Mixu on the brink

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.