Kit man and other redundancies

[Greenbeard]

Been there. A "restructuring review", which seemed to be necessary every two years or so but which was just an excuse to get rid of some folk. Many more jobs were put "at risk" as part of the review than the actual number of job losses overall. I opted not to apply for any of the revised jobs - it was time for me to move on anyway - and took the package on offer. (TBH I had anticipated the review was coming and stayed on for a year or so when I was privately itching to go anyway.)
But this is different. This is an essential restructuring with some positions genuinely redundant. Other jobs will likely be combined. I'll trust Hibs to do the necessary review in a genuine and fair manner. As folk have said, some sort of kit role will still be needed and it could well be that Tam chooses redundancy. But if he gets the boot, who's for pulling on their Nike Alpha Fly for a sponsored run from East Mains to Easter Road to raise some dosh to fund his post through the crisis? (Like the Dun Utd boys walking Tiny to Tannadice to raise dosh for legal fees.)
It's about 15 miles.
PS before anyone says, I got some cream for the private itching.

[Keith_M]

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And is he gone? What are the circumstances involved and is he unhappy about it?

[Lester B]

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Look if you’re going to introduce realism and common sense into the debate you have to expect a bit of stunned silence from some quarters.

[Green Manalishi]

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And is he gone? What are the circumstances involved and is he unhappy about it?

Once again you are not grasping the point of my post. Unless Tam comes out gives us the story we wont know if he is happy or unhappy. i was criticising some posters for dismissing him as ''just the kit man'' and saying they were not bothered if he has gone or not... What i advise you to do is read a post properly instead of just skimming over it before you race onto your keyboard with a reply. In other words engage your brain before your fingers...I dont have the patience you explain it to you a third time so just leave it at that.

[Kato]

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Once again you are not grasping the point of my post. Unless Tam comes out gives us the story we wont know if he is happy or unhappy. i was criticising some posters for dismissing him as ''just the kit man'' and saying they were not bothered if he has gone or not... What i advise you to do is read a post properly instead of just skimming over it before you race onto your keyboard with a reply. In other words engage your brain before your fingers...I dont have the patience you explain it to you a third time so just leave it at that.

Good.

Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

[Itsnoteasy]

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What information would you like Hibs to communicate about a redundancy consultation process which is supposed to be confidential?

So who leaked it to the tabloids?

[B.H.F.C]

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So who leaked it to the tabloids?

Don’t think anybody leaked anything.

Hibs told everybody they were starting a consultation. The Daily Record have written that 70 people are getting made redundant. When you look at the number of employees Hibs have, it’s pretty clear 70 people won’t be getting made redundant.

[ian cruise]

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Obviously hard decisions need to be made but how can Hibs be presented as a community club and champion that message themselves when they have spent money on a player instead of ensuring some staff can be kept on? Us as fans fully embody and embrace it, but decisions like that just seem a bit crass from those in charge.

I want my club to survive and thrive but I want people to survive first. There is a real possibility of staff losing income and being unable to pay bills and provide for their families and I think that is very upsetting IMO

If the money for Nisbet comes from HSL, which were donations that were made specifically to support the first team and the managers budget then it has no bearing on the redundancies surely? You can't ask people to donate to a managers transfer fund on top of season tickets, etc then afterwards say "sorry we can't buy players we used the money elsewhere?"

Anyway when the club can comment they will. I have absolute sympathy for anyone going through the process right now it's a horrible time and in particular those who know their role no longer exists but speculation isn't going to help. The last thing most would like is to know folk are debating their job online I'd imagine.

[mcohibs]

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The last thing most would like is to know folk are debating their job online I'd imagine.

Yep. A lot of uncomfortable reading on this thread tbh. People commenting on an ongoing consultation process and speculating what kind of payoff certain people will be pleased to get just doesn't sit well.

Comments such as 'culling the deadwood' in particular are hugely irresponsible. Can only imagine how anxious and mortified I'd be to read that about my job on a public forum.

[WestCoastHibby]

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I just can’t believe we’re making 70 people redundant, we operate at a small level of permanent staff and I very much doubt we’d have 70 employees that are now deemed surplus to requirements. For years we’ve streamlined our business and I seriously doubt there are 70 jobs on the line.

This exactly. If you can let such a huge number go then what were they doing to justify being there in the first place.
And come on, some jobs are just always going to need doing. Can't see how they can make the Kit "person" redundant.
Putting it out to tender to Fishers??

[Viva_Palmeiras]

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Daily record tonight reporting that Tam McCourt has been made redundant. How does everyone feel about all this? First of all I think it’s bad craic considering the guy has been there for so long. At first I thought the media were out to get us but the longer theres no communication from the club I’m not surprised. Pretty poor tbh.

should we do the DRs work for them and highlight an individual or appreciate it is likely to be a process covering a numbers folks and reflect that in the title/heading/headline

[lucky]

No one wants anyone to lose their job. But the sad fact is millions will as we come out of this pandemic. Hibs function is to play football, 18k fans turn up to watch the 1st team play. That’s all the fans are interested in, not many care if the development or women’s teams win or Hibs have employed the most people in Leith. Fans have moaned for years that money was diverted into infrastructure projects instead of the 1st team. ST sales are based on Hibs having a competitive 1st team, the club are making the right decisions to grow their core business and when it grows employment in other departments will happen. RG and LD are making tough calls to save the club and grow again.

Every club will be scaling back but it’s only Hibs that are in the papers. Dundee and Hearts, two championship rivals, both threaten to stop paying players unless they agreed to pay cuts. Does any believe that they’ve not made anyone redundant as well as threatening their players?

[Kano Kirsty]

It’s interesting that I’ve struggled to respond to this thread. My close friend has been offered redundancy, having been furloughed, and as a single mother of 2 children it’s devastating. The circumstances around the pandemic make it understandable but not when we’re shelling out money for players. My friend doesn’t actually like football, yet I do, and whilst I want us to be up there challenging it’s so horrible to know what Ronald Gordon’s plans are. I’m ever the optimist, but even then I can’t hide my disappointment and worry as to what’s happening to my pal.

[B.H.F.C]

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Well done to you Kano Kirsty you are are one of the few people I have seen showing compassion to others while a lot of people were self congratulating on the signings made last week. It is not clear if your friend worked for Hibs or someone else. It must be awful if you were an employee of Hibs and possibly a supporter as well to lose your job while the club according to most reports are spending money on signings. Not a pleasant situation.

Sorry, this is nonsense. There has been no lack of compassion for the people that are losing jobs out of this. That doesn’t mean that Hibs should have retained them all with the fee they used to pay for Nisbet when there isn’t any work for them to do. I do agree with your last sentence, it’s obviously not a pleasant situation.

[hibbysam]

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Well done to you Kano Kirsty you are are one of the few people I have seen showing compassion to others while a lot of people were self congratulating on the signings made last week. It is not clear if your friend worked for Hibs or someone else. It must be awful if you were an employee of Hibs and possibly a supporter as well to lose your job while the club according to most reports are spending money on signings. Not a pleasant situation.

The people losing their jobs, as crap a situation as that is for those individuals, unfortunately aren’t needed for the foreseeable future. Hospitality staff for example, we aren’t going to carry on with that while we don’t have any fans to attend hospitality. That doesn’t mean we’re skint, that just means we are aligning our business to the current situation and is happening all over the world, and happens in every single business constantly.

Do you think we should just carry on paying people who aren’t doing a job currently? Or do you think because we’ve paid these people off that we shouldn’t spend money we have sitting? Stop listening to the MSM and listen to Ron himself telling you exactly what is going on.

[poolman]

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Well done to you Kano Kirsty you are are one of the few people I have seen showing compassion to others while a lot of people were self congratulating on the signings made last week. It is not clear if your friend worked for Hibs or someone else. It must be awful if you were an employee of Hibs and possibly a supporter as well to lose your job while the club according to most reports are spending money on signings. Not a pleasant situation.

Stop with that nonsense please

[GonzoReturns]

It is crap 💩 horrible for anyone to lose their job. Industries all over do this continually (with or without pandemic) while also continually investing in other parts of their business. Difference is it’s played out in public when it’s football.

[tamig]

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It’s interesting that I’ve struggled to respond to this thread. My close friend has been offered redundancy, having been furloughed, and as a single mother of 2 children it’s devastating. The circumstances around the pandemic make it understandable but not when we’re shelling out money for players. My friend doesn’t actually like football, yet I do, and whilst I want us to be up there challenging it’s so horrible to know what Ronald Gordon’s plans are. I’m ever the optimist, but even then I can’t hide my disappointment and worry as to what’s happening to my pal.

What are Ron Gordon’s plans that are so horrible to know?

[Hibs1969]

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It's bizarre. Got to be the first kit man to appear on the back page of a tabloid newspaper.

I seem to remember some story about Jimmy Bell the The Rangers’ kitman causing a stooshie a few years back when he was alleged to have failed to properly observe a minute’s silence/applause or such like on the passing of Tommy Burns.

[hibbysam]

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Why are you asking me all these questions? I never said retain anybody. We are skint - we're going to make a substantial loss for the season just ended and it is predicted business will be down 50% for this coming season. This information came from the club itself in the middle of last month. That's who I listened to. You're making assumptions about who I listen to when you have absolutely no idea and likewise I have no idea of what or who you listened to.

Revenues will be down 50%, but our expenditure will be down a great deal as well as we have furloughed many, and are paying off many more who aren’t needed. Your creating holy moly about how bad it is to pay for players during that time, when in reality we have the money to do so. If we were ‘skint’ we wouldn’t be spending up to £250k on a player, we aren’t skint, we will make losses, but we have huge numbers of STH, HSL members and record strip sales. We are also saving a fair whack on outgoing players’ wages and will probably bring in money from Kamberi.

Ron never said we were skint once, just that we were refocusing our efforts to our first team while every penny was a prisoner. People will lose jobs, people will be signed.

[Hibs90]

This thread is absolutely reeking of fans of a certain Championship club.

[Gerard]

The club has said that the priority is the first team and for the FT to be as competitive as the finances permit. This will result in some people being made redundant. It will also see the ambitious plans for the club that were mentioned at the AGM being delayed.
We are living in a time that could not have been forseen by the club and consequently the club is having to to reduce its costs.
This does not mean the club lacks compassion for any people made redundant.
The more season tickets that are sold and money donated to Hibernian Supporters will result in less cuts being make by the club.

[Inconsequential]

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Revenues will be down 50%, but our expenditure will be down a great deal as well as we have furloughed many, and are paying off many more who aren’t needed. Your creating holy moly about how bad it is to pay for players during that time, when in reality we have the money to do so. If we were ‘skint’ we wouldn’t be spending up to £250k on a player, we aren’t skint, we will make losses, but we have huge numbers of STH, HSL members and record strip sales. We are also saving a fair whack on outgoing players’ wages and will probably bring in money from Kamberi.

Ron never said we were skint once, just that we were refocusing our efforts to our first team while every penny was a prisoner. People will lose jobs, people will be signed.

Ochone.

[Andy74]

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This thread is absolutely reeking of fans of a certain Championship club.

It certainly is.

[CentreLine]

Completely agree that it is awful that people may lose their jobs.

Only from information on here and working on the back of a fag packet let’s look at the problem. It is suggested that there is a consultation process going on. Also, the more dramatic press coverage suggests as many as 70 people may lose their jobs.
Now we have people making an issue over the club apparently prioritising its primary purpose of putting a team on the park to compete at a reasonable level within Scottish football. The greatest issue seems to be the suggestion that the club,or perhaps just our owner, has spent as much as £250,000 on securing the services of one of the best prospects in the country.
So let’s assume we invested that £250k in retaining some staff. Let’s also make an assumption that those staff were paid only minimum wage, in the region of £150 a week, or £7,800 a year. At that lowest level of earnings £250k would therefore save less than half of that potential 70 job losses. Jobs that the debate on here suggests have no productive purpose for the club at present.

It is a conundrum for sure. Do Hibs decide to act as a compassionate charity and retain these staff but have nothing for them to do?
Alternatively, do Hibs pare down the staff numbers at present and continue to prioritise the core purpose of the club and concentrate only on first team football?

Tough one really, perhaps we should wait to hear the outcome of the consultation process and trust that the people who run our club have a long track record of doing the right thing for the club but also for looking after people where they possibly can. If people lose their jobs I firmly believe it will be because the club have no option but to ensure it retains the ability to compete. After all, the more successful the club is the more people it will ultimately employ and these job losses can be replaced with interest.

If it was me (and I am very glad it is not me) I suspect i would have to go for the latter option, unpopular though that may be.

[Inconsequential]

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Completely agree that it is awful that people may lose their jobs.

Only from information on here and working on the back of a fag packet let’s look at the problem. It is suggested that there is a consultation process going on. Also, the more dramatic press coverage suggests as many as 70 people may lose their jobs.
Now we have people making an issue over the club apparently prioritising its primary purpose of putting a team on the park to compete at a reasonable level within Scottish football. The greatest issue seems to be the suggestion that the club,or perhaps just our owner, has spent as much as £250,000 on securing the services of one of the best prospects in the country.
So let’s assume we invested that £250k in retaining some staff. Let’s also make an assumption that those staff were paid only minimum wage, in the region of £150 a week, or £7,800 a year. At that lowest level of earnings £250k would therefore save less than half of that potential 70 job losses. Jobs that the debate on here suggests have no productive purpose for the club at present.

It is a conundrum for sure. Do Hibs decide to act as a compassionate charity and retain these staff but have nothing for them to do?
Alternatively, do Hibs pare down the staff numbers at present and continue to prioritise the core purpose of the club and concentrate only on first team football?

Tough one really, perhaps we should wait to hear the outcome of the consultation process and trust that the people who run our club have a long track record of doing the right thing for the club but also for looking after people where they possibly can. If people lose their jobs I firmly believe it will be because the club have no option but to ensure it retains the ability to compete. After all, the more successful the club is the more people it will ultimately employ and these job losses can be replaced with interest.

If it was me (and I am very glad it is not me) I suspect i would have to go for the latter option, unpopular though that may be.

Good post.

[Kano Kirsty]

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What are Ron Gordon’s plans that are so horrible to know?

Apologies, I’d had a couple of wines which may have been obvious. Kind of wish I hadn’t posted that but my point stands.

What I mean was that it’s horrible (what RG is doing) for my friend to be facing redundancy all the while seeing the club buy players.

[Greenbeard]

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This thread is absolutely reeking of fans of a certain Championship club.

Aye, not just a bit whiffy. Honking.

[Jones28]

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Apologies, I’d had a couple of wines which may have been obvious. Kind of wish I hadn’t posted that but my point stands.

What I mean was that it’s horrible (what RG is doing) for my friend to be facing redundancy all the while seeing the club buy players.

Has your friend had it confirmed that she’s being made redundant?

[green day]

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Apologies, I’d had a couple of wines which may have been obvious. Kind of wish I hadn’t posted that but my point stands.

What I mean was that it’s horrible (what RG is doing) for my friend to be facing redundancy all the while seeing the club buy players.

It depends what point you mean ?

If it is the bald fact that being made redundant is horrible, then thats true - it wont be nice at the time but (speaking from experience) its not always the worst thing that can happen.

However if your point is that a business should not remove people and roles from one part of the business while investing in another, then you are dead wrong - it happens in all businesses, e.g. Michelin close the Dundee factory while investing loads of cash in other factories elsewhere.

Lots of people ask why CEOs and other execs are paid well - one reason is that they have to make the right decisions in the bad times to see the business through the other end.