While Celtic gave way at the top of the SPL table to Rangers at the weekend, the other green team slipped up too. Hibs are now out of the top six, and manager Mixu Paatelainen's position is now looking extremely shaky.
It doesn't matter that Hibs always do badly in Inverness (in fact, they have never won there in the SPL). It doesn't matter that Hibs have not finished strongly in the league for a few seasons, and so are hardly miles away from their usual finish of 6th. Nor that the Hibs board have a history of showing loyalty to their managers, and will be very reluctant to sack him.
What does matter is that the majority of fans have now lost faith in the manager. The Hibs board can no longer be accused of parsimony, and have backed big Mixu in the transfer market (all things are relative, but the Hibs boss has one of the bigger budgets in Scottish football to play with, though obviously not on the scale of the Old Firm). The team has been playing poorly pretty much all season, and has now stopped winning even the occasional game.
Without a doubt, Hibs are under-performing. Mixu desperately needs a result against Falkirk next weekend, another struggling team. He may not get that chance, however.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Celtic fluff their chance
While Rangers are paying for a date with AC Milan to try and get some cash into the club, Celtic have a night off to think about whether they've done enough in the transfer window.
They might be leading the SPL, but only by two points, and their manager described them as one dimensional in their 0-0 draw with Inverness last weekend. Maybe, you'd think, Strachan might use the transfer market to freshen up his team. He has brought in Willo Flood from the Arabs, but is it enough?
Meanwhile, Rangers have lost a few squad players like Chris Burke and Darcheville, but failure to sell any of the big names means the squad is pretty much the same. It seemed improbable that they could win the SPL a couple of months ago, but since then Celtic have been dropping points all over the place.
Apparently, they wanted Steven Fletcher from Hibs, but didn't come up with enough money. Celtic certainly have the cash, so you can only assume they didn't want him enough. Hibs might have said he wasn't for sale, but an offer of, say, £5m would have got their attention.
Is he worth that much? Fletcher's had a poor season, but then Hibs are having a poor season. If Scott Brown is worth £4.5m, and more and more Celtic supporters would agree that he is, Fletcher is worth at least that much.
They might be leading the SPL, but only by two points, and their manager described them as one dimensional in their 0-0 draw with Inverness last weekend. Maybe, you'd think, Strachan might use the transfer market to freshen up his team. He has brought in Willo Flood from the Arabs, but is it enough?
Meanwhile, Rangers have lost a few squad players like Chris Burke and Darcheville, but failure to sell any of the big names means the squad is pretty much the same. It seemed improbable that they could win the SPL a couple of months ago, but since then Celtic have been dropping points all over the place.
Apparently, they wanted Steven Fletcher from Hibs, but didn't come up with enough money. Celtic certainly have the cash, so you can only assume they didn't want him enough. Hibs might have said he wasn't for sale, but an offer of, say, £5m would have got their attention.
Is he worth that much? Fletcher's had a poor season, but then Hibs are having a poor season. If Scott Brown is worth £4.5m, and more and more Celtic supporters would agree that he is, Fletcher is worth at least that much.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Deal making goes to the wire
The game of call my bluff is nearly at an end. As usual, most of the exciting business in the transfer window is waiting until the final minutes before the deadline. Seeing as the deadline keeps moving back - the January transfer window doesn't shut until 5pm February 2, it seems - we're being made to wait longer and longer.
And so to the motivated sellers, as estate agents call them. It might not be a great market, but some clubs need some cash regardless.
Chris Porter may well go South to, as Mark McGhee said on Friday, "ensure there is a Motherwell football club next season". Rather sharpens the mind, doesn't it? Fee expected to be about 400 grand.
Rangers still need to sell, but nobody's buying. (Bolton have made an approach for Pedro Mendes, but Walter Smith really doesn't want to sell him and anyhow there's some debate about whether he's allowed to return to England this season, having played in the Community Shield). Kevin Nolan's move to Newcastle surely ends the unlikely prospect of Barry Ferguson going there. And Kris Boyd still doesn't fancy a move.
Problems with the wage bill and an alleged long list of grumpy creditors suggest Hearts will be very pleased with the sale of Christophe Berra to Wolves. This might be worth £2.5m, but as always things at Hearts are murky. Will this be the last sale?
And so to Hibs. Celtc are making eyes at Stephen Fletcher, and think he's worth about £3m. There's no doubt the Champions could do with a spark up front, but Hibs don't seem to want to sell. With the player on a long contract and their fabled tip-top finances, they don't have to, but Hibs have flogged a barrel load of talent in recent seasons and Fletcher will get extremely aggrieved if he's denied a move. This one seems more likely in the summer, however.
And so to the motivated sellers, as estate agents call them. It might not be a great market, but some clubs need some cash regardless.
Chris Porter may well go South to, as Mark McGhee said on Friday, "ensure there is a Motherwell football club next season". Rather sharpens the mind, doesn't it? Fee expected to be about 400 grand.
Rangers still need to sell, but nobody's buying. (Bolton have made an approach for Pedro Mendes, but Walter Smith really doesn't want to sell him and anyhow there's some debate about whether he's allowed to return to England this season, having played in the Community Shield). Kevin Nolan's move to Newcastle surely ends the unlikely prospect of Barry Ferguson going there. And Kris Boyd still doesn't fancy a move.
Problems with the wage bill and an alleged long list of grumpy creditors suggest Hearts will be very pleased with the sale of Christophe Berra to Wolves. This might be worth £2.5m, but as always things at Hearts are murky. Will this be the last sale?
And so to Hibs. Celtc are making eyes at Stephen Fletcher, and think he's worth about £3m. There's no doubt the Champions could do with a spark up front, but Hibs don't seem to want to sell. With the player on a long contract and their fabled tip-top finances, they don't have to, but Hibs have flogged a barrel load of talent in recent seasons and Fletcher will get extremely aggrieved if he's denied a move. This one seems more likely in the summer, however.
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