What is Acceptable Progress Next Season?

[HibbySpurs]

There is a lot of chat on here tonight about Pat Fenlon and his future at the club.

Rather than posing a straight poll on if he should go right now or not I'd be interested to see what level of "progress" in terms of SPL placing he should have achieved one year on from his appointment on 25 November 2012.

Basically vote on what league placing you feel is the MINIMUM acceptable for PF to keep his ob on this date.

[erskine-hibby]

6th is the very least we should be aiming for or accept IMHO

[HibbySpurs]

Id be giving him the benifit of the doubt with 7th in November.

[Hibercelona]

Our target should always be 1st place, regardless of how ridiculous it seems.

If you don't aim for the highest, then you'll never finish high at all.

[shamo9]

Amazing to think that we the fans pushed 'Mixup' (as he became known by some) out for finishing 6th and beating Hearts twice in a month and drawing with both the Old Firm despite not replacing Murphy, Brown and Whittaker. We've really paid for it now. Hughes was out of his depth and Calderwood was an unadulterated disaster. If Fenlon can't turn the tide we'll be hitting absolute rock bottom: relegation next year.

[HibbySpurs]

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Our target should always be 1st place, regardless of how ridiculous it seems.

If you don't aim for the highest, then you'll never finish high at all.

Of course it "should" be but do you realistically expect us to be 1st in November next season so you would have any manager in charge sacked if we were not 1st?

Agree you must set out to win but with the current state of our squad I would question the logic in expecting any manager being able to get us to that position by the tail end of this year.

[Hiber-nation]

Its fek all to do with Fenlon. I'd take 7th which is absoloutely ridiculous really but considering the amount of players that will be coming and going its maybe not too far off the mark.

[Leishy1995]

6th. We need to be top 6 to be a representative of Hibernian FC. Hearts are losing a few decent players, I bet they still replace them better than we do.

[The_Todd]

6th is the bare minimum every season, however I do expect to be in the basement battle again unless the club wake up and smell the coffee.

[Makaveli]

We should never find ourselves behind anyone except Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Dundee Utd and Aberdeen. Even then we should be fighting amongst them for 4th at least.

With our attendances and training facilities, to be outside the top six after a year should be a sackable offense.

[sambajustice]

10th is best we can hope for! This last couple of seasons has been earily similar to the couple of seasons before we went down!!

[Hibercelona]

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Of course it "should" be but do you realistically expect us to be 1st in November next season so you would have any manager in charge sacked if we were not 1st?

Agree you must set out to win but with the current state of our squad I would question the logic in expecting any manager being able to get us to that position by the tail end of this year.

Thats not what I mean.

Obviously the manager will be given targets to meet by the board, but theres nothing preventing the manager himself for aiming for the best.

If you don't at least aim for the best, then it defeats the whole purpose of the competition.

[HibbySpurs]

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Thats not what I mean.

Obviously the manager will be given targets to meet by the board, but theres nothing preventing the manager himself for aiming for the best.

If you don't at least aim for the best, then it defeats the whole purpose of the competition.

Aye, fair dues, of course I want Hibs to win every single game they play and win the SPL at the start of each season. In reality though and in the position we are currently in I was purely interested to see what people think is an "acceptable" position for us to be in, in order for the current manager to be allowed to continue his vision for the club and it's ultimate progression to the top end of the league.

Rome wasnt built in a day etc etc etc

[21.05.2016]

A club our size that has fantastic resources and one of the highest wage bills we should be challenging for europe. However, one step at a time. I want us at LEAST to be in top 6 next season, that where we should be but massive changes need to be made in order to do that.

[Minder]

Rangers are fuc***
Hearts cutting back
Other clubs struggling.

For me it is now or never regards loosening the purse strings. A couple of inspired signings could see us well up in the top three. We showed today the support is there, getting board onside re ambition and a team that is fit,with passion,professional and committed that can pass a ball- who knows what could happen?

[Sir David Gray]

We should be finishing at least 4th every single season but considering how bad things have been over the past couple of years, I would accept 6th next season as a sign that we're at least making some progress.

Only being able to confirm our SPL status in the penultimate game of the season is just not acceptable for a club like Hibs and we should be demanding better, not just expecting it.

[MWHIBBIES]

Progress would be Hibs turning up and fighting to the death to win every single football match, something that is sadly lacking right now.

[Treadstone]

Agree with minder . The SPL is currently omnishambolic . Celtic will be the only club recruiting with a chance to improve the squad . Everyone else is cutting back and/or losing out of contract players that will not be going to other clubs in Scotland . Hibs are entering the race from a standing start , although we are in a better position to do business than many others . Do we trust Nutsy to know the market he needs to operate in and acquire players that can make a difference ? I must admit i am a lot less confident than i was in him than when he first arrived .

[Liberal Hibby]

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Amazing to think that we the fans pushed 'Mixup' (as he became known by some) out for finishing 6th and beating Hearts twice in a month and drawing with both the Old Firm despite not replacing Murphy, Brown and Whittaker. We've really paid for it now. Hughes was out of his depth and Calderwood was an unadulterated disaster. If Fenlon can't turn the tide we'll be hitting absolute rock bottom: relegation next year.

Yup - once you start in the managerial merry go round it's difficult to stop. I'm not convinced by Fenlon at all - he's only marginally better than Calderwood - but you have to at some point break the cycle. If in November we're 12th - Ross County are a tougher proposition than the Pars the majority on here will be baying for blood. And at some point the board will give them what they want.

The only hope is to start thinking for the long term - like we used to do. We haven't adequately replaced the people behind the 'Mowbray conveyor belt' - we are not competing for weekly wage with clubs we ought to skoosh because of an outdated business model.

I'd back Fenlon for two years - even it involved relegation - if he could start changing the structures around - but we give our managers just over a year. It has to change.

[Beefster]

6th would be progress but I'll be happy to start with more than two players that look like they actually give a ****.

[marinello59]

Giving us a team capable of winning a decent number of home games would be a start.

[PeterboroHibee]

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Progress would be Hibs turning up and fighting to the death to win every single football match, something that is sadly lacking right now.

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Giving us a team capable of winning a decent number of home games would be a start.

Exactly. We should be finishing top 6, but the fact is we just avoided relegation this season and we have no idea what sort of players we are going to bring in for next year.

Any sort of progress would do me as long as we have a team on the pitch who, as mentioned, are prepared to actually try and fight for the club, can defend (without conceding comical goals every week) and dont bottle it at home.

[Beefster]

Oh, and getting some/any pace into the team would be nice. The slowest, most immobile team in the SPL bar none.

[semaj64]

With clubs cutting the cloth why can't we get 2nd surely we should be able get good players where signed. free, or on loan, Other clubs seem top get the best out of players, Just maybe this time Paddy can be our man to knock the winning mentallity back into the team.

[HibbySpurs]

It's going to be (hopefully) an interesting close season and for me we need to be doing a lot of our buisness early in order to get a new look squad prepped and ready to play.

I sincerely hope that it's an exceptionally short summer holiday for the likes of PF & RP, I'd expect them back trying to get players that we need in from the 1st week of June, we need to move sharply and have as many of these guys in before pre-season starts proper.


I just wonder who is currently at the top end of PF'S shopping/wish list.

[BEEJ]

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Yup - once you start in the managerial merry go round it's difficult to stop. I'm not convinced by Fenlon at all - he's only marginally better than Calderwood - but you have to at some point break the cycle. If in November we're 12th - Ross County are a tougher proposition than the Pars the majority on here will be baying for blood. And at some point the board will give them what they want.

Regardless of what happens in the summer transfer window, we will start the season as favourites for SPL relegation.

With yet another newly assembled squad we will have to hit the ground running in order to shake off the 'loser' tag by the time the first third of the season is over.

Can PF do it? Not confident about that.

[blackpoolhibs]

We should be in a 3 way fight for 3rd or 4th every season, but rarely are. We just managed to escape relegation by the skin of our teeth, and wont have half of the wasters who played yesterday.

Fenlon has a very very difficult job next season, take away the loan players, and some of them are also pish, he has to build virtually a whole new team.

We could go either way, we could get a decent side, or we might struggle again maybe even worse face relegation.

The 2nd scenario wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[Big Ed]

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It's going to be (hopefully) an interesting close season and for me we need to be doing a lot of our buisness early in order to get a new look squad prepped and ready to play.

I sincerely hope that it's an exceptionally short summer holiday for the likes of PF & RP, I'd expect them back trying to get players that we need in from the 1st week of June, we need to move sharply and have as many of these guys in before pre-season starts proper.


I just wonder who is currently at the top end of PF'S shopping/wish list.

Unfortunately, in Scottish football these days, bringing in players before pre-season is a fantasy. If we were to approach a player and offer him £1500 a week, his agent will use that as a starting figure to barter with other clubs. You might get the odd one or two, but we'll be bringing in half fit players in August. Again.