Calderwood sure Hibs can sell talent in future to recoup losses

Colin Calderwood believes there are players currently at Hibernian who can alleviate the club’s financial plight after a week when a £900,000 loss was announced at Easter Road.

Calderwood was distressed to learn that his first year in charge of Hibernian had coincided with a first deficit in the financial accounts since 2004. However, the manager is convinced he has the players to help the club turn a profit in the future.

“In essence, the assets of the club are the players,” he said. “And I’ve got players that are worth money going forward to this club. I’m determined to give them their chance to display their talent.”

The fact that it is not immediately apparent who the manager is referring to reflects Hibs’ lowly position in the league at present. Scotland Under-21 internationalist Paul Hanlon is undoubtedly one, as is Callum Booth. However, the latter was left out of the first-team squad at the weekend as he looks to recapture form away from the grind of the Scottish Premier League.

Bigger name players such as Garry O’Connor and Victor Palsson are on one-year deals and can leave for nothing at the end of this season.

Unwilling as ever to shirk his responsibility, Calderwood accepted that the obvious way to create revenue is from fans coming to watch games in more significant numbers than they are doing at present. For this to happen then Hibs must provide them with winning football, something which hasn’t happened for quite some time at Easter Road.

Hibs have won only five of 21 home league games since Calderwood took charge a year ago and the manager described last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Motherwell as the worst performance of his tenure. While the Hibs way was always to play attractive football, the manager is alert to the fact that a team which wins will likely prove just as effective when it comes to enticing bigger crowds to Easter Road.

“I think winning football brings people back,” said Calderwood, before wryly adding: “There’s nothing better than a three-quarters full stadium moaning at winning football that isn’t attractive!”

Calderwood’s team take a break from Easter Road this weekend as they head to Paisley to take on St Mirren. Only a single point currently separates Hibs from bottom club Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Calderwood is alert to the need to start picking up three-point hauls on a regular basis. Even during a run of better form in September Hibs collected only six points from four unbeaten games. As long as the arrangement involves more victories he is prepared to put up with more defeats. “That’s the thing, you’ve got to win more games and accept more defeats,” he said. “I don’t like the defeats tally we’ve got at the minute.” Leigh Griffiths could be in line to start at new St Mirren Park tomorrow as Calderwood looks to freshen up the team. “What we are aware of beyond Saturday is we’ve got Richie Towell cup-tied and can’t play against Celtic [in the Co-Operative Insurance Cup on Wednesday], so there’s obviously got to be some rotation and changing of team,” he said.

Sean Welsh, meanwhile, is back in training. The midfielder had his cheekbone broken in a training-ground altercation with team-mate Martin Scott in the summer. “He played 90 minutes on Tuesday in a game,” reported Calderwood. “It doesn’t look like he‘s scared of going to head the ball, so he’s moving forward quite nicely.”