A Statement of Intent.

This week has seen Hibs move to strengthen the team and start assembling a squad fit for winning the league title in the upcoming season. An email from Leeann Dempster dropped into my inbox, as it did with thousands of other season ticket holders, thanking me for renewing and stating - quite clearly - that the ambition this season was to be promoted as champions.

These words would appear relatively hollow, had it not been for a week where Hibs announced that they had secured Fraser Fyvie on a two year deal. Fyvie is an exceptional talent, and to be perfectly honest, he is better than the Scottish Championship. That he sees his immediate future in the green and white of Hibernian is testament to the great work being done at the club by Alan Stubbs and Leeann Dempster.

Fyvie came to Hibs looking to get his career back on track, even to put himself in the shop window. Despite interest from other clubs, Fraser chose to stay at Hibs, confident that the club has the ambition and the means to gain promotion. His signing was possible, in no small part, because of season ticket purchases and supporters subscribing to Hibernian Supporters Limited, where contributions not only fund the football side, but help to buy the shares that will ultimately allow the support to take a controlling stake in Hibernian FC.

Fyvie's signing is a significant coup for Hibs, and represents a definite statement of intent on the club's part.

To add to Fyvie's signature, Hibs also announced the signing of James Keatings and Daniel Carmichael from Hearts and Queen of the South respectively. Carmichael had been courted by a number of clubs, and was given a place in the SPFL team of the year. A tricky winger, he will add a further attacking dimension to Hibs' play this season. Keatings did well at Hearts, and it was his desire to get more game time and the opportunity to work with Alan Stubbs that brought him to Easter Road. Keatings fits the bill for the type of player that Stubbs sees thriving in Leith.

Keatings was frustrated at a lack of game time at Hearts and has a point to prove, in the same way that Scott Allan and Fraser Fyvie had points to prove. Stubbs will give him the environment and the opportunity to grow as a player. It is a shrewd signing by Stubbs, and again shows that Hibs are serious about winning the title this season.

There is still speculation about Scott Allan's future, the league's best midfielder has a year left to run on his contract and Hibernian are looking to extend that - I'll be honest and say that I expect that to happen. Scott is happy at Easter Road and has clearly benefited from the management of Stubbs and his backroom team.

Rangers are credited with an interest in Allan, and who could blame them? He was the stand out player last season, and is at an age where his best years are ahead of him. Hibs will do well to hold on to him.

The same can be said of Stubbs, who is a young manager carving out a great reputation for himself. Hibs are hopeful of extending his deal which will, in turn, give some certainty to players that will commit to him as much as they commit to the football club.

Hibs announced today that they had also re-signed Lewis Stevenson on a further two year deal. Stevenson, like Charmichael, was named in a SPFL team of the season - nominated by his peers as the league's best left back over the course of the season. Stevenson is a cracking wee player, one of my favourites and not just because of the familiarity that comes with being Hibernian's current longest serving player. Stevenson is a little terrier, strong and tenacious with a fantastic temperament, and I'm delighted to see him commit to Hibs for another couple of years.

This news came on the back of the announcement at the start of the week that Liam Craig's departure from the club had meant that David Gray had been given the Captain's armband, to go with an extension to his contract. Gray was Stubbs' first signing, and it would be fair to say he raised the standard at the club straight away, not only with his own on-field performances but also with the standards he set in training. He is an ideal candidate for the Captaincy, respected by the fans and the players alike, and he will be hoping for an injury-free season to make up for some lost time in the season gone by.

Throughout these announcements, Hibs have been clear that they have been able to do the business that has been done because of the funds afforded to them by supporters. For a long time, there has been debate around the need for the club to show some ambition before fans will commit to season tickets, against the argument that the club needs the money from those season tickets to show the ambition.

I believe Hibs have gone about things the right way this time. Ambition isn't just about spending money, it's about achieving beyond your means. Hibs have players in their squad that many would argue are above the Scottish Championship. You could certainly go through the side and find a place in almost all of the Scottish Premiership sides for the players in each position.

Hibs have put their cards on the table and said, from the moment that another season in the Championship was an unwelcome certainty, that the goal was to win the league next season. No caveats or conditions, no targeting the play-off spots. Outright winning the league. Stubbs said it, Dempster said it, the players are talking about it. There is no confusion, the club is showing an ambition that has been sorely lacking in years gone by.

The support are playing their part too, those that have renewed their season tickets, or bought one for the first time have given Hibs the means to sign Fyvie, Gray, Stevenson, Carmichael, and Keatings. That season ticket income has been bolstered by those supporters that signed up to Hibernian Supporters Limited, or who bought shares themselves. Every single penny raised from those revenue streams has gone to the playing squad.

The support have work still to do. We, collectively, as a support can ensure that Stubbs, Allan, Fontaine, Boyle, and any other player that we want to see at Easter Road next season or the season after are there. We can do it by backing the club financially.

I would say to any Hibernian fan out there that might happen across this blog - buy a season ticket if you can, a full buoyant Easter Road is a sight to behold, and the cash that those season ticket sales brings can ensure that Stubbs can build a squad around his best players, rather than losing the best ones and building on the peripheral players.

If a season ticket is beyond your means, or if you have cash spare, then please - sign up for Hibernian Supporters Limited. Not only does your money go right to Stubbs, but it helps the support take control of the club, safeguarding the club for the future. You and I have the means to help Dempster and Stubbs build something special, something spectacular at Hibernian.

Every season ticket, and every HSL subscription counts, every pound committed is a pound that helps give us the best possible crack of winning the league and getting back where we belong - and staying there.

The club are doing everything they can to rise again, they need the support with them.

You can sign up to HSL here: http://hiberniansupporters.co.uk/

Footnote:
This blog represents my views, and my views only. Although I am part of the admin team at www.hibs.net  this blog is written independently and in no way reflects the views of hibs.net.
The blog is also written independently of HSL and Hibernian Football Club.

A Season Review

So Hibs fell short of their pre-season target of achieving promotion, their narrow play-off defeat at the hands of Rangers ensured that it would be Championship football being played at Easter Road next season, rather than the Premiership football everyone connected with the club had hoped for.

As with the Scottish Cup Semi-Final, and countless other matches that preceded the play-off semi-final ties with Rangers, Hibs' found themselves dominant but unable to break down a dogged defence until it was too late. A two goal deficit proved from the first leg proved too much to overturn, and though Jason Cummings' late strike won the second leg for Hibernian, it was too little, too late, and Rangers progressed to the final where they will now face Motherwell.

It was a cruel and premature end to Hibernian's season, the players slumped to the turf, devastated at coming so close only to fall short when it really mattered. The Easter Road support, were magnificent, and as the familiar Hibs' anthem 'Sunshine on Leith' chimed out through the PA system, the crowd lifted the players and applauded them off the park. In fact, the support had come into it's own in the final moments of the match.

As the Rangers fans taunted former Celtic player Alan Stubbs (with the tasteful lyrics 'Cheer up Alan Stubbs, oh what can it mean, to a fat fenian bastard...') the Hibs support broke into a spontaneous applause and drowned out the heckles of the visiting support, who had been quiet throughout the match up until the final few minutes. It's fair to say that should Rangers get the better of Motherwell and win promotion to the Scottish Premiership, few will miss the sectarian bile that their support seems incapable of eradicating.

That applause from the Hibs support was almost protective, a reminder to the Hibs players that the fans were right there with them. It was in stark contrast to the reaction to the final game of the season before which had brought about relegation, and reflects the transformation in the club in the last twelve months.

At the start of the season, I expected Hibs to be competing with Hearts and Rangers for the title, and for the three clubs to occupy the top three spots in the league. I actually called Rangers as favourites for the title. Their superior resources and the fact that their team had been together through the divisions put them in the best position coming into the season. Hearts, I felt, would struggle much the same as Hibs would, they would win the majority of their games but would lose their fair share too.

Of course, the season didn't pan out like that. Hibs' sluggish start left them chasing an insurmountable gap from early on in the season. Rangers imploded spectacularly mid-season and managed to self-destruct with almost comical frequency for a period of the season before Stuart McCall was appointed to steady the ship.

Hearts, as we know, had a spectacular league season. The blip that everyone expected to come never arrived, they won game after game after game and left the rest of the league trailing in their wake. It was incredible, and the hard work that went into their post-admin re-structuring and team building paid off in spectacular style.

Hibs were a slow burner, we were late to the party with our re-structuring. The decision to remove Terry Butcher and his backroom team was taken weeks too late, and the appointment of Alan Stubbs left him with little time to put together a thorough pre-season with his newly formed team.

There was little incoming Chief Executive Leeann Dempster could do about the timing, she had a job to finish at Motherwell and was not in a position to meet with Butcher to make the decision on his future at the club. When she did, she acted decisively.

The whole football department at the club has been shaken up, in fact, every area of the club was shaken up, and we continue to see changes being made at all levels.

George Craig came on board to head up football operations, Joe McBride took over the youth set up, bringing ex-Falkirk manager Eddie May on board with him.  Hibs saw directors leave and others join. Fan representatives Amit Moudgil and Frank Dougan were elected by the Hibs support onto the Board of Directors, and we are starting to see more of the influence that they are having at board level.

The club opened it's doors to the community, with the Community Foundation doing great work (from personal experience, I have attended the Football Fans in Training and Healthy Hibee programs, which have been outstanding and have brought me much closer to the club - even as a thirty-seven year old, I get a buzz from changing in the home dressing room before making my way out the tunnel and onto the pitchside!). Hundreds of school kids have attended Easter Road this season as the club have handed out tickets to give them the opportunity, and the great work carried out by Leith Links has ensured that many disadvantaged children have been able to connect with the club.

There has been a lot of discussion post-play-off defeat about the use of the word 'proud' when discussing how the support feels about the club. Some have argued that it is impossible to be proud of a team that has failed to meet its primary objective of gaining promotion to the top tier. It is a black and white stance that, personally, I don't agree with.

I see much to be proud of when I look at Hibernian Football Club right now. The club feels different - progressive and inclusive. It feels like my club. Our club.

Of course I'm disappointed that we fell short of promotion, just as I was when we lost out on the Scottish Cup Final. But I am proud of the players, proud of the manager, and proud of the club. You need to have incredible patience to be a Hibs supporter, and balls made of pure titanium to withstand the amount of kicks they take when it really matters, but looking at the bigger picture I can see the great strides that the club is making.

I genuinely feel that Hibs have changed for the better, and while it hurts right now - and will, for the whole of the next season regardless of how well we do - at some point soon I know we will be back, and we will be much stronger for the experience, and stronger for the hard work that is going into things all across the football club.

Already, Hibs have moved to cement plans for next season. Today saw the announcement of club captain Liam Craig's departure, and the extension of new club captain David Gray's contract. Hibs have never, for as long as I can recall, done that sort of business at the earliest opportunity. They have now. Stubbs and Dempster are people in a hurry. They want better and they are pulling out all the stops to achieve it.

As soon as the final whistle sounded on Saturday afternoon, Stubbs was vocalising his intention to win the league next season. There was no caveat to it, no 'depending on who is in it with us' cop-out, just a proper neck-on-the-line statement. He wants to win the league. Second place is not going to cut it for Stubbs next season.

These are exactly the noises I want to hear coming from Easter Road in the coming days, weeks, and months. I think Hibs have a huge opportunity to get the support on board. The share issue was always going to be a slow burner, but I think if Hibs can show that they mean business this season, and build a team not just good enough to win in the Championship, but good enough to compete with any team we face next season, then they can start seeing crowds returning to Easter Road.

The support haven't seen ambition from the club for years, for too long ambition has equalled budget, and the expectations have been set around that. It's not glamorous and it's not ambitious, it doesn't sell season tickets or capture the hearts and minds of supporters, some of whom can remember Hibs going toe to toe with the very best that Europe has to offer.

Ambition is about over-achieving. It is wanting to do more with what you've got that people think is possible. That stretch, that extra bit, the determination, craft, skill, and hard work that gets you over the line - that's your ambition right there.

Stubbs has ambition, and that breeds into the players. Leeann Dempster is ambitious too, so the club is being driven to achieve those extra miles. The bar is being raised and Hibs would do well to capture that spirit and show it to the fans. There is a desire to see a successful Hibs side. The support are desperate for good times again, to be able to say that they are proud of the team without someone telling them they shouldn't be.

We all have a part to play in that. The support provide the means to build a winning team, but they'll only do that if they think that the club mean business. For once, we seem to be in a position where the club are putting their cards on the table and doing exactly that.

The season, then, has been disappointing in the main, but it is essential that the disappointment does not obscure the many good things that have happened. We finished second, where it looked at one stage that we'd struggle to make fourth. We reached the Scottish Cup semi-final, going further than Aberdeen, Dundee United, Rangers and Hearts to name a few. We had the league's top scorer in Jason Cummings and the league's best player in Scott Allan.

When you consider that Scott Allan had some competition just to be the best player at Hibs, it shows that there are positives to take from the season. Dominique Malonga represented the club at the African Cup of Nations. We have become the Scottish club with the largest proportion of supporter ownership (I think!) through the efforts of Hibernian Supporters Limited, and we have one of the game's brightest managerial prospects in Alan Stubbs.

We can reflect on a disappointing season, and it will always be disappointing to be anywhere other than the top flight, but we should always remember that we are Hibernian F.C. and we have a lot to be proud about, and a lot to look forward to.