Relegation would be a major disaster for the club. It's so serious that I don't think Petrie can afford not to put us into a bit more debt than he would care to, in order to attract the quality of players who could keep us in the SPL. Let's face it, financially and prospects-wise, Hibs are a very unnatractive proposition for any decent players at the moment.

[eastmainsmsh]

I Hope Rod Petrie would not be happy to run Hibs as a first division club producing players for the bigger fish

Or are we just panicking

[Sammy7nil]

"I fear Hibernian FC could be finished as a major player in Scottish football for a good few years to come".

Only Hibs fans believe we are a "Major Player" other teams dont rate us and have not for years.

The last time we were a major player was 40 years ago.
Sad to admit but we are a run of the mill mid table team with a few decent years and more bad years. Check the stats

[lobster]

If relegation meant revolution it might not be such a bad thing - provided of course the revolution is of the swift variety. Clearing out the dross and then romping the first division championship could well have a galvanising and renewing effect. The SPL is as boring as **** anyway

[Hibbyradge]

Why the angst, folks? Surely we should be welcoming relegation?

No Old Firm.

No bigotry.

No televised games.

Not the same old run of the mill teams.

A real chance of winning the league.

We should go the whole hog and split our home revenue with the likes of Cowdenbeath and Stirling Albion.

And we should lobby for 16 teams in the Irn Bru first division..

Can't wait for it.

[Phil D. Rolls]

It wouldn't be healthy and it would make us more on a par with the likes of St Mirren than the Yams, Sheep and Arabs.

[lobster]

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It wouldn't be healthy and it would make us more on a par with the likes of St Mirren than the Yams, Sheep and Arabs.

Isnt this the case now?

[Stevie Reid]

The massive difference between now and last time is that McLeish totally transformed us and if the season had lasted a month longer (or McLeish been appointed a month earlier), we definitely would've stayed up. As a support, we were 100% behind the team that went down as they were an improving team that was much better than what we had earlier in the season, and felt confident that we would come right back up.

Calderwood has us on a fast track to the 1st division at the moment, and I can't see what will stop us going down, bar 3 superb signings. What scares me the most is that he was quoted recently as saying that he couldn't remove the fear of failure from the players, that it has to come from them. So if he can't organise and motivate these players, what exactly can he do?

We'll see what happens after the window is closed, but I see no improvement after 3 months, quite the opposite actually. Relegation is armageddon for us, it was our last relegation that led us into the £17M debt that we've just spent the last 7 years trading our way out of.
Whilst I still understand why the stand was built when it was, I fear the quarter empty stadium will only serve to work as a huge motivating factor for our opposition in the 1st, if we are relegated.

[Hamish]

No chance of being relegated - well that is according to Charles Young Esq. Good enough for me when the Voice of Football gives his opinion.

[Reaper]

It's a funny thing but a run of decent results would have peopel talking about the top 6 again. Aberdeen fans no longer fear relegation apparently. That's after 3 wins on the bounce.

[Duffys13]

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The massive difference between now and last time is that McLeish totally transformed us and if the season had lasted a month longer (or McLeish been appointed a month earlier), we definitely would've stayed up. As a support, we were 100% behind the team that went down as they were an improving team that was much better than what we had earlier in the season, and felt confident that we would come right back up.

Calderwood has us on a fast track to the 1st division at the moment, and I can't see what will stop us going down, bar 3 superb signings. What scares me the most is that he was quoted recently as saying that he couldn't remove the fear of failure from the players, that it has to come from them. So if he can't organise and motivate these players, what exactly can he do?

We'll see what happens after the window is closed, but I see no improvement after 3 months, quite the opposite actually. Relegation is armageddon for us, it was our last relegation that led us into the £17M debt that we've just spent the last 7 years trading our way out of.
Whilst I still understand why the stand was built when it was, I fear the quarter empty stadium will only serve to work as a huge motivating factor for our opposition in the 1st, if we are relegated.

I agree we almost stayed up, but I remember the sticky start to life in the first, I remember being at Macdermid Park in the league cup and getting horsed 4-0. There was many questoning McLeish after that match, nobody was sure what was coming next.

[lucky]

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It's a funny thing but a run of decent results would have peopel talking about the top 6 again. Aberdeen fans no longer fear relegation apparently. That's after 3 wins on the bounce.

Thats because they know Hibs and Hamilton will struggle to get to 20 points this season if we both continue in our present form.

[Stevie Reid]

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I agree we almost stayed up, but I remember the sticky start to life in the first, I remember being at Macdermid Park in the league cup and getting horsed 4-0. There was many questoning McLeish after that match, nobody was sure what was coming next.

You're absolutely right, but we still went into the start of the campaign believing that we could come straight back up.

That was a horrible week, we were 4-0 to Saints at HT, then we went to Love Street on the Saturday and were comprehensively beaten 2-0 (Mixu's debut) - the following week at ER, we were playing poorly and Keith Wright put Raith Rovers ahead and it really did look like we were staying down, but then we got a cheap penalty, won 3-1 and never looked back from there.

To be fair to McLeish, he was new to the 1st Division and made the necessary changes quickly - regardless of the money spent, winning the league with our points tally and number of wins was a great achievement.

CC is new to the SPL - let's hope his signings show that he's sussed out what is required too.

[3pm]

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You're absolutely right, but we still went into the start of the campaign believing that we could come straight back up.

That was a horrible week, we were 4-0 to Saints at HT, then we went to Love Street on the Saturday and were comprehensively beaten 2-0 (Mixu's debut) - the following week at ER, we were playing poorly and Keith Wright put Raith Rovers ahead and it really did look like we were staying down, but then we got a cheap penalty, won 3-1 and never looked back from there.

To be fair to McLeish, he was new to the 1st Division and made the necessary changes quickly - regardless of the money spent, winning the league with our points tally and number of wins was a great achievement.

CC is new to the SPL - let's hope his signings show that he's sussed out what is required too.

The signing of Latapy was the catalyst IMO Stevie.

[IberianHibernian]

Noone knows if we`ll be in SPL or not next season since it depends on results and reconstruction ( people at clubs will know more than we know about that ) . Obviously hope we`re in SPL but if we aren`t it`ll be the chance to make a fresh start ( most assume squad will be totally different anyway ) with players , management and maybe at board level too . Last time we benefitted from Sauzee and Latapy but also from playing home matches on Saturdays at 3 pm ( a huge advantage when selling STs especially ) .

[Stevie Reid]

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The signing of Latapy was the catalyst IMO Stevie.

Whilst I believe we still would have won the league without him, it would have been much a much smaller margin and consderably less style. One of the best bits of business the club has ever done, unbelievable to think that we landed him and Sauzee when we were in the first.

[HibeeEmma]

We would still have the best bank balance

[Booked4Being-Ugly]

We are heading for the 1st division for sure and it could ruin us.

I really can't understand the thought process of Petrie and the board. Yes we're loosing money but right now we need experienced players in the team, so what do we do, we sell our best defender (Bamba) just when we need him the most. Suicidal but no-one seems to give a **** any more!

So we got £250K for Bamba but how much willl we loose dropping into the 1st division - short-term financial gain without reinvestment, which could equal long-term financial hardship. It all feels like a downward spiral ATM with no way out.

CC will need to pull, not one, but 2-3 rabbits out the hat in this transfer window to get us out of this hole we're in. I hope to god he turns it around but the pressure's on, even if CC says it isn't!

[SRHibs]

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"I fear Hibernian FC could be finished as a major player in Scottish football for a good few years to come".

Only Hibs fans believe we are a "Major Player" other teams dont rate us and have not for years.

The last time we were a major player was 40 years ago.
Sad to admit but we are a run of the mill mid table team with a few decent years and more bad years. Check the stats

Load of cack TBH. We're the 4th most successful team in the current SPL and have been in the Top 6 for the past 6 years.

I can't see us going down in all honesty. We might be ****, but Hamilton are absolutely dire too.

[lord bunberry]

Another thing to remember is that when we were in the first division last time there was no transfer windows so when mcleish thought we needed to go out and strengthen the team he was able to do so that wouldn't be the case this time

[HIBERNIAN-0762]

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We should go the whole hog and split our home revenue with the likes of Cowdenbeath and Stirling Albion.

Barry pies at both grounds by the way!

[PeeKay]

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I can't see us going down in all honesty. We might be ****, but Hamilton are absolutely dire too.

But Celtic just managed a draw with Hamilton then beat us comprehensively a few days later.
For what it's worth I don't see us going down either.

[Booked4Being-Ugly]

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Load of cack TBH. We're the 4th most successful team in the current SPL and have been in the Top 6 for the past 6 years.

I can't see us going down in all honesty. We might be ****, but Hamilton are absolutely dire too.

Plus we've built the best stadium in Scotland outside Glasgow, reduced our debt and built our own training facilities in the same period!

I think if Duffy finds a bit of form and if we get a couple of decent signings in before Feb we still have a chance of climbing the table.

If we continue the way we are though it could go either way IMO!

[Kerrplunk]

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Load of cack TBH. We're the 4th most successful team in the current SPL and have been in the Top 6 for the past 6 years.

I can't see us going down in all honesty. We might be ****, but Hamilton are absolutely dire too.

I really can see us going down.
Don't think we have the players who can dig out results we need, especially after the split when you play the other clubs around you......could be 2 or 3 cup final type matches to decide our season and we will need players who are up for the battle and give 100% at all times......not seeing it at the minute tho!!

[Sammy7nil]

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Load of cack TBH. We're the 4th most successful team in the current SPL and have been in the Top 6 for the past 6 years.

I can't see us going down in all honesty. We might be ****, but Hamilton are absolutely dire too.

I dont think we will go down either but do you really think outside of ER other fans see Hibs as a "major player".