Wake up Hibs; not acceptable. Is there a world beyond football?

[Hibernia&Alba]

The only thing which made me smile today was my dad's stream of consciousness soliloquy in the car home: "supported them man and boy for fifty years and they let you doon every time. Well, this is ******* it Hibs, the gloves are aff; this is tae ******** much; sick of being taken for an idiot; sick of watching failure and tired of waiting for next year". I paraphrase, but it's close.

I don't think the old man was addressing me specifically, rather he needed to vent to the world. His seethe is palpable, as he now sits in his chair with a McEwan's Export. I shall leave him well alone.

Losing to a side who were in the First Division just two years ago really hurts. Being a Hibs fan is never easy, but is today the kind of result you simply can't accept? I will admit that defeat never crossed my mind today, and I was stunned. My question is why following Hibs always has to be an ordeal?

Is there ever a breaking point which tips the balance? Have you ever reached your limit? Do we take sport too seriously in the grand scheme of things?

Life has to be too short, so how we do spend our time and money watching football whilst simultaneously not caring about results?

Hibs are going to kill my auld man

[lord bunberry]

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The only thing which made me smile today was my dad's stream of consciousness soliloquy in the car home: "supported them man and boy for fifty years and they let you doon every time. Well, this is ******* it Hibs, the gloves are aff; this is tae ******** much; sick of being taken for an idiot; sick of watching failure and tired of waiting for next year". I paraphrase, but it's close.

I don't think the old man was addressing me specifically, rather he needed to vent to the world. His seethe is palpable, as he now sits in his chair with a McEwan's Export. I shall leave him well alone.

Losing to a side who were in the First Division just two years ago really hurts. Being a Hibs fan is never easy, but is today the kind of result you simply can't accept? I will admit that defeat never crossed my mind today, and I was stunned. My question is why following Hibs always has to be an ordeal?

Is there ever a breaking point which tips the balance? Have you ever reached your limit? Do we take sport too seriously in the grand scheme of things?

Life has to be too short, so how we do spend our time and money watching football whilst simultaneously not caring about results?

Hibs are going to kill my auld man

The thing is mate it doesn’t have to be this way. For years we’ve had the excuses that we needed to spend money bringing the debt down or building a new stadium. Those excuses are gone, the money was there and we didn’t spend it , the next level was there and we didn’t reach out for it. I’m with your old man, it’s going to kill me as well

[Hibernia&Alba]

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The thing is mate it doesn’t have to be this way. For years we’ve had the excuses that we needed to spend money bringing the debt down or building a new stadium. Those excuses are gone, the money was there and we didn’t spend it , the next level was there and we didn’t reach out for it. I’m with your old man, it’s going to kill me as well

It's a coupon I've seen a million times since childhood: bulldog chewing a wasp; but he's now getting too old. The only time he loses the plot and his blood pressure goes tonto is when Hibs **** up yet again. I refuse to go down that path in the name of fitba.

[NZ Green]

Last year we had a good season, even with Europa League this season there was some hope and excitement. We had a really poor game today, shouldn't have lost.
With football you truly are only as good as your last game. Like everyone, I don't have the answer, only opinion.
Which is why we'll all be here for the next game to decide once again weather we are brilliant or not.

[heid the baw]

Life has to be too short, so how we do spend our time and money watching football whilst simultaneously not caring about results?

Easy solution. Watch the game for what it is. Accept the fact that Hibs are your local team and that they play in a poor league with players who are limited. If your local team are Man City Juventus or Real Madrid, then you've won a watch and a hat. For the rest of us, you have to adjust your sights.
How do you think Fort William fans, Ayr fans, Forfar fans dealt with todays results. Most probably just took it in their stride. If you attach too much importance to football, you will be let down. It is professional sport, marketed and priced to raise expectations which cannot be delivered. The hard truth is that Hibs will never be more than an average side. 4th is considered a great season, you have to go back 43 years for a runner up spot. That is the reality.
If you choose to spend your Saturday travelling to Livingston to pay £25 to watch 2 very average teams play on a dreadful artificial pitch, then you can have few complaints when it doesn't live up to your expectations.
Bobby Williamson was spot on.

[MWHIBBIES]

No matter how much is spent there will be the odd upset. It's that simple. It will always be that way.

[Hibernia&Alba]

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Life has to be too short, so how we do spend our time and money watching football whilst simultaneously not caring about results?

Easy solution. Watch the game for what it is. Accept the fact that Hibs are your local team and that they play in a poor league with players who are limited. If your local team are Man City Juventus or Real Madrid, then you've won a watch and a hat. For the rest of us, you have to adjust your sights.
How do you think Fort William fans, Ayr fans, Forfar fans dealt with todays results. Most probably just took it in their stride. If you attach too much importance to football, you will be let down. It is professional sport, marketed and priced to raise expectations which cannot be delivered. The hard truth is that Hibs will never be more than an average side. 4th is considered a great season, you have to go back 43 years for a runner up spot. That is the reality.
If you choose to spend your Saturday travelling to Livingston to pay £25 to watch 2 very average teams play on a dreadful artificial pitch, then you can have few complaints when it doesn't live up to your expectations.
Bobby Williamson was spot on.

Can't argue with a word you say; it's a very good post. However, it hurts to spend money to watch your team lose at Livingston, it really does. You're right, some clubs would swap places with us in a heartbeat, yet it doesn't make results like today any easier to accept. It's like always reaching for the next prize but always finding it just out of reach; like waking from a bad dream. Couldn't we overachieve, rather than underachieve, just once?

[houstonhibbee]

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Can't argue with a word you say; it's a very good post. However, it hurts to spend money to watch your team lose at Livingston, it really does. You're right, some clubs would swap places with us in a heartbeat, yet it doesn't make results like today any easier to accept. It's like always reaching for the next prize but always finding it just out of reach; like waking from a bad dream. Couldn't we overachieve, rather than underachieve, just once?

May 2016?

[Tornadoes70]

The OP is looking for answers to questions that don't exist. Most of us had dads that fanatically supported Hibernian mine included. Most of us just 'accept' we have off day's sometimes and while very disappointed look forward to the next one where we play that bit better on a pitch more given to playing football on.

We'll play better and lose and play worse and win its part and parcel of football.

Mon the Cabbage!!!

[Hibernia&Alba]

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May 2016?

You think one Scottish Cup per century is overachieving for a club our size? That has to be huge underachievement, as grateful and relieved as we are to have seem it in 2016. My grandad never saw Hibs win the cup in his life, which is bizarre to contemplate. Wish he'd been there that day.

[Hibernia&Alba]

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The OP is looking for answers to questions that don't exist. Most of us had dads that fanatically supported Hibernian mine included. Most of us just 'accept' we have off day's sometimes and while very disappointed look forward to the next one where we play that bit better on a pitch more given to playing football on.

We'll play better and lose and play worse and win its part and parcel of football.

Mon the Cabbage!!!

The questions exist, though perhaps the answers don't. It's football existentialism: what are we doing? What's the point? Why do we care about anything at all, when we know nothing ever matters and we'll all soon be dead? It's a hamster wheel we can't get off until the heart gives out, then, if we're lucky, somebody will start a thread on forums like this to acknowledge our existence. At least we have that, unlike past generations.

Supporting Hibs is every bit like a Beckett play/novel: just carry on because we don't what know else to do. "I can't go on; I can't go on.....I'll go on".

[Tornadoes70]

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The questions exist, though perhaps the answers don't. It's football existentialism: what are we doing? What's the point? Why do we care about anything at all, when we know nothing ever matters and we'll all soon be dead? It's a hamster wheel we can't get off until the heart gives out, then, if we're lucky, somebody will start a thread on forums like this to acknowledge our existence. At least we have that, unlike past generations.

Supporting Hibs is every bit like a Beckett play/novel: just carry on because we don't what know else to do. "I can't go on; I can't go on.....I'll go on".

Mate, please please cease immediately from over thinking and reading lost soul stuff. Have a bit time to yourself and listen to some Who, Rolling Stones, Dr Feelgood, Jam, Madness, Pistols, Lynyrd skynyrd, Prince, Travelling Willbury's, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan etc and give your mind a rest for a bit and come back to us.

I've seen folk who've went mad starking bonkers over extreme politics step back and have a break from it please.

You always come across as a decent person one that most folk respect.

Mon the Cabbage!!!

[MrSmith]

Been disappointed since I saw the result! However two things, was I surprised and did I expect it? The first two thoughts after seeing the result yesterday. No I was not surprised and yes I expected it after the disastrous transfer deadline. It is clear to see where we are lacking fight on the pitch.

[Sioux]

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Can't argue with a word you say; it's a very good post. However, it hurts to spend money to watch your team lose at Livingston, it really does. You're right, some clubs would swap places with us in a heartbeat, yet it doesn't make results like today any easier to accept. It's like always reaching for the next prize but always finding it just out of reach; like waking from a bad dream. Couldn't we overachieve, rather than underachieve, just once?

When did spending money to watch a football match become a guarantee that the result would be the result fans wanted? We hear all the time what someone has spent only to lose the game..

It's quite simple. If you want to watch professional football you pay the entrance fee, and any associated travel costs. After that you can get a good game, a bad game, or something in between. You team can either win, lose or draw. How can it be any other way? The opposition fans are paying the same. How can both sets of fans be guaranteed to get what they want? The obvious example is Hibs playing that other mob. Whoever loses the match wants to appoint blame, wants players, coaching staff and directors etc brought to account because a fan thinks he has paid money for a win. Then to make it worse, if the game is a draw, both sides of the fence are getting it tight.

All this 'I deserve better' nonsense needs kicked into touch.

Fans get upset because their team loses. If you're upset because you've spent money, don't spend it. Going to the football is a costly business compared to the 'good old days' but that gives no one any right to have a result go the way they want it to.

An example of 'deserving' was speaking to a Man Utd fan who lived in Frankfurt and came over to watch them every week. He spouted about how much it costs him financially and in terms of time off work. Last week he wrote to the club asking for an explanation as to why he had wasted money. Lunatic!

This is not aimed at you by the way H&A, just the principle.

[Mitch9]

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Been disappointed since I saw the result! However two things, was I surprised and did I expect it? The first two thoughts after seeing the result yesterday. No I was not surprised and yes I expected it after the disastrous transfer deadline. It is clear to see where we are lacking fight on the pitch.

Looking at at the top half of the table. Hibs, Aberdeen and Celtic are all weaker than last season. For Celtic, they will still win the league but it will be close. For us and Aberdeen it will condemn us to fight for 5th and 6th. Let’s hope the January transfer window is kinder to us.

We had good momentum going into this season, good season ticket sales and a wee run in Europe. We need to recapture that momentum with a good league run and a strong January recruitment.

[greenpaper55]

Again when Hibs come up against "industrial"football we usually come off second best, we seem to have a squad of good football players but when we come up against a team of fit giants then we usually get the result we deserve. The players we sign rarely have the physicality to match other teams when plan A does not work, a clear lack of insight by the manager for the playing squad that we have ended up with.

[hibbie02]

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Can't argue with a word you say; it's a very good post. However, it hurts to spend money to watch your team lose at Livingston, it really does. You're right, some clubs would swap places with us in a heartbeat, yet it doesn't make results like today any easier to accept. It's like always reaching for the next prize but always finding it just out of reach; like waking from a bad dream. Couldn't we overachieve, rather than underachieve, just once?

I am still getting over that debacle at Hampden against them! Embarrassing!

[MWHIBBIES]

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You think one Scottish Cup per century is overachieving for a club our size? That has to be huge underachievement, as grateful and relieved as we are to have seem it in 2016. My grandad never saw Hibs win the cup in his life, which is bizarre to contemplate. Wish he'd been there that day.

What about 2 cups in 11 years. 1 Scottish cup in 4 years of the new regime. It doesn't get erased because we lost at Livi.

[nonshinyfinish]

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Can't argue with a word you say; it's a very good post. However, it hurts to spend money to watch your team lose at Livingston, it really does. You're right, some clubs would swap places with us in a heartbeat, yet it doesn't make results like today any easier to accept. It's like always reaching for the next prize but always finding it just out of reach; like waking from a bad dream. Couldn't we overachieve, rather than underachieve, just once?

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You think one Scottish Cup per century is overachieving for a club our size? That has to be huge underachievement, as grateful and relieved as we are to have seem it in 2016. My grandad never saw Hibs win the cup in his life, which is bizarre to contemplate. Wish he'd been there that day.

If you're judging over/underachievement on a timescale of the club's entire history, then what does 'overachieve just once' mean? What would it entail?

[Bobo]

All my life Hibs performances on the park have mostly always been irrational, inconsistent and unpredictable. There have been some great periods, where talented squads / managers have graced Easter Road and enthused the fans, but sadly all too briefly.

More often than not we've underachieved, in my opinion, and our league position has been lower than I would anticipate for a club our size within Scottish football. Too often in the mid-to-lower half of the table, we've flirted with, and been in, the relegation playoffs more than once and have suffered the ignominy of being relegated 3 times since the inception of the Premier League! For me, it's unacceptable and should never have been allowed to happen never mind repeated. Was it down to lack of ambition (investment) and/or belief on the clubs part? Aiming for a top 6 finish is not an ambition we should ever have and a top 4 place should be our minimum seasonal aspiration.

Over the years we have done relatively well in cup competitions only to ultimately, more often than not, falter at the last hurdle. In my life time, 4 trophies (3 League cups and 1 Scottish cup) from 15 finals is scant return for a club of our reputed size. Again, has lack of belief / leadership been the cause?

We now have a manager, in Neil Lennon, who is a winner with a passion and belief to succeed. He has proven to be a fantastic appointment by our board who appear to be backing him with the same strong minded/ forward thinking ambition which has seen an upturn in performances and a return of enthusiasm from the Hibs support. This has led to record attendances and season ticket sales over the past 16 months but the finances generated from this needs to be reinvested to maintain and improve our on-field performance, we mustn't return to the "balance sheet before team sheet" mentality of previous boardrooms that has blighted our ambition in the past.

Hopefully yesterday's defeat and our fairly laboured start to the season are behind us and we can push on from now. It's still early days yet with introducing new players to the squad and finding a settled starting 11 so plenty time to get going ... onwards and upwards!

GGTTH

[scooby]

Sadly, I think we had a better team in the championship than we have now.
We've missed an opportunity to keep the momentum going, and we're going to see more results like yesterday's.

[Eyrie]

Of course there is a world beyond football - family, friends, interests, beliefs, work etc.

But it's easy to overlook all that in the immediate aftermath of a poor performance and there are times when letting off steam is necessary.

I'm long enough in the tooth that I don't get carried away when we do well, nor do I get too depressed when we do badly. Maybe the emotional rollercoaster is more fun but it's not for me.

[mentalhibee]

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Sadly, I think we had a better team in the championship than we have now.
We've missed an opportunity to keep the momentum going, and we're going to see more results like yesterday's.

Spot on, terrible planning for this season. We are short in every position.

[A Hi-Bee]

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The only thing which made me smile today was my dad's stream of consciousness soliloquy in the car home: "supported them man and boy for fifty years and they let you doon every time. Well, this is ******* it Hibs, the gloves are aff; this is tae ******** much; sick of being taken for an idiot; sick of watching failure and tired of waiting for next year". I paraphrase, but it's close.

I don't think the old man was addressing me specifically, rather he needed to vent to the world. His seethe is palpable, as he now sits in his chair with a McEwan's Export. I shall leave him well alone.

Losing to a side who were in the First Division just two years ago really hurts. Being a Hibs fan is never easy, but is today the kind of result you simply can't accept? I will admit that defeat never crossed my mind today, and I was stunned. My question is why following Hibs always has to be an ordeal?

Is there ever a breaking point which tips the balance? Have you ever reached your limit? Do we take sport too seriously in the grand scheme of things?

Life has to be too short, so how we do spend our time and money watching football whilst simultaneously not caring about results?

Hibs are going to kill my auld man

Very thoughtful post my man, one I have pondered over for a great many years, been following the Hibs for close to 60 years and feel that while I can only speak about my own experience perhaps it may help you and your Dad.

Hibernian Football Club becomes a kind of addiction (believe me I know what I speak of) they get under your skin and into your blood.

Perhaps that is why it effects different people in different ways, we go for the buzz, even at the bad times the experience in the shape of endorphins are released into our brain, sometimes slowly, sometimes in a huge rush such as when a goal is scored.

I have often wondered why only certain people get the bug, some begin and drift away, some stay for a lifetime, while some just don’t get football at all.
Following Hibs is just a great roller-coaster ride through life, with some great highs but more than often great lows.

I have come to except this, sure I rant and blow of steam when they are crap, but I have no control over what happens to my team on a Saturday, I just try and give them my support and hope for the best.

Of course we can still go to games and not let the result effect us in a huge way once we have had our fill good or bad, like I say we have no control, so why worry about it.
After a game I go home to my family (the ones not at the game with me, grumble about the game then get on with my life.) You also need a wee sense of humour to follow Hibernian for so long, the ability to temper expectations is also important as far as I am concerned.

Would I rather be one of them glory hunter'S watching some other team even a team that died six years ago, no ****ing way I am Hibs until the end.

GGTTH

[G B Young]

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The only thing which made me smile today was my dad's stream of consciousness soliloquy in the car home: "supported them man and boy for fifty years and they let you doon every time. Well, this is ******* it Hibs, the gloves are aff; this is tae ******** much; sick of being taken for an idiot; sick of watching failure and tired of waiting for next year". I paraphrase, but it's close.

I don't think the old man was addressing me specifically, rather he needed to vent to the world. His seethe is palpable, as he now sits in his chair with a McEwan's Export. I shall leave him well alone.

Losing to a side who were in the First Division just two years ago really hurts. Being a Hibs fan is never easy, but is today the kind of result you simply can't accept? I will admit that defeat never crossed my mind today, and I was stunned. My question is why following Hibs always has to be an ordeal?

Is there ever a breaking point which tips the balance? Have you ever reached your limit? Do we take sport too seriously in the grand scheme of things?

Life has to be too short, so how we do spend our time and money watching football whilst simultaneously not caring about results?Hibs are going to kill my auld man

It's the hope that kills us.

By and large I can now move on relatively quickly from dire results like yesterday's, yet I woke up during the night for some reason and didn't manage to get back to sleep before remembering we'd lost and spent probably 20 minutes fretting about it, and Hibs in general, before drifting off again! Why on earth does it continue to matter so much??

Like you, defeat didn't enter my thoughts yesterday and the anger/frustration/disbelief was heightened because of that. Emotions shared by most, judging by the meltdown on here. A draw would have been frustrating but actually losing...jeez, that was truly grim.

What, I think, made yesterday's defeat especially hard to accept was the uneasy sense, that I suspect we all feel bubbling under the surface, that we might, for the first time in several years, be starting to slip backwards. The last 3-4 years have been filled with optimism and peppered with some outstanding results and I, for one, would happily accept this as the norm. I don't honestly know if we can aspire to anything too much higher as a club. Yet the memories of what came before that time are all too fresh and the prospect of a return to that kind of mediocrity is enough to fill me with gloom.

I'm not pressing any panic buttons due to my respect for the way Leeann Dempster and Neil Lennon have transformed our club and, I hope, will continue to do so. However, in answer to your question yes, there is a point at which I reach my limit and that point came circa 2009 when I actually stopped going to watch Hibs due to the fact I simply could not see any prospect of better days ahead and it was too much of an ordeal to continue putting myself through the games. The pain of defeat is lessened only slightly by not being there but at least you're not paying to witness it!

[NAE NOOKIE]

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Very thoughtful post my man, one I have pondered over for a great many years, been following the Hibs for close to 60 years and feel that while I can only speak about my own experience perhaps it may help you and your Dad.

Hibernian Football Club becomes a kind of addiction (believe me I know what I speak of) they get under your skin and into your blood.

Perhaps that is why it effects different people in different ways, we go for the buzz, even at the bad times the experience in the shape of endorphins are released into our brain, sometimes slowly, sometimes in a huge rush such as when a goal is scored.

I have often wondered why only certain people get the bug, some begin and drift away, some stay for a lifetime, while some just don’t get football at all.
Following Hibs is just a great roller-coaster ride through life, with some great highs but more than often great lows.

I have come to except this, sure I rant and blow of steam when they are crap, but I have no control over what happens to my team on a Saturday, I just try and give them my support and hope for the best.

Of course we can still go to games and not let the result effect us in a huge way once we have had our fill good or bad, like I say we have no control, so why worry about it.
After a game I go home to my family (the ones not at the game with me, grumble about the game then get on with my life.) You also need a wee sense of humour to follow Hibernian for so long, the ability to temper expectations is also important as far as I am concerned.

Would I rather be one of them glory hunter'S watching some other team even a team that died six years ago, no ****ing way I am Hibs until the end.

GGTTH

I remember a few years back a heavy home defeat to St Johnstone …… It was possibly the worst performance I had ever seen from a Hibs team at home, the crowd was about 7,000 and it was bloody freezing. As I walked away from the ground for the first time ever I seriously asked myself if it was worth putting myself through torture like that and spending a fortune every season, not to mention the round trip of 80 miles every time for the privilege.


And yet here I am years later still following the club and even taking up a part time job to supplement my meagre pension purely so that I can afford to keep going to games That's why I don't get too carried away when I see our crowds up at 18,000 …. its brilliant, but you only have to look at the over reaction to our latest blip to know that half of these folk will disappear like snow off a dyke in July when the going gets tough.

[Iggy Pope]

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Mate, please please cease immediately from over thinking and reading lost soul stuff. Have a bit time to yourself and listen to some Who, Rolling Stones, Dr Feelgood, Jam, Madness, Pistols, Lynyrd skynyrd, Prince, Travelling Willbury's, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan etc and give your mind a rest for a bit and come back to us.

I've seen folk who've went mad starking bonkers over extreme politics step back and have a break from it please.

You always come across as a decent person one that most folk respect.

Mon the Cabbage!!!

I'd rather watch hertz whilst sticking pins into my boaby than listen to Aerosmith.

[A Hi-Bee]

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I'd rather watch hertz whilst sticking pins into my boaby than listen to Aerosmith.

Each to their own Mr Iggy. Both outcomes seem over dramatic to me in my humble opinion.

[Hermit Crab]

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I'd rather watch hertz whilst sticking pins into my boaby than listen to Aerosmith.

Ouch!

[Norrieg]

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I'd rather watch hertz whilst sticking pins into my boaby than listen to Aerosmith.

Who the F**** is Aerosmith ???