The Business End of the Season

I write this on the eve of the League Cup semi-final between Hibs and St Johnstone, which will be played on 30th January at Tynecastle. The last tie between these teams at that venue, also in the same competition resulted in a 3-1 win for Hibernian, after extra time goals from David Murphy and Abdessalam Benjelloun had added to Steven Fletcher's early goal to secure victory for the Hibees.

Back then, Hibernian were holding their own in the Scottish Premier League. John Collins had picked up the reins from the departed Tony Mowbray, and having seen off Hearts at Easter Road in the previous round (with the most dominant 1-0 win you're ever likely to see), Hibs were looking good for a strong finish to the season.

St Johnstone were riding high in the old Scottish First Division. Their manager, Owen Coyle, was winning admirers for the good work that he was doing with what had been a struggling side. St Johnstone would challenge for the title that season, and also reached the Scottish Cup semi-final, where they were thwarted by a strong Celtic side.

Hibs went on to win the League Cup that year, a resounding 5-1 victory over Jim Jefferies' Kilmarnock at Hampden was as good as it got for the Hibees under Collins. The rest of the season was marred by the infamous player revolt, and Hibs - like St Johnstone - were also to lose out at the semi final stage of the Scottish Cup, despite being heavy favourites to beat Dunfermline.

Fast forward to today, and the roles have been reversed. Hibs are challenging for the title in the second tier, while St Johnstone sit comfortably in the top six of the top flight. The semi final promises to be a fascinating tie. The Perth side have tried to play down their chances, calling Hibs out as favourites despite the gulf in the sides' respective league positions. Hibs do, undoubtedly, enjoy greater resources than St Johnstone.  I would imagine the playing budget at Easter Road trumps that of St Johnstone, and it is arguable that more Hibernian players would get into the first team at St Johnstone than vice versa.

That said, the benefit of regularly competing against top flight opposition should not be underestimated. You only have to look at St Johnstone's convincing 1-3 win at Ibrox in this competition earlier in the season for evidence of that. Rangers, at that point, had triumphed convincingly over every opponent that had been put in front of them (save, I suppose, from a narrow 1-0 win against Hibs at Ibrox - the sides separated by a terrific strike from a contentious free kick harshly awarded to the Glasgow side).

Rangers dominated possession but could not overcome the tactical nous of St Johnstone, who exposed weaknesses in Rangers' play time and time again.

I suspect anyone looking at this game objectively would have St Johnstone as favourites on that basis. It is hard to conceive of a convincing argument where a top six side goes into a match against a second tier side as underdogs, despite the cliched talk from St Johnstone that the bigger support that Hibs will enjoy puts the pressure on Hibs.

It should be remembered that Hibs have enjoyed larger crowds than most Scottish sides for a considerable period, and despite relegation, the crowd numbers have largely held firm. A full house is more likely to unsettle St Johnstone in that respect.

For me, the game is too close to call. I know Hibs are capable of winning, but that's not to say that I think we will. Convincing wins against Aberdeen and Dundee United should give the players the confidence to approach this tie with a view to winning it. However, St Johnstone are a good side, with a manager who is tactically astute and prepares his players very well. I suspect the game will be a tight affair, and could go all the way to penalties.

Regardless of the outcome, Hibernian have another vital tie right on the back of this game. On Tuesday night, Morton will host Hibs in the re-arranged fixture from the earlier postponed game. With Rangers facing Falkirk this weekend, it is essential that Hibs take maximum points from this tie.

Morton, under the stewardship of former Hibs manager Jim Duffy, have equipped themselves well in their first season in the Championship. Hibs will need to be at their best to triumph, and there is no room for a post-semi final hangover. With Rangers enjoying a five point gap on Hibs (with the potential to stretch that to eight points, should they beat Falkirk), Alan Stubbs' side cannot afford to slip up.

It is a period that will tell us a lot about this Hibernian side. They have already answered a lot of questions this season. Their form has been terrific, and even when performances have slipped, Hibs have managed to dig out results. This has not been a trait associated with Hibs for some time, and so to see it ingrained in this team is hugely satisfying.

At one point, Hibs trailed Rangers by eleven points and it's testament to the side that they have cut that gap to the extent that they have. With Rangers still to visit Easter Road and Falkirk, the title is far from being out of Hibs' reach. There is no margin for error now though, Hibs could conceivably get away with the points dropped earlier in the season if they continue their current form, however with games fast running out, every point is a prisoner.

We are right at the business end of the season. What happens over the next few months will have a huge bearing on the health of the football club. Promotion is essential, Hibs have continued to operate as a top flight side despite relegation, but that can only be sustained for so long.

Stubbs, for his part, looks to have done a cracking job in giving the side the best possible chance of going up. His acquisition of Anthony Stokes sent out a resounding message that Hibs were not content to settle for second place. While Stokes grabbed the headlines, the introduction of Chris Dagnall could prove to be just as significant.

I got my first look at Dagnall on Saturday, during Hibs' comfortable 3-1 win over St Mirren. Dagnall did not give the defenders a moment's peace. For a wee guy, he gave the centre halves a torrid time, and it's the first time in a long time that I've seen a Hibs striker so physically dominant against their opponent (actually, that's not quite true - Farid El Alagui was exceptional in that regard.).

Dagnall's movement and constant harrying of the defenders created space for his team mates, the benefit of which was evident in John McGinn's fine goal in the first half. With Dominique Malonga departing to Italy's Seria B, Dagnall's contribution could be very telling in the run in.

Stubbs has also added Finnish goalkeeper Otso Virtanen (he's not Finnish, he's only 21...) and full back Niklas Gunnarrson  to Stokes and Dagnall. Crucially, top scorer Jason Cummings has remained at the club, and I believe a new, long term deal has been put on the table for the irrepressible hit man.

Hibs look in good shape for the run-in, take away the fact that we're still in the Championship and it's a very exciting time for Hibs fans. We are seeing a winning side playing good football. A young, talented manager bringing the best out of a young side - there are echoes of the side that took to the Tynecastle pitch to face St Johnstone back in 2007, and with a board and support fully behind the team, there is a genuine reason to be enthusiastic about the title run in.

And if that wasn't enough, there's always the prospect of a Scottish Cup derby to come, and as Danny Grainger pointed out in his ill-considered tweet , we all know what happened the last time Hibs met Hearts in the Scottish Cup...

Changing Times - Interview with Leeann Dempster

Leeann Dempster arrived at Hibernian in the worst possible circumstances. Having been sounded out and recruited by a Hibernian board that knew the club needed to change, and knew who they wanted to lead the change many months before Terry Butcher oversaw the horrendous decline in results that saw the club relegated, Leeann's first week in post could hardly have been more challenging.

With the backdrop of an angry support clamouring for the removal of Rod Petrie, Leeann took over a club that should have been looking forward to a Scottish Premiership campaign in a league without Hearts and Rangers, but instead found itself facing up to life in the Championship alongside their city rivals, and the Glasgow club working its way up the divisions following liquidation two years previously. 

If Hibs couldn't have picked a worse time to be relegated (not that there is ever a good time), Leeann Dempster also couldn't have picked a more challenging time to take control of the club. I have been looking at the changes at Hibernian since that point in time, and I've been grateful to have been given time with people within the club who have been able to give me their perspective on life at Hibs in the time since the Rod Petrie protests. 

Earlier this week, I spent some time at Easter Road with Leeann, to get her perspective on the journey so far, and how she sees that journey progressing in the coming months and years.  

I came away from the meeting with renewed optimism not just about the season, but for the future of the football club. There is a clear plan in place, thought out, considered, and clearly defined. The club knows where it wants to go, and knows how to get there. When I think back to the summer of 2012, and the Working Together meetings of that time, there was nothing to suggest that such a plan. It was no surprise, having seen the club close up at that period, that we were on a downward spiral. 

Conversely, it will be no surprise to me that we will find ourselves on an upward trajectory before too long. From the conversation around the interview, it was clear that every aspect of the club has had a root and branch review. 

From the catering - some of which will be coming in-house - to how supporters interact with the club on a match day, to how supporters can share life events like birthdays, weddings, memorials, etc. All of this is done with a view to growing the income to fund the first team. 

Everything is geared towards making the first team successful, and is about sowing the seeds from which the club can grow and flourish in an effective and sustainable way, where the fortunes of the club don't rest on the shoulders of a management team as they have in the past. 

Everything is geared towards making Hibernian great again.

You met the supporters while the protest against Rod Petrie were going on outside the West Stand, as supporters we can see there has been a change, but how would you describe the biggest difference at the club?

The biggest difference, well there are so many differences because I don't believe that there is any part of the club that has been untouched since the first of June 2014, so that's a hard one to hone down. 

Culturally the club is very different. I was attracted to come to this club in the first place because there was absolute potential bursting all over the place, and I really didn't have to think twice when I got the opportunity to come here. So I think that in itself tells you the sort of gravitas that I felt for the club.

It was a really, really attractive proposition for me from a professional perspective because I could see the opportunity. 

I felt there was a disconnect in many ways. Football is all about the supporters and the relationship with the supporters. You can be football team but if you don't have the supporters with you and you don't have your supporters coming through the gates, then you won't achieve anything because you will remain at a much smaller size and you won't leverage the capabilities that are there.

I thought there was a massive opportunity to change that up, and to be honest it was quite an easy fix.

When you think about the headwinds there - you were in that meeting - in a really strange way it made me more - I was pretty determined anyway - but it made me more determined with what was going on outside and what was going on in the meeting.

The raw emotion reassured me in a way because it showed me that the supporters wanted the club to be successful.

That really energised me. It was like starting a mission, it wasn't like a labour of love - I'm not going to be crass and pretend that I was a Hibernian supporter since I was five, but I'm absolutely a Hibernian supporter now, but it feels like an absolute mission now, it feels like a labour of love now. Everyone that comes in here now and everyone working with us now, I believe it feels the same way for them as well. You see the reaction on a Saturday when we achieve something and when we don't achieve things, and the pain is as real for us as it is for everyone else, and I think that's a good thing to have within the staff base here because it connects everyone back. 

I think the change has been that relationship - that rebuilding of the relationship with supporters - and I don't think 'relationship' is the right word for it, because the connection between a football club and the supporters is something special, and if football clubs don't recognise that then they're missing out.

There's all the structural things, all the re-structure and rebuilding of the football side, and we did that in a very different way to how we had done it in the past. That's not me passing comment on whether it was done properly or not in the past, it was very much the model that many football clubs had followed, we just came at it in a very different way.It's been well talked about this idea of technical coaches supported properly. 

When clubs get relegated they tend to contract, and even in the face of the headwinds and everything that was facing us at that point we never did that. We stayed true to the plan that we came to the club with. 

My first appointment was George Craig, and George has been one of the mainstays and a hugely important element of the development of the club, and the development of the club in the years to come. So when we talk about the football plan, him and I always worked well together. He was one of the first people I connected with when I came into football and I knew I wanted someone as strong as him to come and start this with me.

When you talk about potential, what do you see that potential being?

I think even though we're in the Championship and we have to fight to get out of the Championship at the minute - so some people might think 'dream on' - but this is a capital city club. It has a high number of supporters coming through the gates, it has the potential to probably bring double that again. 

With that brings the club the opportunity and the funds to continue to improve. This club shouldn't be happy to just get back into the Premier league.

Over time, and whatever defined period of time that is, we want to be in the top echelons of the Scottish game, so not just a top six club, we want to be up there challenging at the top of that league, challenging for the European spots, and participating at that level. 

We also know we have to get there first, we also know that we have done some of the work and there's a lot more work to get us there. I've been fortunate enough to enjoy that stuff in my time in the game, and I believe I understand what it takes to achieve that. and this club has every ingredient to achieve that, and more.

I want us to be challenging for cups and getting to finals and semi-finals. We should be doing that on an ongoing basis. Our aspirations are no different to any other clubs', but I think they are realistic. Hibernian is a massive club - that's the old cliche, big club/massive club, but we  are. Everything about us suggests that, and supporters won't be satisfied until we're back doing what we should be doing, until we're back taking our role at the table at Scottish football again.

We also need to respect the league we're in at the minute, respect the teams that we compete against at the minute, and do all we possibly can to make that leap and get up.

We have massive aspirations for this club. Aspirations for an elite club, and aspirations for a community involvement, or hub for Edinburgh. I think football misses an opportunity because we interact with people daily, not just at the weekends, but daily. The emotion associated with football is raw and special, and if we can interact in any way outside of the sport we should do that. Clubs are wakening up to that and I don't want us to be at the back of the queue. 

How will you know when that community aspiration is achieved, what will it look like?

Look at this stadium today,we've walked around it. How many rooms are here? We want the stadium to be a dedicated point for local people, people in Edinburgh to come and use it. 

We are a founding partner of a public social partnership called Gamechanger, which in itself is probably a whole other meeting. That is all about football, equality, social justice, and health.

We would like this site (Easter Road) and Ormiston, outwith what we use it for the elite football side - and that's always a given that it's for elite football - to be used for the benefit of the community and the people that live around us.

We need to make it as accessible as possible, and it's not just about affordability, we can take that right out of the equation, we are not just sitting in a football stadium at the minute, we're sitting in a massive community asset. Four big empty buildings, with lots of land and opportunities for it to be used, and Gamechanger is a public social partnership, it's the first of it's kind where football is involved. It's innovative in the extreme, and supporters will start to hear more about that in the sphere of what we're doing in community.

I don't want to diminish the football elite side of things, but this is a building block for us.

I guess that's what it means, does it mean you come here for drop-in clinics? Well actually, there's potential for primary care to be located within the stadium, and for that primary care to be supported by third sector organisations, so actually the stadium becomes a dedicated health hub, and within that there are education environments, within that there are business start-up environments, and within that the opportunity for social enterprise. All the things that we consume as a football club could be supplied by social enterprise. 

That's five stages away, or two, or three stages away. That's where football clubs become active in their community because they give people jobs, re-educate them, give them places to start their business, give them places to do their community work, and we are no different, we have that kind of space. 

The roots of the football club are in community, does that influence your thinking?

Does it influence my thinking? It's clearly connected to where the club was founded but for me I've always been a person who's interested in the social side of life so it wasn't my motivator.

My motivator was that I think football clubs should be involved and do things, it shouldn't just be about community football. Community football is a nice starting point but it should be about other things. I'm sure many football clubs have been started in the same way around activities for, I suppose, the most needy in life at that particular point in time.

It's a nice coincidence, but it's not a motivator. I spend a lot of time thinking about what a football club looks like outside of football.

What aspects of the changes you have made so far have you taken most satisfaction from?

I think the new football structure - and I include the academy in this - it still has to achieve things, and I know that, but I'm really, really happy with the development of that and the foundations we've put down there. It gives me a lot of satisfaction that I've been involved in that.
The biggest thing is that I think a lot of supporters are now looking forward to the games, to coming to the games, look forward to what the club are doing, and what the club has to offer. That communication and that openness is probably the thing that gives me most satisfaction. 

Supporters are feeling happier and proud of their club in a strange way,I don't know if those are the right words, you're proud when you win something, people want to come to games and be entertained when they pay their money then go up the road. I've said before football is a different emotional connector, if you don't recognise that or appreciate that, you shouldn't be in the game.

If I can take you back to a Working Together meeting where you said you hoped to get to ten thousand season ticket holders, we're sitting at seven thousand eight hundred. What difference would those additional two thousand two hundred season tickets have made?

There's the obvious financial difference, there's no doubt about it. We wrestled a wee bit with that ten thousand figure, whether to go with it or not because when you put a number on it you could set yourself up for failure if you do, or you could be accused of having no ambition if you don't.

I think with the campaign around season tickets, you've noticed a visible change in how we communicate with supporters.

There's more about coming back, falling in love or at least become interested again. The tone of season ticket campaign video really kick started that, we saw some great early uptake on that. We are about six or seven hundred up on where we were this time last year. I think we finished around seven thousand eight hundred-ish last year including the half-season tickets. 

Of course it makes a massive difference, of course money coming through the turnstiles makes a massive difference. Every thousand season tickets that people buy increases the club's revenue by a quarter of a million pounds. That's significant, there's no getting away from that.

I'm probably jumping onto another subject here, but having HSL and the share issue live at the same time - there was a lot happening for people, so I think people made choices about the things that they did.

People that could afford to did a number of things, people could afford to do one thing, did one thing. People that didn't buy a season ticket bought shares. Because of HSL and the share issue it's allowed us to step forward with some confidence to go into the market for players, do things over the summer knowing that the supporters were behind us. So, for me, it's an amalgamation of a number of things, it's season tickets, it's the income from the share issue and it's the ongoing income from HSL, all of that stuff has made a marked difference. 

We're not up to speed yet in terms of the full team of people here.I think that will make a difference as well, it's smaller but it's more incremental income, as our group get together. 

That will make a difference because everyone operationally is...well you saw Colin (Millar), as an example, he was a guy who dedicated his time as a volunteer, worked through the Work Together groups, was very active, got the opportunity to do things for the club and now has a career in sport. These are the things that football does well.

We want more people to buy tickets, we need more people to buy tickets, and invest cash in the club in whatever way they see fit.

We know that if you are successful on the pitch it inevitably brings people through the gates. Marketing campaigns, messaging, and personalisation, is one way, but the one thing that brings people back is winning. 

The more we show people we have depth as a club, we'll bring people back.

Football in Scotland is in an interesting, positive time. All we've heard since 2008/2009/2010 is how difficult the game in Scotland is. All that's done is made football clubs look at what they've done in terms of recruitment and young players.

I don't know the stats, probably someone who follows these things will drag them out, but it feels like we have more young players playing these days. We have more being exported over the UK and in Europe, and that shows that the technical aspects of the game in Scotland are thriving.

There's strong competition in the Premier League, we've seen crowds coming back out, you've seen at Hearts there's crowds coming back out, great crowds coming out at Aberdeen. All of that, whether it's your team or not your team, is magnificent for the game because it shows football is still rooted there, and if you have the right product at the right time then fans will come out and support it.

We're in a very interesting development point for the club, and it coincides with a good period in the game as well, and that creates various opportunities for the club and we're well placed to take advantage of it.

When you talk about success bringing the fans back along with other things, how much more difficult does it make your task when we find ourselves going into October with the first team clinging onto the title race by its fingernails?

We never started again this season the way we might have wanted to start it but the season's a long old slog. So, the league is far from over. People were telling us it was over after two weeks. It's far from over. 

I would never say I was disappointed by the number of people that come through the gates, I think that's disrespectful to supporters to say that. I think all we can do is talk about the development of the club at the point it's at at the minute, and people will either believe us or they won't believe us. 

They either trust us or they don't trust us, and if they trust us they'll stay with us for the duration. If they like us they'll stay with us for the duration, and if they don't trust us they'll tell us soon enough - and we'll be adult enough to face into that. 

We always need and want people to come through the gates. If you want to feed the club, if you want to keep the players out there, if you want us to get the John McGinns of this world then we need to feed the club. We can't expect someone else to do it for us. We need to feed the club, but we need to get the message out there in the nature it's intended, and not as a lecture of responsibility and what have you. 

So, win games on the trot, keep clean sheets, score goals, all of those things create excitement, moments between family... and Wednesday night for me was a brilliant game, a great game of football. I really enjoyed it, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. We don't know what happens after that, but there will be people who go away from there saying "That was the first game I went back to, and it was a good game to go back to." Those are the memories I want to create, but we do need people to come back, we can say it softly and we can say it nicely but we do need it, and hopefully the football and the other stuff brings them back.

How difficult have you found it getting that message out in the way it's intended, without sounding like a lecture?

I think you've seen this kind of a development of a narrative within the club, and I think we're trying to keep to that. There is a comms plan that sits behind it, we've tried to price responsibly when we can, we've tried to build value in where we can. 

It comes back to the idea of feeding the club again, there needs to be a balance.You never get everything right all the time. We've had to make some decisions that we know will be palatable to some and unpalatable to others, but that's like everything else in life. 

We've created this narrative and I don't think people are buying into it because it's a marketing thing, it's because it's true.  I believe where the club is in its life at the moment, by 2025 we have a club that's 150 years old, it will be different to the club, hopefully in a more positive way, to the club that we have at the minute and very different to the club that we had last year. 

It depends how much supporters want to get involved. Some want to come to the game, sit down watch the game and disappear, and that's fine. Others want to become more entrenched in the club and be involved. It's about getting it as personal as we can. We do want to get to know our supporters and show them real appreciation for sticking by us over a difficult number of years. 

There's no point pretending that's not the case - it has been the case. It's a fact. If you pretend all that never happened people just think it's another bit of marketing spin.

I speak to loads of folk on a match day, I try my best to get around the stadium, I try my best not just to stay in hospitality but to go outside. Just do small things, when you've got kids standing outside waiting for autographs it only takes a minute to bring them in,it takes two minutes to take them pitch-side and give them a ball and let them run about, it's hardly any effort for us but those memories last a lifetime.

For us, we work here, we walk up and down the stadium. My office looks onto the stadium, if you are a Hibernian supporter you would love to work in an office like that. It becomes normal to us, but that young lad or young girl waiting outside waiting to see their favourite player, we can bring them in and let them sit in the dug-outs, it's brilliant.

My friend and I did the Football Fans in Training and being able to change in the dressing room and do laps of the pitch was brilliant, so I can relate to that. 

I arrived during the Football Fans in Training, but the dressing rooms weren't being used, so guys were needing to come dressed, or get changed in the toilets or whatever. I asked why they didn't use the dressing rooms, and it was "Well, that's the first team, so.." but I said so long as it's returned in a good condition we're happy to let you use them. 

That added a dynamic to it, they were lying not being used so if it means another twenty people or forty people come then all the better. 

We talk about a bad period for the club, which it clearly has been. Will we only be out of that bad period when we achieve promotion, or do you think we're on our way out now?

I think it depends on your perspective. We need to be promoted, everything that we are working towards is about us playing in the top league in Scotland. Not just playing and participating, but being an active challenger at the top, challenging for European spots and all the rest of it. 

It depends on your perspective. I have the privilege of working here and seeing the people that work here and I see the work that goes in. I see the hours that everyone puts in and the effort and everything is done to get the best output for the club.

In a way I think we are out of the worst period, because we've done a lot of hard work. We've done a lot of work,  but there will be supporters who believe that until we're in the top league nothing has improved, nothing's change and that's their prerogative and their perspective. That's the whole dynamic of the game, everyone has an opinion.

You look at the boards, debate rages on every topic. Listen to the radio on a Saturday and debate rages on every topic. If you went to a football match knowing you would win every game three nothing you'd stop going because you'd be bored. It'd be nice, but you'd be bored. 

What message would you want to give to fans who are on the fence, maybe been to a couple of games, but are swithering on whether they want to come back?

People wanted change at the club. They told us they wanted change, they physically demonstrated that they wanted it to change. They wanted a different culture, a different approach, different communications, a whole raft of changes. 

They wanted a change at the top and I would argue that they've had that. It's been many, many months since I've been asked the question, but I have full responsibility for the club. I think people don't ask me that question any longer because it's pretty self-evident. 

People asked for that change. If you don't want to come back until we're promoted then that's entirely your prerogative. Everyone has free will, everyone can choose what they want to do.

I would say, if you can, in whatever way it is, be part of it now, play your part now. If it's only in a small way we'd be grateful for it. If it's in a big way, then all the better. 

I look forward to coming in every day. Every day there's a new challenge. Every day there's something to build upon for the game coming towards us. We have a strong reporting structure, not overloading people, but we understand the different elements of the different departments that we work within and how they overlap. We have a Hibs Kids day coming up on the 17th October, and we'll work hard to make sure that's a great Hibs Kids day.

Hopefully that'll mean the kids and their parents will have a brilliant day that day and we'll get the result we want, but it'll not just be about coming in with your ticket and going to a kiosk or whatever, we'll create events round about it. 

We don't use the stadium well enough on a match day. There could be great fan environments, great fan zones around it, there  could be interesting interactions for the supporters. 

People could come to the stadium earlier and use it in a different way. We have the motivation to do that, but you can divert your attention away and we want to focus on getting promoted. 

There's things that we are doing now that if we were in the Premier League we'd probably do them slightly different but we're focussing everything, a lot of our energies on the first team, focussed on the performance of the first team, that group in here and how we connect with the supporters. 

The work that has been done with the first team, the work that's been done with the academy, the new recruitment structures, the people working for the club, the renewed relationships with boy's clubs - the amateur game in Edinburgh is great - we've gone from something like 0.1% community activity at the training centre to almost 50/50, in fact maybe higher than that now. 

That has no impact on the elite side of things, they still get everything that they need, and everything that they should get. It also means that facility is doing everything that it should be doing for the wider community. 

This is what we're striving for, because it's hard to pick up new supporters. There's Netflix, Amazon Prime, PS4, 3D TV's, football happens live and it happens in a stadium and I want more people to figure that one out and get themselves down here. 

 

I'd like to thank Leeann Dempster and Colin Millar for helping make these interviews happen. 

The Hibernian Way

Hibernian couldn't have timed the release of next season's season tickets any better if they'd tried. A run of five consecutive victories sees Hibs sitting second in the league, and with a Hampden Scottish Cup Semi-Final against Falkirk to look forward to.

A comfortable, if unspectacular, 4-0 victory over ex-Hearts midfielder Colin Cameron's Berwick Rangers ensured Hibernian had their name in Sunday's cup draw, and left the Hibs support with a growing optimism which Hibs will hope to capitalise on in greater season ticket numbers.

For me, not renewing isn't an option. As soon as I got home from work this afternoon, the purchase was made for me and my son, with a text message sent to my Dad to remind him to renew his seat beside us. It hasn't always been an easy decision to renew, we're never flush for cash so it is a selfish purchase in that it's only really me and Josh that benefit from the season tickets. My wife and daughters attend occasionally but mostly it's me, Josh, and my Dad at the football. 

Last season, when things started to slide at Hibs it would have been easy to skip the renewal and pick and choose the games I went to. In fact, Hibs have been poor for a number of seasons and so it's not hard to understand why season ticket numbers have dwindled. Consecutive cup finals in 2012 and 2013 bolstered numbers as a season ticket guaranteed a cup final ticket, but without the  lure of cup final tickets,  the numbers dropped drastically for this season. 

The quality of football is only one factor in the decision to renew, the league we are in as another - last season an early renewal meant paying SPL prices for Championship football. Personally, it's not something I'm that fussed about - it's Hibs I go to see more than it is the opposition. I also appreciate that the more people buy a season ticket, the more money Hibs have to put a squad together. This season, that money has been used fantastically well, with almost every signing Alan Stubbs has brought to the club demonstrating great value for money. 

Crucially though, it's time I get to spend with Josh and my Dad that I otherwise would struggle to get. I remember the rare occasions that my Dad took me to the football when I was wee. Geography and finances (and my Dad's inability to drive) meant that I didn't get to many games. After we moved to Edinburgh I started seeing more of Hibs, when I'd go with either my Dad, my cousins James and John, or my Aunty Anne and Uncle Danny (in fact, it tended to be my Uncle Danny's season ticket in the old North Stand that I used, so I attended more with my Aunty Anne than anyone else. 

I loved going. Easter Road was a very different place to the one that I take Josh to, but it's still an immensely special place to me. We moved seats recently, the seats we had were in a quiet section of the lower West Stand, close to the away end and away from the livelier sections of the ground. On the biggest of games where seats were at a premium, the seats were decent, but most of the time it felt like we were away from the action. Ironically, we moved further away from the pitch, to seats in the penultimate row of the upper tier of the West Stand. We are fairly central and there are very few seats spare in our section. The atmosphere is much better and the feeling at games is much closer to the one I experienced as a kid in broadly the same area of the stadium. 

Taking Josh is special, he takes it badly when Hibs lose and buzzes when we win. Seeing him crushed after a bad defeat makes them harder to take for me as well, but the need to lift his spirits helps me get over the bad ones quickly. It's special going with my Dad as well. Circumstances dictate that I rarely get out for a pint or a meal with him, so the ritual we have now of me picking him up from his house, anticipating the game in the car and reviewing it on the way home is as much a part of the decision to buy a season ticket as the football itself. 

The other big factor in my season ticket purchase that is really specific to this moment in time is the revival of the football club under Leeann Dempster. Following the disastrous cup final in 2012, I attended a Let's Work Together meeting at Easter Road, This was a forum for Hibs fans to engage in a meaningful way with the club to try and improve things. 

At that meeting, there was a question and answer session with then-Chief Exec Scott Lindsay. I asked who at the club set the culture, and the answer was that it was down to the manager. I asked how that could work with managers changing every year and a half (give or take). There was an admission that it hadn't really worked, and that there was no definitive culture at the football club. That amazed me, but in hindsight, it was hardly surprising. 

Over the next year or so, I worked with a smaller group of supporters within the Working Together team, and with Non-Exec Director Brian Houston to put together a piece of work with the working title "Winning the Hibernian Way". We looked at the whole ethos of the football club, how it set targets, what the values were, how standards were set. 

There was some fantastic input from the group, I was lucky to work alongside some very talented people and I had the opportunity to present their work to the board of directors at a board meeting at Easter Road. 

Despite some good feedback on the presentation, there was little more said or done on "Winning the Hibernian Way" for some time, in fact the project had more or less been put to bed. I heard from Brian about a year later, to say that the club were looking to dust down the project and bring it to life, changes were afoot at the club that would mean they were in a position to make it work. 

Aside from a meet and greet meeting with Leeann Dempster on the day that a section of the Hibs support took to the West Stand car-park to protest against Rod Petrie, there was no further dialogue with the club about "Winning the Hibernian Way" and I had thought it had been forgotten about until I saw a comment from Hibs Chairman Rod Petrie in an interview around the time of the share issue, where he referenced the work (and the presentation!) that had been going on for some time. 

I like to think that this revival and feel good factor that is slowly but surely absorbing Hibernian has, in some way, stemmed from the work that group of people from Working Together spent months on, that even if it just planted a seed then that time was worthwhile. Even if it had nothing to do with that work, I think I'm fine believing it did, and that emotional investment makes the financial investment in the season ticket purchase all the more essential. 

Gritty Win Highlights Hibs' Progress

It's rare that an Alloa versus Hibernian match would be billed as 'the biggest game of the season', particularly when there was nothing other than three Championship points at stake. In fact, for anyone outside of Easter Road (or, indeed, Recreation Park) it's doubtful that any significance would have been given to this fixture, which is understandable enough. It's not the first fixture that one would usually look for when the fixture list is released at the start of the season.

When Rangers and Falkirk - both pushing Hibs for the play-off spots - drew with each other they presented the Easter Road side with an opportunity to tighten their grip on second place. Crucially, it gave Alan Stubbs' men a chance to show that the fragile, find-a-way-to-fail nature of the last few seasons was behind them. With games fast running out, Hibs could ill-afford any slip ups at a ground where they had lost earlier in the season.

In fact, the plastic pitch at Recreation Park held little other than unhappy memories for Hibs. An early embarrassing defeat was worsened with the injury to key striker Farid El Alagui, which left Hibs denied of the French-born Moroccan's services ever since. In a quirk of fate, January signing Fraser Fyvie was making his return to Alloa for the first time since he too suffered a severe injury on the artificial surface. 

With the pressure of needing to win adding to the recent history of the fixture, Hibs would not have welcomed the horrendous weather that hit Alloa on Saturday. Allan Stubbs admitted after the game, when speaking to Hibs TV's Cliff Pike, that the pitch and conditions were something of a leveller. Hibs' superior quality couldn't necessarily be relied on to see them through.

This was exactly the sort of situation Hibs would have contrived to screw up over the last couple of seasons - probably longer. Hibs, however, are a different beast now. There is a professionalism and pride about the club that has long been missing. Things are done properly, players understand their roles and are prepared properly for matches. Slip ups still happen (as we saw against Raith Rovers), but they are few and far between now. 

When Scott Allan's first half free kick found it's way through a crowded penalty box to nestle in the back of the net, I found myself sure that we would go on to win the game. Even as the match drew towards the 90th minute, I was relaxed and confident that Hibs would see it out, and see it out they did. 

It was a massive three points, and it means that Hibs now have a much better chance of finishing in second place. Rangers have three games more still to play, and sit four points behind Hibs as things stand. Hibs' worst case scenario is that Rangers win all three games and go five points ahead in second. That would leave Hibs needing to win their final fixture against Rangers (having already taken nine points from a possible nine against the Glasgow side, Hibs will fancy their chances of adding to that haul), and also needing to pick up two more points than Rangers in the run-in to the season's close (Hibs' superior goal difference would see them finish ahead of Rangers if the points totals ended level). 

On current form, Hibs would likely overturn a five point deficit. In reality, Rangers are unlikely to take nine points from their three fixtures, as they have to face champions-elect Hearts, and play-off rivals Queen of the South amongst those games. Neither side have made life easy for Rangers this season. With this in mind, Hibs' win on Saturday practically leaves second place in their own hands. 

To find themselves in this position at this stage of the season, after the terrible start to their league campaign, is testament to the work of Alan Stubbs and the backroom team at Hibs. The difference in the side is remarkable, players are much fitter than I can recall any Hibs side being (I would say we've looked fitter than any other side we have faced this season), there is a confidence and consistency in the side that grows by the game, and we have a squad and a system that can stand to see key players replaced with no discernible difference to the standard of the first eleven. That is a great position to be in, and has afforded Stubbs the opportunity to rest players that are going to be crucial for what is hopefully going to be a very busy end to the season.

Hibs have a wonderful opportunity this weekend to progress to the Scottish Cup Semi-Final, and fans like myself will be dreaming of having to fit in play-off finals and Cup Finals (fans are allowed to get ahead of themselves, none of this one-game-at-a-time clichéd nonsense!). If last Saturday's game was Hibs' biggest of the season, then this Sunday's cup game is even bigger, and the game after that bigger still. 

Hibernian do not have the luxury of being able to allow complacency to creep in. Every game is a must-win from now on, and I'd like to think that this Hibs side, with all the good work going on in the background - will have the ability and the attitude to not let standards slip.

Hands Off Hibs

It has been a busy week for Hibernian, with a lot of press noise from Hands on Hibs , One-time Hibs suitor, David Low, Hibs Supporter's Association Chairman, Mike Reilly, and BuyHibs, raising objections to the share issue put forward by Hibs, being met head on by Hibs Chief Exec, Leeann Dempster and with Hibs publishing details of their interest-free mortgage arrangement.

It has been a case of claim, and counter-claim. Most of it - in my opinion - fairly ill-informed, ill-judged, and more than a little irresponsible. Hibs have come through some very tough times over the last few years. It hasn't been a fun time to be a Hibernian soldier for a long time now. Poor football, poor results, and a support disenfranchised with the football club, and more specifically, Chairman Rod Petrie. who, to many, embodies the failure that led to the club suffering the embarrassment of dropping into Scottish Football's second tier. It has been a widely-held view that Mr Petrie's time at the club has long since run out, and I agree with that. Change is needed.

However, change has happened. Dempster's arrival, Butcher's departure, the overhaul of the football set-up at the club have all started in the short time since Leeann Dempster got her feet under the desk at Easter Road. These changes are starting to show results on the pitch, Hibs having picked up more points than Rangers and Hearts over their respective last six games, and at the time of writing Hibernian are Edinburgh's only unbeaten side in 2015, following Falkirk's impressive win at Tynecastle on Saturday.

Things have been looking up at Easter Road for some time now. The football is no longer turgid, the kick-the-ball-the-way-you're-facing style that Terry Butcher had the team playing has been replaced with an attacking, passing game with Stubbs' style clear to see coming to life on the pitch. Results, too, have picked up, with Hibs putting impressive runs together over the last few months.

I am of the opinion that we will shortly hear of Rod Petrie's plans to leave the football club, and I hope when that happens that the support can move on together.

As things stand, there is a split forming in the support. A very vocal minority are threatening to damage what is a very positive step for the club towards supporter ownership. Hands on Hibs have made all manner of allegations, and being given plenty air-time in the press to get their views over. Their objection appears to be that they don't think Sir Tom Farmer or Rod Petrie should benefit from the share issue. I wholeheartedly agree with that, so when I read that the re-arranged debt would be repaid interest-free, and that every penny raised from the share issue would go to the football club for 'sporting ambition', and that no share money would go to existing shareholders, I found it very hard to pick holes in the proposal.

In fact, I posted this response to Hands On Hibs and BuyHibs last week, and have yet to see a constructive response to counter the points raised. Hands On Hibs are pushing a very aggressive and in some instances, a mildly threatening manner. They have made a number of claims and have produced very little to back those claims up (Hibs planning on separating the stadium and training ground from the football club, being one of those claims).

I know that the people behind Hands On Hibs are hardcore Hibs fans, people who go home and away, and like the rest of us they want what's best for the club. I can understand that, and I can understand that they don't like the current regime. However, I can't understand their tactics and their position on the share issue. Perhaps if they came out with whatever evidence they have to give credibility to their allegations then people would take notice, as it is, they come over like noisy kids, with fewer and fewer people taking them seriously as time goes by. Especially with Hibs having a real change in tact with how they respond to the noise. In days gone by, the claims would have gone unanswered, but Hibs have hit back all guns blazing, and that's refreshing to see. Changed days indeed.

Meanwhile, Hibs capped a good week with a fine win in Dumfries, seeing off Queen of the South 0-2 with second half goals from Dylan McGeouch (or MaGoosh if you're commentating on Sky Sports!) and Scott Robertson. Hibs had struggled against the Doonhammers this season, and so to get a win against a team who are rivals for a play-off spot was especially rewarding and illustrates the improvements Hibs have made over the last few months. With the Cowdenbeath v Rangers game being postponed, and Hearts finally losing a league game, it was important that Hibs capitalised and gained/made up ground on the teams around them. Well done to Falkirk as well, for finally ending Hearts' fantastic run.

Finally, I was saddened to hear of former Hibs chairman Douglas Cromb's passing last week. My thoughts go to all at Hibernian, and to Mr Crombs' family.

Hibs Championship Season - The Comeback Is On...

I can remember Hibs being relegated once before, when Jim Duffy's spectacular helicopter arrival at the club as our new manager was followed by an equally spectacular failure in the role. Alex McLeish arrived too late to save the club, and we ended up in what was then the First Division.

At the time I worked for McDonald's, and regular Saturday working meant that I didn't attend Easter Road with anything like the frequency that I do now as a season ticket holder. On the day that our relegation was sealed in a match against Dundee United, I can remember walking from my Leith flat to work, and as I was passing the Loch Inn,  hearing the home crowd roar as Hibs scored. By the time my shift had started we had conceded twice and dropped out of the top flight.

It didn't hit me as hard as I thought it would, the fact that I missed a lot of games probably helped me distance myself from the shame and embarrassment of relegation.

Fast forward to the end of last season, and it's a very different story. In hindsight, relegation had been coming for a while, but I never thought it would actually happen until Hamilton equalised late in the second leg of the play-off, taking the game to extra time. The clock on the stadium scoreboard at Easter Road had stopped at some point, and was running well behind the actual game time, so I don't know exactly how long was left when we conceded.

Extra time saw both sides concentrate more on not losing than on pushing for a winner, and when the game went to penalties I knew that the Hibs team at that point didn't have the bottle for the shoot-out. That Hibs had never lost a domestic penalty shoot-out until then didn't come into things, in fact, having seen us break the record for our heaviest home defeat at the start of that season, it was hardly a surprise that our relegation would see another record broken in dismal fashion.

It's been a horrendous time supporting the club since then, Hearts got off to a flier and sit 14 points clear of us at the top of the table at the time of writing. Hibs have stuttered, threatening to do well and then faltering. A hugely impressive 1-3 win at Ibrox was followed by draws against Dumbarton and Cowdenbeath.

We have battered teams and not got the results we probably deserved on occasion as well, and what has been frustrating there is that in the context of last season's failure, the support have been in no mind to give concession to the team for a good performance when it's not accompanied by three points.

This frustration has manifested itself in regular outpourings of rage, with Leeann Dempster taking to www.hibs.net to make the point that the constant negativity was not helping anyone. Alan Stubbs also made reference to feeling frustrated that he's still hearing criticism aimed at him and his side for the failings that preceded his arrival.

Our last two games have been roundly appreciated by the support, and there definitely appears to be a sense that the tide is turning in our favour at long last. We dominated a very confident Hearts side in front of an away support that turned up in expectation rather than hope. Hearts had come for a party and were anticipating a handsome win (if you can ever use the word 'handsome' in the same sentence as Hearts...). In reality the visiting fans watched their side get outfought and outplayed for large spells of the match, Hibs' one goal lead scant reward for their dominance, and it proved costly as Hearts equalised at the death with what I'd love to describe as a hopeful toe-punt, but was actually a wonder-goal from their centre-half.

Hibs followed that impressive performance by upping their game again in the game against current SPFL leaders Dundee United in the League Cup. Hibs more than matched their opponents for more than the regulation 90 minutes, and for extra-time. Having lost their first domestic penalty shoot out a few months earlier, Hibs quickly got the second defeat out of the way - cruelly losing in sudden death thanks to two cracking saves from the United goalkeeper.

It is looking increasingly like Hibs have sorted themselves out, our last two games have been against the best sides we have faced this season, and we've given a very good account of ourselves, even if the results will show that they produced a single point and an exit from the cup respectively.

Stubbs' side is entertaining and hard working, with the craft and guile of Scott Allan and Dylan McGeough in midfield backed up by the endeavour of Scott Robertson alongside them. Young Jason Cummings is finding his feet along with the prolific (if somewhat lackadaisical ) Malonga, and the goals are starting to come.

I can see the potential is there for Hibs to go on an impressive run. They can't fail to have taken confidence from the last few games - in fact, one defeat in nine games is a very respectable run - and this should give them the belief that they can compete at the top. Hearts' lead looks insurmountable for Hibs at the moment, and with The Rangers also holding a comfortable lead on Hibs it seems unlikely that both of those sides will slip up sufficiently for Hibs to claim top spot.

What Hibs can do, though, is keep winning, put pressure on the teams above them, and see how they handle it. Stubbs made the point after the derby that nothing is won in October, and by that same token nothing is lost either. Hibs need to hang on to that small glimmer of hope and make sure that they look after their own results through to the end of the season.