Castle and a wee dug.

[Onion]

Davie Provan
13 Feb 2021

HAVING rubbished Hibs’ chances of a third-place Premiership finish, I might be in bother.

Holiday camp Hibees are now looking a decent bet to see off faltering Aberdeen. Incidentally, that holiday camp tag isn’t down to me. It came from former Celtic team-mates who had moved to the Leith outfit. Compared to the pressure they had known in Glasgow, Easter Road was a shift in Butlins.

But if Jack Ross gets them over the line ahead of the Dons, I’ll be happy to suck it up.

If the two Edinburgh clubs ever get their act together, it would be a shot in the arm for our game. And I’m not talking about winning the odd cup. They should be contesting European places EVERY season and putting pressure on the Old Firm.

For too long the pair have been an embarrassment to the capital. One Hibs Scottish Cup win in over 100 years? Lamentable.

Across the city, Hearts — the third-biggest club in the country — are back in the Championship.Given the infrastructure at Tynecastle, that is criminal. They have a terrific support, stadium and training facilities. They can count on fans shovelling £125,000 into the club every month, allowing them to land Liam Boyce.

How in God’s name did they manage to get relegated? Jambos should be nowhere the second tier of Scottish football. Like Hibs, they should never be outside the Premiership’s top six. The last time Hearts mounted a proper title challenge they fell at the last in 1986. Needing only a point against a Dundee side sitting bottom half of the table, they blew it. They’ve never come close since.

Jim Jefferies gave the Old Firm a run for their money in 1998, finishing third and beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup final. Seven years later, with George Burley as boss, they won eight of their first ten league games. But owner Vladimir Romanov sacked Burley and they finished 17 points behind champions Celtic.

In the last decade they’ve had a top-four finish just twice. Hibs had three years in the Championship before going up in 2017.

How do Edinburgh’s big two get away with it? After watching his Hibs side lose, Neil Lennon was asked if the players had a bottle problem. He said: “They shouldn’t have because this isn’t a difficult place to play.” He meant there was none of the pressure that exists at the Old Firm, much less expectation. That environment has done the capital clubs no favours.

Their players get by on a rare cup win without putting in a credible title challenge.

The bar is set higher elsewhere. At Pittodrie, Derek McInnes is being hounded by a section of the Red Army after some poor results. That’s the way it is at demanding clubs. During the McInnes era, Aberdeen have never finished lower than fourth.

Ann Budge and Ron Gordon would die for that record. While McInnes has had the Dons in Europe for seven straight years, the Edinburgh clubs have gone through 12 managers between them and both been relegated during that time.

A city that should be known for its football clubs is famous for a castle and a wee dug.

Ross might have his side looking good for third place but he won’t be getting ahead of himself.

Cup semi-final defeats to Hearts and St Johnstone summed up Hibs’ split personality. A match for anyone on their day, but brittle when the heat’s turned up.



Where do you begin dismantling this nonsense from the Glasgow media ?

[G15 Hibs]

Stopped reading at 'Davie Provan'

[easty]

Davie Provans opinion on Hibs? No thanks.

I’m about as interested in that as I am in Little Mix’s opinion on Scottish Independence.

[stuart-farquhar]

There in black and white is the Glaswegian sense of importance. Patronising, arguably factually incorrect and so bubble minded. "Aye youse challenge us and that, but keep your place as also rans in deference to the metropolitan megabigness of Glasgow so it is by the way".

[Lago]

Pretty accurate I'd say.

[Bostonhibby]

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Davie Provans opinion on Hibs? No thanks.

I’m about as interested in that as I am in Little Mix’s opinion on Scottish Independence.

It's a bit like seeking out Matt Hancock for advice on Track and Trace.

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[Pretty Boy]

Provan is a dick.

There is little doubt that Hibs and Hearts have underachieved over the years. Challenging the Old Firm though? There's millions of reasons why that won't be happening and those millions of reasons sit in the accounts under turnover.

The whole article is a long winded way of saying we accept mediocrity which is pish and, quite rightly, gets roundly shouted down on here. Hibs fans want better for the club but there is a realism attached to that.

[Since452]

Hard to disagree. Only part i disagree with is Hearts being the 3rd biggest club.

Minor gripe though. What is Glasgow famous for? Rab C Nesbit and Jack and Victor? Certainly not their bigoted football clubs. Insignificant clubs in 2021. It's not 1970 anymore.

[brog]

Talking about Hearts he actually contradicts himself in the space of 2 lines! He says Hearts haven't challenged for the title since 1986, (thank you Sir Albert) & then says they threw down a challenge to the OF in 1998. He's best ignored.

[ErinGoBraghHFC]

This is going to unpopular but I actually agree with Davie Provan upto a point here. Historically, we've underperformed massively (and so have our smelly ******* neighbours). I don't know the reason and saying Aberdeen have a better mentality or whatever it was he was trying, and failing, to get at is drivel however.

[CockneyRebel]

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Pretty accurate I'd say.

Have to agree with a lot of what he said (but not the way he said it) but it's down to money really. You can only get/keep players relative to the club's income. A good manager with an eye for a player helps but it's generally the size of the support and the amount of investment that carries the day.

[CMurdoch]

Most supporters are ignorant about other clubs and their players and most pundits are ignorant about clubs and players outside of the Old Firm.
This is an example of the latter.
Without green specs on I still agree with him that Hearts made an unbelievable mess of things to get relegated last season despite having massive financial support but the rest of the report is lazy and shows a remarkable lack of knowledge and insight.
What i will say is that Hibs and Hearts should not be outside the top 6 from now on.

[Stanton Spence]

Provan is a p***k

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[wallpaperman]

He is a complete tool, absurd that he is paid to write drivel like that, and absurd that people read what he has to say on a regular basis.

He is right in the sense that with the resources we have, neither us nor Hearts should be out the top 6 very often. But it’s an awfully written article, presumably aimed at Wegians who will appreciate the wee dig at our city as well.

[Topographic Hibby]

Provan is a weegie ass and his comment about the castle and dug say more about the brains and character of the man. Sadly, his comments about Hibs and Hearts are accurate. If they had been attributed to Michael Stewart, Tam McManus or god-help-us clowns like Medals McKay or no medals Levein, we would say they are a bit close to home, but probably accurate.

Sad but true.

[Wilson]

I hope we're getting closer to a place where we're difficult to shift from the top 5 on a season by season basis. There is too much boom and bust at hibs. Traditionally we always seem to be a couple of player sales or a poor managerial appointment from armageddon.

It is difficult to achieve any kind of consistency. Our resources are greater than Motherwell, Dundee United, St Johnstone, and Kilmarnock, but not so vast that we can buy our way out of trouble if they are having a good season and we're having (another) transitional one.

Recruitment is important and I think we're doing that better. The test will be how well we negotiate the next transfer window with the expected player sales.

However, keeping ourselves up where we should be would be a start. Thoughts of challenging for anything beyond that are fanciful unti we can at least do that.

[Jim44]

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Provan is a dick.

There is little doubt that Hibs and Hearts have underachieved over the years. Challenging the Old Firm though? There's millions of reasons why that won't be happening and those millions of reasons sit in the accounts under turnover.

The whole article is a long winded way of saying we accept mediocrity which is pish and, quite rightly, gets roundly shouted down on here. Hibs fans want better for the club but there is a realism attached to that.

Yes, we have underachieved over the years but only in relation to clubs who are on par with us and playing in the same ball park. We’re an easy target for this tosser .......... as I never read his articles, wherever they appear, I wonder what he says and thinks of the demise of his beloved Celtic and the dominance of the club, I assume he hates.

[Jack]

Generally speaking I think he's right. Still a prick though.

[Tommy75]

Find it difficult to be offended by guy as I don't think his opinion is worth much. That saidd, I'm not really sure what point he is trying to make? Since 2000 Hibs and Hearts have won 2 trophies each while Aberdeen have only won 1. One solitary trophy in 30 odd years is pretty 'lamentable' for Aberdeen given the money they have ploughed in to their squad over the years.

As fans I'm sure there would be agreement that Hibs have underachieved over the years. However, as for Hibs and Hearts mounting a title challenge, is this guy for real? If either side looked like going the distance, The Rangers and Celtic would be straight in and dismantle the squads in the January window.

Guys like Provan and his OF chums in the media are best ignored. Wish I has stopped reading at Davie Provan like G15 Hibs

[B.H.F.C]

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Generally speaking I think he's right. Still a prick though.

Agree with this. Can’t believe he gets paid for writing something like that though.

[CMurdoch]

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Most supporters are ignorant about other clubs and their players and most pundits are ignorant about clubs and players outside of the Old Firm.
This is an example of the latter.
Without green specs on I still agree with him that Hearts made an unbelievable mess of things to get relegated last season despite having massive financial support but the rest of the report is lazy and shows a remarkable lack of knowledge and insight.
What i will say is that Hibs and Hearts should not be outside the top 6 from now on.

Further to the above,
Provans scribblings ignore how much time and money it took for Hibs to fully recover from the perfect storm of the Duff & Grey episode, a stadium consisting of wooden huts from a bygone age and the ancient practice of players travelling in mini buses with equipment every day to train in public parks.
It took the club and supporters almost 30 years to fully put all that right and a lack of consistent achievement on the pitch during that time was the painful cost.

However, after all the sacrifice, Hibs now have a fit for purpose modern stadium and training ground and no debt and can start punching their weight regularly starting with finishing 3rd this season and playing in Europe after Christmas next season. Only poor management and player recruitment, such as Hearts have exemplified in recent years, can damage our future achievement but even that is only temporary when you are financially stable and don't need to build fundamental infrastructure like a stadium. Aberdeen still have that sustained painful expense to face.

[Yorkshire HFC]

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Most supporters are ignorant about other clubs and their players and most pundits are ignorant about clubs and players outside of the Old Firm.
This is an example of the latter.
Without green specs on I still agree with him that Hearts made an unbelievable mess of things to get relegated last season despite having massive financial support but the rest of the report is lazy and shows a remarkable lack of knowledge and insight.
What i will say is that Hibs and Hearts should not be outside the top 6 from now on.

I think that he's right - he's just saying what I read on here every day.

He says that Hibs Scottish Cup record is rubbish - how can you disagree with that?

[A Hi-Bee]

So now at last I know that I originate from a place that just has a Castle and a wee dug to represent it. (Pretty funny really)
This is from a wedgie with a typical sense of entitlement, be he born or played fitba in what was a ****in village up until the early 18^th century.

With the onrush of the industrial revolution with steel and shipbuilding opening up, they had all the one time dispossessed Irish flock back to the west primarily from Ulster where they had been moved a couple of hundred years before. Most of them just going back to where they originated from all them years before.

The football argument is simple and it is based on bigotry and finance, it always makes me laugh when the wedgie comes out wi the fact that they don’t get challenged enough, to be told the answer.That is the one above, they don’t like that one, yet they moan the same when put up against the wealthy clubs of Europe, ****in hypocrites as ever.
**** them all

[matty_f]

I can’t stand Davie Provan. He’s brutal (and not in a “look at how direct and honest he is “ way).

[H18S NX]

The man's a pure melt,his opinion means nowt.

[Kato]

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So now at last I know that I originate from a place that just has a Castle and a wee dug to represent it. (Pretty funny really)
This is from a wedgie with a typical sense of entitlement, be he born or played fitba in what was a ****in village up until the early 18^th century.

With the onrush of the industrial revolution with steel and shipbuilding opening up, they had all the one time dispossessed Irish flock back to the west primarily from Ulster where they had been moved a couple of hundred years before. Most of them just going back to where they originated from all them years before.

The football argument is simple and it is based on bigotry and finance, it always makes me laugh when the wedgie comes out wi the fact that they don’t get challenged enough, to be told the answer.That is the one above, they don’t like that one, yet they moan the same when put up against the wealthy clubs of Europe, ****in hypocrites as ever.
**** them all

That is a huge reason, true. The Old Firm monetised sectarian bigotry to the point where the could finance their hegemony in Scotland easily. Weegies drone on about working class unity and Red Clydeside but the way the city is represented by their football clubs has had a far larger cultural influence.

Oh, and Proven is a grade A dick.

[JimBHibees]

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Stopped reading at 'Davie Provan'

Agree the pricks prick.

[JimBHibees]

So who would his team mates be that went on about Holday camp, Walker being the obvious plonker.

[Kato]

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So who would his team mates be that went on about Holday camp, Walker being the obvious plonker.

Mike Conroy holidayed his way through his time at Hibs.

[JimBHibees]

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Mike Conroy holidayed his way through his time at Hibs.

Certainly did horrific player for Hibs.