A Successful Season

[Key West]

Would you consider finishing 4th at the end of the season as a successful campaign?

[JammyDoidger]

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Would you consider finishing 4th at the end of the season as a successful campaign?

Thats the minumum requirement and it's probably Where we should be if I'm honest.

[MWHIBBIES]

A decent league season yes. A truly successful season depends on the cups as well.

[Brightside]

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Would you consider finishing 4th at the end of the season as a successful campaign?

Yes. 4th is a good season.

[wookie70]

Given the budgets of teams in the league I would say 4th is level par, doing ok. We would also need to get in a semi final for a successful season imo

[calumhibee1]

4th and at least one semi final. With Hearts not in the league we’ve got the 4th biggest budget by a mile and must take advantage.

[SChibs]

4th is progress from our 7the place finish last season so I would say it was a success. It would be a good foundation for us to build on to consistently challenge with Aberdeen for 3rd and make a decent effort at making progress in the UEFA Conference

[Keith_M]

If we finished 4th, did reasonably well in both cups and occasionally beat one of the three clubs currently above us, it would definitely be a decent season.


I'd still like us to be at least aiming for the top three, though. Purely on the basis of setting your sights as high as possible and seeing where it takes you.

[J-C]

4th is progression and gives us European football also, we also need to make sure we have good cup runs but for his 1st full season in charge a minimum 4th is a must.

[hibbysam]

4th is simply the minimum target in the league each season for me. We can’t be getting pumped out of cups early though, season is broken down into three, league, Scottish cup and league cup. Minimum is at least one quarter final and one semi final from the cups and 4th place. That’s a good season for me.

[Brummie_Hibs]

4th is good if we are beating the teams below us but getting beaten by Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers.

If we are 4th because we can't beat the other teams, then that is poor.

[The Modfather]

4th is the minimum requirement given we’re one of the few teams to have money to spend. That said we rarely finish in line with our budget so 4th would be a success. For me though this season is as much about taking advantage and building the platform to kick on the next few years as it is about where we finish. The real challenge is getting closer to Aberdeen and following this season up next year when Hearts are back.

[Sir David Gray]

I'm often unsure about using the measurement of our progress in the cups to say how successful our season has been.

For the people who say we need to get into at least one semi final before we can say we have had a successful season, what happens if we finish 4th with a really decent points total but get put out of both cups after being drawn away to Celtic before the semi finals?

For me the league season is the main driver of whether you have had a good season or not. Yes a good cup run can cement that successful season but if we finish 4th and run Aberdeen close for 3rd place and consistently beat the teams below us then that has to go down as a successful season for us regardless of how we do in the cups.

Of course if we're 3rd going into the split and then finish 4th after losing our last 5 games and we have already been put out of both cups by Dundee and Alloa then it's maybe not been so much of a success.

[Steve20]

Top 4 and win a cup.

Just getting to a semi final and losing isn't success.

[nonshinyfinish]

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Top 4 and win a cup.

Just getting to a semi final and losing isn't success.

By that measure, I think the only "successful" season in our history was 72/73.

(If you change win a cup to win a trophy, then obviously 1903, 1948, 1951 and 1952 also count.)

[superfurryhibby]

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By that measure, I think the only "successful" season in our history was 72/73.

(If you change win a cup to win a trophy, then obviously 1903, 1948, 1951 and 1952 also count.)

Change 1903 to 1902, add 1887, 1991, 2007 and there you have it

A successful season this season is one where we play good football, have at least a few decent games v the Old Firm, finish 4th, qualify for Europe and compete well in the cups.

[Saint Hibee]

Fourth plus beating Hearts/Huns/Sheep/Celtic at least a couple of times.

[B.H.F.C]

I would see it more as progress than success.

[nonshinyfinish]

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Change 1903 to 1902, add 1887, 1991, 2007 and there you have it

A successful season this season is one where we play good football, have at least a few decent games v the Old Firm, finish 4th, qualify for Europe and compete well in the cups.

The poster's criteria were top 4 and win a cup – none of 1887, 1902, 1991 or 2007 meet those criteria.

(BTW 1903 was included for the less strict version of top 4 + win a trophy because we won the league that year…)

[Brightside]

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Top 4 and win a cup.

Just getting to a semi final and losing isn't success.

You arent going to see much in the way of success at Hibs then.

[Key West]

I would definitely see 4th place as a successful season especially if it was a platform for future consistency ( see Aberdeen ).

[Key West]

Just noticed the title thread Seaon.......whatever that is, apologies!

[superfurryhibby]

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The poster's criteria were top 4 and win a cup – none of 1887, 1902, 1991 or 2007 meet those criteria.

(BTW 1903 was included for the less strict version of top 4 + win a trophy because we won the league that year…)

A.Pedant writes. Humble apologies, you are correct.

[calumhibee1]

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I'm often unsure about using the measurement of our progress in the cups to say how successful our season has been.

For the people who say we need to get into at least one semi final before we can say we have had a successful season, what happens if we finish 4th with a really decent points total but get put out of both cups after being drawn away to Celtic before the semi finals?

For me the league season is the main driver of whether you have had a good season or not. Yes a good cup run can cement that successful season but if we finish 4th and run Aberdeen close for 3rd place and consistently beat the teams below us then that has to go down as a successful season for us regardless of how we do in the cups.

Of course if we're 3rd going into the split and then finish 4th after losing our last 5 games and we have already been put out of both cups by Dundee and Alloa then it's maybe not been so much of a success.

If we drew Celtic away in both cups before the semis then I’m sure that would be taken into consideration.

However, even if Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen all get to the last 8, I’d still expect us to win 9 out of the possible 14 ties. The earlier rounds are even more stacked in our favour by law of averages.

As such, I don’t think as a general rule it’s unrealistic to expect us to get to semi finals of both cups on the presumption that until the semi final were more likely than not to get a game we should be winning. If we got a particularly bad draw before that stage then an allowance needs to be made for that.

[Keith_M]

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Fourth plus beating Hearts/Huns/Sheep/Celtic at least a couple of times.

A couple of times each?


That's quite an ask.

[Sir David Gray]

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A couple of times each?


That's quite an ask.

The way this thread's going we'll need to win the Champions League by beating Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern Munich to have a successful season.

[Keith_M]

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The way this thread's going we'll need to win the Champions League by beating Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern Munich to have a successful season.

Don't be so negative, it could happen...

[Skol]

Given our record since I was a lad, 4th place finish is a good season and much better than normal, even without a cup run. We dont have a great record of even making the top 6. If people expect more then they need to re-set expectations.

I think if we can establish ourselves as regulars in the top 6 first and then think about loftier ambitions thats more realistic

[B.H.F.C]

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Given our record since I was a lad, 4th place finish is a good season and much better than normal, even without a cup run. We dont have a great record of even making the top 6. If people expect more then they need to re-set expectations.

I think if we can establish ourselves as regulars in the top 6 first and then think about loftier ambitions thats more realistic

Success shouldn’t be measured against previous under achievement IMO. Establishing ourselves in the top six doesn’t even fit with objectives the club have openly spoken about in fairness. I don’t think it’s wrong to be looking for better than that.

[wookie70]

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If we drew Celtic away in both cups before the semis then I’m sure that would be taken into consideration.

However, even if Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen all get to the last 8, I’d still expect us to win 9 out of the possible 14 ties. The earlier rounds are even more stacked in our favour by law of averages.

As such, I don’t think as a general rule it’s unrealistic to expect us to get to semi finals of both cups on the presumption that until the semi final were more likely than not to get a game we should be winning. If we got a particularly bad draw before that stage then an allowance needs to be made for that.

I agree with your general point but with the way the League Cup is seeded anything other than a quarter final is failure. The Scottish Cup very much depends on who you are drawn against and I would use the same criteria as I would in the league ie to not be knocked out by teams with a lesser budget. Of course we will get beaten by teams with smaller budgets but that has to be balanced by us beating teams with bigger budgets. That ability to punch above our weight has pretty much deserted us under Ross but he has done a decent job with beating those with lesser budgets