[0762]

There are definitely massive questions to ask re the whole set up "behind the scenes" at ER Stadium. This same issue has been raised before and it aint going away. The signing of players has been a long-standing contention of lotsa Hibs fans, myself included. Gordon's preference of players of a certain age group has irked a lota fans who wanna see a good, balanced side. There are players currently wearing the Hibs jersey who are not worthy of that honour and we are currently witnessing the reasons why. I thought Stevo's post-match interview spoke volumes re the suspected probs "behind the scenes". Stevo noticeably reticent and clearly unhappy re events that he didnae wanna talk about. Lets face it, he is a Hibs legend, but still a paid employee of HFC and compromised!! Also down the years/decades, he has played with many top players at the club who eventually moved on - most of the current squad are very average footie players with very few "game changers" or guys who will consistently "bust a gut" for the club - Stevo knows this is the case!! The signing of a poor manager like Johnson, a coach with limited ability, has been done on Gordon's watch - a screw up although one can sympathise with Johnson if he has been restricted by the questionable corporate policy and scouting constraints of the club itself. I previously commented re the striking similarity of HFC to the demise of Dundee FC and the "cheap American chat" re their vision for the future and where they wanted to be. The presentation looked good, but their naivety re providing the footie on the pitch was glaring. The common factor is clearly American ownership and a great lack of knowledge re Scot footie and what the fans actually want. Gordon has spent a lotta time on improving the media presentation of HFC and the match day entertainment package on offer within the stadium. That's great in principle, but the football on the pitch has been relegated in comparison - the game content still matters immensely to all our fans and it has been diminished greatly!!! He has also not piled that much money into his great football vision that would see Hibs getting much closer to Celtic and Rangers - failed miserably so far!! There are various actions that can be taken now to prepare for a period after the Qatar World Cup when Hibs could well end up in a relegation battle by the turn of the year. Identify the weaknesses and try to organise and strengthen in order to counter this threat. Bring in free agents who could make a difference to certain positions??? "Bite the bullet" and consider some kinda "pay and play" negotiation with the likes of Leigh Griffiths?? Any viable option needs to be considered IMO. Btw I also gather that fans' protests will be "gathering pace" if Hibs and Ron Gordon don't "get the finger out" and really seriously deal with the same probs that have been festering for a good few footie seasons. Lastly, VAR has seriously "killed us"!! I'm wondering how many points Hibs would've actually accumulated if VAR had not been suddenly introduced three months into our Scot Prem season as we've been done on some really marginal VAR decisions covering goals scored and in one case at Tannadice one couldn't see any kinda footie offence that led to a vg Hibs goal when Hibs were on a decent unbeaten run until that Tannadice fixture. The team's fragility became very apparent after that awful result that was undeserved btw.