Ben Kensell

[flash]

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Should never have survived the Maloney shambles.
Get him, The Gordons, Montgomery and McDermott out of this club and we might have half a chance of retaining some sort of soul.
Right now, we are nothing more than a “Sports Franchise”.

Get the owners out the club?

The owners who have spent more on transfers than any other by miles and are in the process of revamping the stadium?

What is this mythical soul we are in danger of losing?

This is just a bang average run of the mill season for us in the last 40 odd years with a few exceptions both better and on occasions far worse.

We are a shambolic, under achieving organisation and have been for my entire life as a supporter.

We finally seem to have owners with drive and ambition which needs to successfully transfer onto the park or none of it will matter.

The owners biggest mistake has been their inability to pick the right manager but that's hardly unique to them is it?

[easty]

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You’ve just made that up. The mood around the club is better than it’s ever been.

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[scoopyboy]

I would let BK deal with the financial side of things, hes bringing lots of money into the club.

However I wouldn't let him anywhere near football decisions.

[AL-Qaholik]

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Get the owners out the club?

The owners who have spent more on transfers than any other by miles and are in the process of revamping the stadium?

What is this mythical soul we are in danger of losing?

This is just a bang average run of the mill season for us in the last 40 odd years with a few exceptions both better and on occasions far worse.

We are a shambolic, under achieving organisation and have been for my entire life as a supporter.

We finally seem to have owners with drive and ambition which needs to successfully transfer onto the park or none of it will matter.

The owners biggest mistake has been their inability to pick the right manager but that's hardly unique to them is it?

The “soul” is the connection of the fans with the club.
It’s all but gone - Easter Rd is a library with a drummer busking outside the door.
It’s been empty by the 80th minute more often than not this season.
Without that connection, we drop like a stone.
Plenty of folk not renewed for next season by all accounts. Nobody is my group of 8 has - nor have a good number of folk who sit around us. More will follow if this trend continues.
My group have said we’ll reassess before the start of next season and if Montgomery & Kensell, in particular, are still there we won’t renew and will just pick & choose games.
Ron Gordon was the owner.
We are now owned by his estate - obviously no fault of theirs’, and not something anybody saw coming, but also not a sustainable position for the club.
Black Knight money could help but, so far, the only player that’s improved us is Maolida and he’s the one we can’t afford. Even with BK money.
The entire model needs ripped up and started again. That doesn’t happen, for me, with The Gordons/Kensell at the helm.

[flash]

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The “soul” is the connection of the fans with the club.
It’s all but gone - Easter Rd is a library with a drummer busking outside the door.
It’s been empty by the 80th minute more often than not this season.
Without that connection, we drop like a stone.
Plenty of folk not renewed for next season by all accounts. Nobody is my group of 8 has - nor have a good number of folk who sit around us. More will follow if this trend continues.
My group have said we’ll reassess before the start of next season and if Montgomery & Kensell, in particular, are still there we won’t renew and will just pick & choose games.
Ron Gordon was the owner.
We are now owned by his estate - obviously no fault of theirs’, and not something anybody saw coming, but also not a sustainable position for the club.
Black Knight money could help but, so far, the only player that’s improved us is Maolida and he’s the one we can’t afford. Even with BK money.
The entire model needs ripped up and started again. That doesn’t happen, for me, with The Gordons/Kensell at the helm.

Presumably we had this "soul" during all the other awful seasons we have endured before we were taken on by the Gordons?

The relegations, the season without an away win, the season we couldn't get out of the Championship, the numerous seasons we were watched by 7 or 8000 people if we were lucky, the 22 match run without beating Hertz etc.

I attended practically every match for about 20 years from 1984ish and I can confirm that large chunks of my soul disappeared during that time never to return.

By all means be unhappy about this latest in a long line of incredibly disappointing seasons but let's leave out the ludicrous idea that things were so much better in the good old days.

I was there and, bar the occasional outlier, they were far from it.

[flash]

Oh aye and let's not pretend that the stadium being half empty before the end is somehow exclusive to the current regime either.

[Pretty Boy]

Not long after he arrived at Hibs I asked him what our ambitions were and what the ceiling was. He said the first priority had to be securing regular top 4 finishes because of the financial stability that brings. That conversation was part of a podcast so can be listened to if anyone wants to verify what was said.

In the seasons since we have missed out on top 6, finished 5th and look odds on to finish in the bottom 6 again. That's a failure to hit a fairly modest target by any measure. Add to that we have sacked 3 managers in that time and recruited dozens of players (many of whom made no meaningful contributions).

A healthy balance sheet and completion of infrastructure projects was rarely accepted as a defence of the football failure of the much maligned Rod Petrie when he was CEO and/or chairman. I'm not sure why Kensell is judged to lower standards. He inherited a really good situation at Hibs, of course there was work to be done but we had a modern stadium as opposed to a relic from the 50s and a fully built training centre so the big infrastructures the likes of Hearts and Aberdeen still had/have to complete were done. He's done well commercially, it would be churlish to argue otherwise, but the football has been close to an umiitiagted disaster and he has to shoulder a decent chunk of the blame for that.

[Brightside]

An unmitigated disaster? You mind we got relegated not that long ago?

[7Hero]

[QUOTE=TrinityHFC;7628435]A lot of the spend was on facilities that will have a longer period of pay off.
]

Simply not true , the facilities are depreciated in the accounts, they make up roughly 10 percent of the losses figure.

The losses are down to gross negligence

[Northernhibee]

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An unmitigated disaster? You mind we got relegated not that long ago?

You mind we finished third and never failed to get to Hampden even more recently, and someone had a brilliant idea to waste money on utter pish like Melkersen, Henderson, Hauge, and Deferriere instead of just doing the common sense thing and backing the first team to try and get that again?

[andrew70]

Anyone claiming Kensell needs to go or has been a “disaster” clearly doesn’t understand his role or his successes.

He can’t help the players not being good enough. We improved the squad in January, results improved, yet it still leaves a lot to do.

The owners and BK have backed every manager how have they done that? By increasing revenue no end, thanks BK.

We need a root and branch overhaul of the squad and we’ll get that in the summer.

It’s a case of, quite rightly, sticking with the process.

It’s on the players for me.

[Stubbsy90+2]

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An unmitigated disaster? You mind we got relegated not that long ago?

God knows what benefits you get from Kensell but they must be unreal.

[Godsahibby]

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You mind we finished third and never failed to get to Hampden even more recently, and someone had a brilliant idea to waste money on utter pish like Melkersen, Henderson, Hauge, and Deferriere instead of just doing the common sense thing and backing the first team to try and get that again?

TBF we did get a pretty decent return (financially) on that investment. That money will help the first team..

[Northernhibee]

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TBF we did get a pretty decent return (financially) on that investment. That money will help the first team..

It would if we knew how to spend it. The fact we signed the equally pish Vente shows we haven’t.

It goes back to add to the evidence though - I have no doubt that Kensell is an excellent salesman. The rest though - nope, not for me.

[andrew70]

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You mind we finished third and never failed to get to Hampden even more recently, and someone had a brilliant idea to waste money on utter pish like Melkersen, Henderson, Hauge, and Deferriere instead of just doing the common sense thing and backing the first team to try and get that again?

Melkersen, the same guy BK worked an unbelievable profit on?

[Since90+2]

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It would if we knew how to spend it. The fact we signed the equally pish Vente shows we haven’t.

It goes back to add to the evidence though - I have no doubt that Kensell is an excellent salesman. The rest though - nope.

Vente equally as pish as Melkerson? Come on eh.

[Northernhibee]

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Vente equally as pish as Melkerson? Come on eh.

When did he last score a goal from open play?

He offers absolutely zero. He had a goal scoring start to his time here but so did Mark Oxley.

And we spent a fortune on him.

[Northernhibee]

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Melkersen, the same guy BK worked an unbelievable profit on?

Aye, the guy who never scored a league goal for us.

Thanks for proving a point - the only defence of Kensell is “he brings money in”. Footballing wise, there is no defence of him at all.

[CapitalGreen]

Im old enough to remember when football teams played badly it was because the players weren’t good enough.

Will changing CEO turn Rocky into a competent centre back? Will David Marshall suddenly remember his job is to stop the ball going in the net? Will Joe Newell finally turn up in a game that matters?

[MWHIBBIES]

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Correct, Dempster was right place right time. Couldn’t get a front of shirt sponsor hence the thank you nhs.

Yeah, Dempster inherited such a great team in a great place. Honestly behave yourself. She inherited an utter mess and won the cup 2 years later.

[andrew70]

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Aye, the guy who never scored a league goal for us.

Thanks for proving a point - the only defence of Kensell is “he brings money in”. Footballing wise, there is no defence of him at all.

That’s his job. To bring money in. He does that perfectly well.

He can’t defend cross balls on a Sat.

[andrew70]

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Im old enough to remember when football teams played badly it was because the players weren’t good enough.

Will changing CEO turn Rocky into a competent centre back? Will David Marshall suddenly remember his job is to stop the ball going in the net? Will Joe Newell finally turn up in a game that matters?

Exactly this. Agendas often prove to be with vile intentions unfortunately.

[Northernhibee]

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That’s his job. To bring money in. He does that perfectly well.

He can’t defend cross balls on a Sat.

There’s been a clear shift in signing policy since Jack Ross left and focus on things like hospitality suites and results have gone south since.


Is that the decision of Rocky or Triantis?

[easty]

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That’s his job. To bring money in. He does that perfectly well.

He can’t defend cross balls on a Sat.

He could probably defend them as well as Rocky, Fish and Triantis

[andrew70]

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There’s been a clear shift in signing policy since Jack Ross left and focus on things like hospitality suites and results have gone south since.


Is that the decision of Rocky or Triantis?

You are a worry.

[Northernhibee]

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Exactly this. Agendas often prove to be with vile intentions unfortunately.

I’ll be completely open about my dislike of BK.

I’m very unhappy with how the focus appears to have been taken off the first team either consciously or subconsciously. The development team concept was a shambles. I’m sure that’s tough to disagree with.

I wasn’t impressed how the departure of Ross and LJ was handled.


I also haven’t been impressed with responses in regards to fan experience at away games and the management of a minority of fans behaving anti socially towards other Hibs fans by the club.


Put simply - as a football fan I care about the first team on the pitch and the experience of going to a game of football and spending good money on it and both of those have notably regressed since the return of fans since COVID.

I may have it wrong but it feels like BK has been a constant of overseeing a lot of this and the accounts do not interest me unless we’re in trouble as a club.

It’s possibly harsh as his role will encompass a lot more than just this but it’s what I as a Hibs fan cares about and it’s been grim for some time.

Maybe if the footballing department is given a bundle of a lot more autonomy then it could work but for just now it just feels like we’re making the same mistakes as a club over and over.

[jeffers]

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There’s been a clear shift in signing policy since Jack Ross left and focus on things like hospitality suites and results have gone south since.


Is that the decision of Rocky or Triantis?

They are not mutually exclusive though. Increasing revenue allows us to spend more on the playing side which we are doing.

I’m not sure what Kensell was expected to do when the owner’s son wanted to play Moneyball. He recognised that things were needing changed and it was him that pushed for a DoF.

As flash and Brightside have said we have been pish for most of my lifetime and are total underachievers. It’s nothing new. What is different is we are actively working to bring in more money to give us the best chance of on field success. We are one decent managerial appointment from that happening. But at the risk of boring everyone I’ll repeat, appointing managers at our level is not easy.

[Northernhibee]

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They are not mutually exclusive though. Increasing revenue allows us to spend more on the playing side which we are doing.

I’m not sure what Kensell was expected to do when the owner’s son wanted to play Moneyball. He recognised that things were needing changed and it was him that pushed for a DoF.

As flash and Brightside have said we have been pish for most of my lifetime and are total underachievers. It’s nothing new. What is different is we are actively working to bring in more money to give us the best chance of on field success. We are one decent managerial appointment from that happening. But at the risk of boring everyone I’ll repeat, appointing managers at our level is not easy.

Maybe so. I’d love to be wrong, I really would.

[jeffers]

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Maybe so. I’d love to be wrong, I really would.

It’s the hope that kills you

[Northernhibee]

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It’s the hope that kills you

I’m also willing to accept that I’m possibly wrong too. Some sign of improvement on the pitch and also for the experience of going to the football would go a long way in that, but it’s been a while since there’s been a glimpse of that.