Leigh Griffiths to Aberdeen

[Northernhibee]

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I’m not quite sure what the amount of women Griffiths has kids to or the amount of money in his bank account has to do with his ability to come back to Hibs and do a job..

Ask former team mates of a Mr. A. Stokes from when he was at his worst how certain things can affect dressing room atmosphere...

[calumhibee1]

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Ask former team mates of a Mr. A. Stokes from when he was at his worst how certain things can affect dressing room atmosphere...

I’ve no idea what that’s insinuating at, seems like I’ve missed an old rumour somewhere, but a player having kids to different parents or the amount in their bank account shouldn’t impact their employment prospects.

[Northernhibee]

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I’ve no idea what that’s insinuating at, seems like I’ve missed an old rumour somewhere, but a player having kids to different parents or the amount in their bank account shouldn’t impact their employment prospects.

It is very easy though for someones personal life to affect their professional relationships. I'm not saying that it would for Leigh, but it's something that would really need to be examined if he'd have the potential to unsettle the dressing room.

In recent years (the Stubbs cup winning team, the team from when we first returned to the top flight and this season) we seem to have had a large group in the dressing room who get on well. A big character like Griffiths may fit into that, it also may go against us. It's something that absolutely has to be examined as it's the model of how we scout at Hibs - we look into the character of the player and if they are likely to fit into the squad. We can't not do that just because it's Leigh Griffiths.

It's defo far from a no brainer.

[calumhibee1]

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It is very easy though for someones personal life to affect their professional relationships. I'm not saying that it would for Leigh, but it's something that would really need to be examined if he'd have the potential to unsettle the dressing room.

In recent years (the Stubbs cup winning team, the team from when we first returned to the top flight and this season) we seem to have had a large group in the dressing room who get on well. A big character like Griffiths may fit into that, it also may go against us. It's something that absolutely has to be examined as it's the model of how we scout at Hibs - we look into the character of the player and if they are likely to fit into the squad. We can't not do that just because it's Leigh Griffiths.

It's defo far from a no brainer.

From what has been said about Leigh Griffiths, he doesn’t seem to be much of a big character at all - at least not in the sense that he might disrupt the dressing room. Paul Hanlon said he used to come in, keep himself to himself, work hard and go home. Other than Lennon who was desperately trying to blame everyone but himself for his shocking job at Celtic, he’s never had his professionalism questioned, apart from on here now for some reason.

I’m not advocating we don’t examine all aspects of the signing. I just don’t see where the idea of him being disruptive or unprofessional (other than coming back for pre season once in his career after a 4 month break a bit overweight) really stem from.

[Northernhibee]

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From what has been said about Leigh Griffiths, he doesn’t seem to be much of a big character at all - at least not in the sense that he might disrupt the dressing room. Paul Hanlon said he used to come in, keep himself to himself, work hard and go home.

I’m not advocating we don’t examine all aspects of the signing. I just don’t see where the idea of him being disruptive or unprofessional (other than coming back for pre season once in his career after a 4 month break a bit overweight) really stem from.

He also repeatedly gave GIRUY and middle finger gestures to both home and away fans when first with us getting himself suspensions in the process, the Rudi Skacel song thing, gambling issues, reports of a training ground bust-up with Billy Brown (although who wouldn't want to give that Jambo prick a piece of their mind) and the like. Granted some of that was many years ago, but seeing as how he's not exactly been flavour of the month with certain figures at Celtic this season, taking extreme caution with him given that he'd be an expensive player to sign is completely understandable.

He's talismanic, but that makes it even more important we make sure that he's going to be a good fit with this dressing room. If he is going to come in and not disrupt the balance and bond in the dressing room then it's a no brainer, but there's enough to really put a huge amount of work into the scouting and preperation of this before we make a move.

[Haymaker]

[ancient hibee]

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From what has been said about Leigh Griffiths, he doesn’t seem to be much of a big character at all - at least not in the sense that he might disrupt the dressing room. Paul Hanlon said he used to come in, keep himself to himself, work hard and go home. Other than Lennon who was desperately trying to blame everyone but himself for his shocking job at Celtic, he’s never had his professionalism questioned, apart from on here now for some reason.

I’m not advocating we don’t examine all aspects of the signing. I just don’t see where the idea of him being disruptive or unprofessional (other than coming back for pre season once in his career after a 4 month break a bit overweight) really stem from.

That’s a bit of an understatement.He came back totally out of condition having ignored instructions and was so unfit he couldn’t do a pre season. He was the only player to do that and it was a very important season for his club.I would call that unforgivable never mind unprofessional.

[Northernhibee]

Incidentally we've held up St Johnstone as a club recently who have over-achieved for a number of years, winning both a League Cup and Scottish Cup on a much smaller budget than ours. So much of that I think comes down to a settled dressing room of professionals who have been there for some time from manager to subs bench - Craig, Wotherspoon, Booth, Clark, Tanser, Kerr, Kane, Gordon, Davidson etc.

They've got a settled, happy dressing room who work with each other extremely well and as such play above the sum of their parts. Football is a sport where you have to trust your team mates with every inch of your fibre to work as part of a unit as one lapse of concentration can concede a goal or lose a game.

It applies to any potential Hibs signing that they need to fit into the dressing room otherwise it can unbalance things - Kamberi looked poor for large spells with us and the team looked lacklustre up front until he buggered off to Rangers, but the best teams we've had in recent years have had a close bond - the cup winning team in particular were very tight knit.

I'd love Leigh to come back and spearhead us to further success but if Jack Ross looks into it and decides that he'd be better with someone different coming in as much as I'd be disappointed I'd have to trust him on that. Hopefully Leigh will be available, prove to be a good fit and can win a lot of games with us in the future.

[mal]

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He also repeatedly gave GIRUY and middle finger gestures to both home and away fans when first with us getting himself suspensions in the process, the Rudi Skacel song thing, gambling issues and the like. Granted some of that was many years ago, but seeing as how he's not exactly been flavour of the month with certain figures at Celtic this season, taking extreme caution with him given that he'd be an expensive player to sign is completely understandable.

He's talismanic, but that makes it even more important we make sure that he's going to be a good fit with this dressing room. If he is going to come in and not disrupt the balance and bond in the dressing room then it's a no brainer, but there's enough to really put a huge amount of work into the scouting and preperation of this before we make a move.

Would he though? A free transfer, at a time when we've actually been shelling out fees for players. Granted, you'd expect him to be at the top end of what we'd be prepared to pay in wages but he'd certainly help shift some season tickets to compensate for that.

[calumhibee1]

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That’s a bit of an understatement.He came back totally out of condition having ignored instructions and was so unfit he couldn’t do a pre season. He was the only player to do that and it was a very important season for his club.I would call that unforgivable never mind unprofessional.

Unforgivable?

He was 2.5kg over the weight he ended the previous season. If thats unforgivable to you then fair enough. I can only imagine what you thought about Boyle when he got caught drink driving or any of the actual serious incidents footballers have been involved in.

[Northernhibee]

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Would he though? A free transfer, at a time when we've actually been shelling out fees for players. Granted, you'd expect him to be at the top end of what we'd be prepared to pay in wages but he'd certainly help shift some season tickets to compensate for that.

I don’t really think he would sell that many season tickets though, certainly not enough to cover his wage. Given that the reason many people won’t be renewing is financial rather than dissatisfaction over what’s on the pitch, O can’t see that happening at all.

[marinello59]

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I don’t really think he would sell that many season tickets though, certainly not enough to cover his wage. Given that the reason many people won’t be renewing is financial rather than dissatisfaction over what’s on the pitch, O can’t see that happening at all.

I tend to agree. The biggest factors this time round are going to be affordability and whether we are going to be able to physically attend games or not. Strange times still.

[calumhibee1]

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I tend to agree. The biggest factors this time round are going to be affordability and whether we are going to be able to physically attend games or not. Strange times still.

They’ll probably be the biggest factors but I wouldn’t write off the good that an exciting signing could do.

A lot of Hibs fans have found us pretty boring to watch this season. Seeing us sign a player like Griffiths would be a huge steer in the direction a lot of fans would like to see us go with regards to style of play.

[Andy74]

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They’ll probably be the biggest factors but I wouldn’t write off the good that an exciting signing could do.

A lot of Hibs fans have found us pretty boring to watch this season. Seeing us sign a player like Griffiths would be a huge steer in the direction a lot of fans would like to see us go with regards to style of play.

I wouldn't have said a few people on here amounted to 'a lot'.

How would you see a player like Griffiths transforming our style of play?

[Hibbyradge]

This is a similar situation to the one we found ourselves in with Deek in 2008 except it was pretty much unanimous that him returning would be a huge positive in terms of our performance on the field and season ticket sales.

Sadly, neither were proved to be the case.

Hibs average attendance in 08/09 at 12684 was actually over 1000 less than the previous non-Deek year and it dropped by another 500 the following season.

In terms of performance, we finished 6th in 07/08 and 08/09 improving to 4th in 09/10.

For Riordan's first game back, the "bath of beans game", 12445 people turned up to see us beat Falkirk 3-2 (Nish 2 and Hanlon).

The only time I remember attendances being affected by a player signing was in 1979 when George Best arrived and more than 5 times our usual 4000 came along to see him. 22500 iirc.

By the March, we were back down to about 5000 despite Best.

In my opinion, Hibs could sign Harry Kane and ST sales wouldn't significantly increase. But, on that point, we definitely will never know!

[Shrekko]

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For Riordan's first game back, the "bath of beans game", 12445 people turned up to see us beat Falkirk 3-2 (Nish 2 and Hanlon).

Pretty sure that's wrong. First game was v Dundee United was it not? Sure it was a bigger crowd too.

[Hibbyradge]

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Pretty sure that's wrong. First game was v Dundee United was it not? Sure it was a bigger crowd too.

Have I mixed up the seasons?

First league game in 08/09 was Falkirk.

[calumhibee1]

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Have I mixed up the seasons?

First league game in 08/09 was Falkirk.

Riordan signed last day of the window.

[Dunbar Hibee]

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Pretty sure that's wrong. First game was v Dundee United was it not? Sure it was a bigger crowd too.

Was his first game back not against Hamilton away, where he came on and scored after about a minute of coming on?

[marinello59]

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Was his first game back not against Hamilton away, where he came on and scored after about a minute of coming on?

That’s how I remembered it. And the goal was an absolute cracker.

[calumhibee1]

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Was his first game back not against Hamilton away, where he came on and scored after about a minute of coming on?

That’s also what I thought but Wikipedia suggest he came on for Joe Keenan at home to DU then came on and scored against Hamilton the game after.

[Hibiza]

Come home Leigh.

[Magpie]

Bring him home.

[Hibbyradge]

Ah of course, that explains it. Thanks.

The first home game other than Rangers or Hearts was a 1-2 loss to ICT (Deek again). Attendance was 11688.

A cursory trawl through the stats shows that other than OF and Hearts games, after Deek signed, we only got over 12000 on one occasion, and that was during the long Christmas break.

[Jim44]

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He also repeatedly gave GIRUY and middle finger gestures to both home and away fans when first with us getting himself suspensions in the process, the Rudi Skacel song thing, gambling issues, reports of a training ground bust-up with Billy Brown (although who wouldn't want to give that Jambo prick a piece of their mind) and the like. Granted some of that was many years ago, but seeing as how he's not exactly been flavour of the month with certain figures at Celtic this season, taking extreme caution with him given that he'd be an expensive player to sign is completely understandable.

He's talismanic, but that makes it even more important we make sure that he's going to be a good fit with this dressing room. If he is going to come in and not disrupt the balance and bond in the dressing room then it's a no brainer, but there's enough to really put a huge amount of work into the scouting and preperation of this before we make a move.

To be honest, my fears and reservations about Griffiths are not based on the effect he might have on the team/club, if he were to sign, but more about the backlash, from disappointed fans, there might be if, after due diligence and weighing up the pros and and cons, the club decided not to pursue the matter or lose out on a deal for financial reasons.

[Hibbyradge]

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To be honest, my fears and reservations about Griffiths are not based on the effect he might have on the team/club, if he were to sign, but more about the backlash, from disappointed fans, there might be if, after due diligence and weighing up the pros and and cons, the club decided not to pursue the matter or lose out on a deal for financial reasons.

Any backlash would only be on this forum and on Twitter etc. It would last until we won a game.

There would be nothing to be concerned about.

[CMurdoch]

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To be honest, my fears and reservations about Griffiths are not based on the effect he might have on the team/club, if he were to sign, but more about the backlash, from disappointed fans, there might be if, after due diligence and weighing up the pros and and cons, the club decided not to pursue the matter or lose out on a deal for financial reasons.

Hibs recruitment team and management will have access to all the background goings on in relation to Leigh at Celtic that us fans can only guess about so if they decide not to bring him in we need to accept it will be for good reason based on all available evidence
I can't see us losing out for financial reasons because I don't think Leigh will have other options if he wants to commute to training from home each day.
As I said on a previous post make him top earner at the club by a tenner on a years contract with a further year option. Done that way there is little risk of it turning sour for the club. Hearts and Aberdeen could compete with that wage but for a variety of reasons they are unlikely options with Hibs most likely to get a tune out of him.
What alternate clubs do you think Leigh could realistically go to if Celtic don't take up their option?

[brog]

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I think this is a bit of a myth. I don't know of a signing that has ever on its own shifted season tickets. Good results, good football, yes, and a good signing is part of that but I think there will be a limited few who go running out to buy a ticket on the back of a particular signing.

Most tickets are sold a long way before the business end of transfer windows anyway.

If you're only talking about Hibs then possibly but there's countless examples of marquee signings increasing ST sales all over the football world. In our case both the signing of George Best and the return of Joe Baker would have triggered major increases in ST sales in today's world.

[CapitalGreen]

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Hibs recruitment team and management will have access to all the background goings on in relation to Leigh at Celtic that us fans can only guess about so if they decide not to bring him in we need to accept it will be for good reason based on all available evidence
I can't see us losing out for financial reasons because I don't think Leigh will have other options if he wants to commute to training from home each day.
As I said on a previous post make him top earner at the club by a tenner on a years contract with a further year option. Done that way there is little risk of it turning sour for the club. Hearts and Aberdeen could compete with that wage but for a variety of reasons they are unlikely options with Hibs most likely to get a tune out of him.
What alternate clubs do you think Leigh could realistically go to if Celtic don't take up their option?

Why would Griffiths agree to a 1 year contract?

[CapitalGreen]

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If you're only talking about Hibs then possibly but there's countless examples of marquee signings increasing ST sales all over the football world. In our case both the signing of George Best and the return of Joe Baker would have triggered major increases in ST sales in today's world.

I’d be interested to hear some of these countless examples, preferably backed up with evidence that a positive increase in season tickets was solely attributable to their signing.