It will take more than James McPake to revive Hibs

Published on 02/07/2012 00:28

IN HIS few months on loan at Hibernian last season, James McPake did more than enough to suggest that he would be a good permanent signing. His arrival at Easter Road on a two-year deal has therefore been greeted with understandable delight by the club’s supporters.

But securing the services of McPake, to add to those of Tim Clancy who joined earlier from Motherwell, is not even half the battle for manager Pat Fenlon as he tries to put together a squad capable of putting last season’s struggle for survival behind them. After all, even with McPake at the core of their defence, Hibs still only avoided relegation in their second-last fixture, then went on to be humiliated by Hearts in the Scottish Cup final.

The former Coventry centre-half is a good leader, and his leadership qualities make him an obvious choice to captain his new club. But he can only do so much on his own.

What he did last season probably made the difference for Hibs between staying up and going down. They lost a few matches by a single goal when earlier in the season they would have gone down 3-0 or worse, and then managed a few clean sheets at the back which allowed them to sneak a couple of vital wins.

But Fenlon knows that just beating the drop will not be good enough next time round. That was what the half-year of his two-and-a-half-year contract was about. The two years have to be concerned with something more ambitious than finishing 11th. Signing McPake was not a serious test of judgment for Fenlon, as the much-needed professionalism which the defender brought to a previously spineless Hibs team was there for all to see. It is when he gets round to signing the four or five other players he still needs that we will find out just how good a manager he is likely to be.