Darkness On Leith

SOME weeks ago, I suggested Rod Petrie and Terry Butcher might be thinking along the lines of relegation from the Premiership being no bad thing for Hibs. I never for an instance thought they might take the suggestion seriously, but, thanks to the gross ineptitude of everyone at Easter Road, the unthinkable has happened.

 

Once Jason Scotland put Hamilton ahead on the day, it looked likelier that Accies would get the second goal they required to tie the play-off, then go on and win it. Hibs were in that dreadful place, the corridor of uncertainty from then one. Did they push up and go for an equaliser on the day, to restore their two-goal aggregate lead, or, did they tighten-up, hold what they had and hope for the best?

 

In the end, they couldn't quite decide which road to go down and finished up by - going down. Darkness on Leith right enough.

 

Mind you, I don't see relegation this season as being all together bad for Hibs, or Hearts for that matter. Sure, there will be uncertainty around Tynecastle about how the Levein/Neilson/Crawford management team will function; however, that there are a lot of talented young players, tempered by fire this season, at Hearts and IF the management team gels quickly, Hearts will be tough nuts to crack in what will surely be, even-more than usual THE competitive division in Scotland this season coming.

 

Anent Hibs, I see changes aplenty over the summmer. Many of the players who crumbled in 2014 will surely be out the door in the next week. Butcher will probably revert to type and import some cheap and cheerful journeymen from the lower leagues in England to replace them. They will, therefore, be competitive in the upper reaches of the Championship in the new season. But, will they be good enough to go up? Only time will tell.

 

The next question around Hibs is - for all he emerged form a system at Ipswich which relied heavily on home-grown talent; and given that Maurice Malpas has a good reputation as a coach, and also grew up in football at a club with a reputation for growing their own - can the Hibs management produce another golden generation, albeit one whose lustre lasts longer than the last golden generation of Hibbees did?

 

Then, there is the Ethiopian in the fuel supply. What will the new season bring at that long-running football soap opera, Edmiston Drive? I continue to insist, the biggestg advantages which the Rangers tribute act's rivals have in the new season are - this club is wedded to paying over the odds for under the necessary talent, and continuing with a manager who, as a coach is definitely a taxi.

 

But, for all these questions, the fact that three of the five biggest supports in Scotland will be asked, in season 2014-15, to pay to watch at best a third-rate product, is not good news for Scottish football.

 

I can only see the long decline continuing.

 

 

 

ALL the above said - well done to Alex Neil and his Accies. They will immediately be installed as relegation favourites for next season, but, they deserved to triumph today. They were the more-positive side, they never stopped going forward, they played the better football, and, they deserved to win.

 

I am delighted for everyone at New Douglas Park, and for some good friends of mine who are Accies' fans. Welcome back to the top flight.

 

 

 

AT least, the SPFL has the sense to properly "sell" these promotion-relegation play-offs, as second chances. Unlike the preposterous FA, who big-up their play-offs with a Wembley final and a trophy for the winners.

 

This is ridiculous. Enormous credit to QPR's ten men, who kept going, then took perhaps the only chance they got, to beat Derby yesterday, but, that they, who in reality finished third in the English Championship, should have a trophy to show-off, while Burnley, who finished above them in second, have nothing, well, it's daft.

 

But, that's English football for you - a clear case of never mind the quality, feel the width, as it were.