Alan Pattullo: Pat Fenlon faces formidable task to resuscitate Hibs

Despite Pat Fenlon's pitch-side encouragement, Hibs continue to struggle, and recent Edinburgh derbies have become increasingly one-sided. Ian Black, below, rubs salt into the wound during Hibs' latest derby defeat. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Published on Wednesday 4 January 2012 00:00

THE lights going out at their training centre at East Mains yesterday summed up Hibernian’s start to the new year. Fans must hope that communication lines were not also affected by the temporary power-cut caused by the wild weather.

Much has to be done if a change in fortunes is to occur at the club and though Hibs are probably not in a position to make changes on the scale of this time last year – indeed, manager Pat Fenlon has said that this isn’t even desirable – there will be movement, both inwards and outwards. There has to be if Hibs are serious about their intention to start moving upwards.

Work is on-going on the squad-strengthening front, with Fenlon having confirmed that new players need to arrive following Monday’s dispiriting 3-1 defeat by Hearts, and quickly. Top of the agenda, however, is the retention of a current player, even if he has only (very) temporary status at present.

Leigh Griffiths has one more match to go before his loan deal from Wolves expires on 9 January. He is, according to a club spokesman yesterday, “available for selection” for what has to be considered a daunting trip to face Cowdenbeath on Saturday in the Scottish Cup. The striker is also available to purchase should any club be able to strike the right kind of deal with Wolves, who bought him from Dundee for £150,000 just a year ago.

Hibs are understood to be front of the queue and are helped by the player’s own desire to stay with the team he supports, but the price remains a sticking point. Negotiations will continue this week. It’s clear Fenlon rates the player and he has been quick to forgive Griffiths’ rasher moments in the hope that he can continue to bring some zeal to Hibs’ play.

It is a quality notably lacking from their performances. From defence through to midfield, they tend to look ponderous, and this is something which has typified their performances for longer than just this season.

So, too, has brittleness. The bid to bring James McPake on loan from Coventry City stems from an obvious fragility at the back. Hibs have shipped ten goals already under Fenlon and have scored only three times. The Easter Road club have enquired about the former Livingston centre-half’s availability. It is understood Dunfermline, Dundee United and Hearts are also interested in the player, so it is far from a done deal.

Uncertainty stalks the club. Griffiths might stay or he might not. Garry O’Connor might stay until the end of the season, he might sign a pre-contract with someone else or he might leave before the end of the transfer window.

Fenlon felt it necessary to confirm yesterday that the dropping of O’Connor to the bench on Monday was due to niggling injury and not because he was on the way out of Easter Road. The manager also suggested the striker, who has scored exactly half of Hibs’ 18 league goals this season, would be around for the remainder of the campaign at least. “He’s not been firing on all cylinders and we are going to need him for the rest of the season,” Fenlon said, when explaining the reason for leaving O’Connor on the bench until the last few minutes against Hearts.

Yet current squad members will have to leave in order to create space and free up wages. Junior Agogo and Matt Thornhill have been informed that their futures lie away from Hibs although both remain contracted to the club. Akpo Sodje, another Colin Calderwood signing, appears to be surplus to requirements after failing to earn a place even among the substitutes on Monday.

So another manager comes in, and another clear-out begins.

What was notable on Monday is the extent to which Hibs have become a hotch-potch of players left over from previous regimes. Players from the John Collins era mix with those from Calderwood’s ill-fated reign, as do some brought in by Mixu Paatelainen and John Hughes.

Calderwood made a fairly effective stab at stamping his mark on the club – six players were brought in last January – but it is a mark Fenlon now must seek to erase. Few signed during his year in charge have proved good enough, hence the re-emergence of those such as Lewis Stevenson and Danny Galbraith.

What must be pointed out is that Fenlon has been in the post for just over a month – Hibs did not play their first game under him until 2 December. In that time he has had a hectic schedule of six matches, the first of which, against Motherwell, was abandoned due to an electrical fault, with Hibs one goal in front. The next assignment came against Rangers, and few could have been surprised by the win collected by the visitors.

Tough away games against Aberdeen and Dundee United were followed by a derby match with Hearts. Home advantage does not always count for much in such clashes and didn’t on Monday. Perhaps the only game where Hibs have fallen seriously short of expectation is against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, when Fenlon collected the only point of his reign to date.

Despite some relief at having got off the mark, the disappointment was still palpable, particularly given that Hibs, the home team, had surrendered yet another lead. To claim Fenlon is under pressure just a few weeks into a two-and-a-half year contract is patently ridiculous. But he probably could not have hand-picked a less appealing destination than Cowdenbeath this weekend, with the hosts on a high after a 4-0 victory over East Fife and their hopes further buoyed by the visitors’ difficult relationship with the Scottish Cup. Hibs, already in the grip of a hoodoo, must endure the teeth of a storm.

Hibernian: A year to forget

2011 Review: The past 12 months have been testing for Hibs fans, with cup shocks and managerial changes

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22GamesInARow

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 12:47 PM

It's always the previous managers fault with hibs when the tash is the man who signs players for his Hays Temp position of 1st team coach. The 1st team coach is given no real backing to sign good players other than the cheap and nasty, as Fenlon will find out soon enough for himself in his struggle to keep hibs up. On another note 9 games unbeaten if by miracle hibs managed to go on a run and make top 6 we will have half the previous 22 games in a row and be well on course to match that great unbeaten run.

Alan Pattullo: Pat Fenlon faces formidable task to resuscitate Hibs

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