We can milk Hibs’ plight for all it’s worth but Jambos and Scottish game NEED them to be strong
Our clubs can’t afford to be a joke
IF you’re a Hearts fan, it’s hard not to peer across Edinburgh and end up with you sides splitting when you look at the state Hibs have got themselves into.
But the lamentable situation in Leith really should be no laughing matter if you’re really serious about Scottish football moving forward.
Freak results like losing to Kelty Hearts can happen at this time of year. David Gray isn’t the first boss to come a cropper in the League Cup groups and the new Easter Road manager won’t be the last.
But what you can’t excuse is Bill Foley throwing the rookie gaffer and his sporting director Malkay Mackay right under the bus by announcing to the world that the Hibs hierarchy overruled his advice when they appointed the pair.
It has undermined both men and will only heap unnecessary pressure on Gray, especially at a time when he’s trying to get to grips with his first job in management.
Of course Bournemouth owner Foley should have been involved in the decision making process having sunk £6million into the club.
But there was simply no need to wash his club’s dirty laundry like that.
All it’s done is play into the narrative that Hibs are a club lurching towards another crisis.
Of course I get that the Jambos faithful will want to milk this for all it’s worth. That’s your right as a fan.
But my worry is that Hibs are going to end stuck in the same old cycle of hire and fire when it comes to managers.
The Gorgie support might enjoy that for a while but let me ask them this: doesn’t a derby win mean more when the games are close, when you have to scrap every second for the points rather than a one-sided stroll?
For me, Scottish football needs all it’s big clubs to be pulling their weight if we’re to be successful as a nation – that means you need a strong Hibs every bit as much as a strong Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen.
This season we’ve got Kilmarnock and St Mirren flying the flag and I hope both clubs go far.
But we’re in danger of losing ALL of our automatic group stage slots in UEFA’s three tournaments if things go wrong this year and we continue our slide down the coefficient table. That’s why we need our biggest clubs, with the biggest budgets and biggest fanbases cheering them on when we welcome teams from the continent to Scotland. Right now, Hibs might have the cash and the crowds but they don’t have the cohesive unit required to qualify for Europe – on and off the park. They’re a mess all right and it’s in stark contrast to the way Hearts have been run in recent seasons. The Tynecastle board have been a showcase of stability in recent years and they’re reaping the rewards of having a solid set-up behind Stevie Naismith’s squad.
That’s not to say I don’t have my concerns about Hearts.
But unlike Hibs, they only extend as far as the first-team dressing room.
I said in these pages last week I have major reservations about the club’s lack of cover for Lawrence Shankland and those fears have only grown in the days since Record Sport broke the news that Rangers are back in for the Scotland striker.
I can totally understand why the Ibrox outfit would want Shanks. My only surprise is that they haven’t moved sooner.
I still believe they’d have won the league last season had they come up with the £4m Hearts wanted in January.
It’s just one of many major missteps this blundering Ibrox board have made.
But given the shambles Rangers have got themselves into this summer, can they really afford to repeat it? They’ve got no choice but to go for it.
Given Shanks is a boyhood Gers fan, I can only imagine if a bid does come in he’ll want to go.
That would be a blow for Hearts even if they had a ready made replacement but seeing as there’s no one else at the club remotely close to his scoring ability it’s a major worry.
It’s good to see Hearts sticking to their valuation but losing the skipper is a prospect scary enough to wipe away all those smug Hearts smiles.