Hibs: Celtic's visit starts a season where mettle spoken of by players will go under microscope

It's the time to forget the trials and tribulations of the past, to replace despair with hope, to begin dreaming once again of the glories which might just come their way.

But for each football fan, the anticipation of a new season also comes tinged with more than a hint of trepidation, a step into the unknown despite the mind-numbing familiarity of the SPL set-up.

Having title hopefuls Celtic first up ensures Hibs supporters will head for Easter Road on Sunday buoyed, as always, with the thought of putting one over the Old Firm, but also with a nagging doubt as to how their side, having finished a lowly and bitterly disappointing tenth last time round, will fare over the coming months.

It may be unfair to use the match against Neil Lennon's outfit as a barometer for the rest of the campaign but there's little doubt that with Inverness Caley to follow - previous trips to the Highlands having brought Hibs little comfort - the opening salvo of games will do much to shape the mindset of the Capital club's support.

Events off the pitch have done little to lift the spirits over the past few weeks, the fall-out from the training ground bust-up between Sean Welsh and Martin Scott still the subject of an internal disciplinary investigation, while manager Colin Calderwood has found every press conference he's held dominated by questions regarding his own future.

Wanted by both Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City to become assistant to Steve McClaren and Chris Hughton respectively, the topic remains at the top of the agenda more than a month after speculation first began and with only five days until the action gets under way.

Throughout, while steadfastly refusing to dismiss the apparent interest from the Championship clubs, Calderwood has remained at his post, taking training each day, working towards Sunday's lunchtime kick-off, insisting each time he's asked that rumour and gossip are part and parcel of football although, of course, it's gone much further than that, with Forest and Birmingham each having made contact with Hibs chairman Rod Petrie.

Calderwood is already Hibs' fifth manager in as many years, following on from Tony Mowbray, John Collins, Mixu Paatelainen and John Hughes, and the last thing the club needs is a further period of instability, the "hangover" of players signed by previous bosses having only unravelled this summer with a glut of those out-of-contract having departed to leave the current incumbent a free rein to build a squad more to his liking.To a man, those players insist the constant speculation swirling around Calderwood hasn't affected them in the slightest, that they have simply put their heads down and concentrated on their own jobs, namely honing their fitness in readiness for the rigours which lie ahead.

Double training sessions combined with friendly matches have been the order of the day, Calderwood mixing and matching his teams in outings against Berwick Rangers, Livingston and East Fife, the cancellation of Saturday's game with Barnsley leaving tonight's clash with Falkirk as the supporters' last chance to get an inkling of what their manager might be thinking ahead of this weekend.

His options have been trimmed somewhat with Akpo Sodje, Scott and Michael Hart having been injured against Livingston while Welsh - who has undergone surgery on the cheekbone broken in that set-to in Peebles - will also be absent as the serious action gets under way. As such, Calderwood's young squad already looks a little threadbare, if not in numbers then certainly in experience, with teenagers Scott Taggart, David Crawford, Scott Smith and Lewis Horner having all featured fairly heavily over the past few weeks.

Calderwood has augmented his pool - and aims to add further to it, having had Cillian Sheridan and Junior Agogo on trial - in signing Ivan Sproule, Garry O'Connor and Sean O'Hanlon although, in effect, the former MK Dons stopper is the only new face given the other two arrivals are back at Easter Road for a second spell of duty.

However, it shouldn't be forgotten that Calderwood was the most active of Scottish managers in the January transfer window, bringing in Matt Thornhill, Victor Palsson, Scott and Sodje who played their part in steering Hibs away from the threat of a relegation dog-fight with that run of five successive wins in February.

But today Thornhill, Calderwood's first signing, insisted the "togetherness" of the Easter Road squad bodes well. The ex-Forest midfielder said: "The mood is very good, the fact two of the 'new' boys have been here before means they have settled very well. The manager brought in a few players including myself in January, we've all settled in now and we know each other's games having played together for a while. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses. We've got a tough start but hopefully we can get off to a good start."Although he's been a Hibs player for some seven months now, Thornhill insisted the fans have yet to see the best of him after finding himself plagued by injury. He told Hibs TV: "I don't think the fans can really judge me on what I have done so far. I've not been at my best, I didn't get a run of games going but hopefully I'll get that and show them what I can do. I'm feeling a lot fitter, I've got a few games under my belt and I haven't missed one training session.

"The gaffer brought me in knowing I can score goals, I got a couple against East Fife, so hopefully with a run of games I'll get a few more."

Whatever may happen, Thornhill and his team-mates are well aware finishing tenth was unacceptable, that the pressure is on them, in the first instance at least, to return Hibs to the top half of the SPL table.