Hibernian

By: HutchieHibee

The club AGM this year was held in the Forthview Suite in the Famous Five Stand after several years of being in the West Stand.

On arrival after showing our attendance card to prove we were shareholders we were given a nifty wee brochure on the training centre at East Mains and a blank white card.
The card it turned out was to write down questions for Mixu which would be asked for us by the Hibs PR guy in the manager’s session.

We were then sent up to the lower level of hospitality suites in the Famous were tea and coffee were being served as fans milled around in the room clearly not set up for any meeting. After a short while the room started to fill up and it wasn’t long before the white cards were collected and we were ushered up to the main suite where the meeting was to be held.

Rod Petrie opened the meeting with his customary speech welcoming the fans, board, and Tom Farmer, giving the usual praise to Tom farmers role and talking generally about the club. He also cracked his now annual joke about starting at 7pm and aiming to finish for 8.30pm…the regulation 90 minutes.

Rod went through the individual members of the board outlining their roles and thanking them for their contribution to the club then introduced the formal legal business of the night.

Tim Gardiner the Company Secretary then gave a short talk on the accounts and went over the key figures. The main one being that the money spent on the player pool both increased in real terms but also as a percentage of the turnover.

Tim Gardiner also talked about how the income from cup competitions was erratic and showed that last years early exit from both cups compared to the previous years successes did account for a significant amount of the 18% reduction in turnover.
He stressed however that Hibs were still “financially sound” and the current financial position was that Hibs could still comfortably meet all normal expenses and liabilities.

Questions were then invited from the floor on the finances and the figures in the accounts.
The only question on the accounts was from someone who queried why we needed to borrow £250,000 from the bank in a year we were actually repaying £1.7 million of remaining debt.

The answer given was that the £250,000 was money used at the time to complete the training ground and meet other expenses at a separate time from when we repaid the debt.
Although it wasn’t stated I would assume a large part of the £1.7 million repayment would have been capital income from the sale of David Murphy.

The formal part of the night’s business was concluded with the votes on approving the Accounts and reappointing the auditors passed without fuss.

Rod Petrie then took to the stand to give a talk on the general state of the club. He started by going over the figures in the “Key Facts” letter that accompanied the financial statement sent to shareholders. In particular he pointed out that experts recommended a football club spend between 40% and 60% of turnover on the player pool and that last season we were at 57% fairly close to the higher end. Rod then used some fancy graphics on the screens to show how this figure that been increasing on a year by year basis as the financial position at the club improved. He also gave a direct comparison with other SPL clubs figures, talking us through them till he added at the last minute the figures for Hearts which showed that last season their player costs were an unsustainable 120% of turnover. Although this gained a laugh for Rod at Hearts expense I did actually wonder the relevance of this comparison.

Rod then moved on to talk about the plans for redeveloping the ground by building a new stand on the East side. We got a lot of general talk which ranged from the credit crunch, to the price and availability of steel, to how Scott Lindsay had worked on the plans, consulting fans and covering many options. But in the end it became clear that due to the current financial uncertainties it isn’t going ahead at the moment, although it would be covered in more detail later.

Rod Petrie then went on to talk about bringing Mixu in as manger giving him a big introduction and generous praise.

Scot Lindsay who is now Chief Executive and more involved in the daily running of the club than Rod took over.

Scott talked about how he was “delighted and honoured” to be given the job of running Hibs and stated that although it had been a “challenging year” we were still a club developing along the right lines. Scott talked again about the training centre and how the £2.7 million pounds we had spent on the East Mains this financial year (which brought the total spend to around £5 million) was already reaping rewards. Incidentally the training centre is already listed as an asset valued at £5.8 million!
Scott described the training centre as the “engine room of the club” going over all the key points of the facilities and mentioning that there is still 23 acres of land undeveloped. He pointed out the expanded youth set up under Bill Hendry was reflected in the current success of the Under 19’s team in the Youth League and that our first full time “grass roots co-ordinator” was bringing groups of younger school kids into train at the centre.

Scott then talked about a re-launch of the Club86/Hibs Youth2000 schemes to fund/sponsor the youth system although he didn’t give any specific details it did sound like it is happened soon.
The next subject he talked about was the adoption of the highly successful Hibernian Ladies team who have become a fully affiliated club team who train at East Mains and are looked after by club coaches and physios. We were then treated to a short film of one the women’s team talking you through facilities at East Mains and how becoming a part of the club was a major boost to both them and women’s football in general.

Scott then continued after the film talking about the formation of the fans listening groups and how successful these had been. The three things he listed as coming from them were the re-launching of the Hibs Kids scheme, the forming of the Hibernian Community Foundation charity and the improvements in P.R., although he acknowledged there was still room for improvement on the P.R. front

He then moved on to address the issue of a new East Stand. Scott talked of the consultation process with fans, the initial preparation work that has already been done before admitting we don’t actually have the cash to build it just now, and with the difficulty all businesses face in getting financing from banks just now tied into the problem of getting a supply of steel Hibs need to put the project on hold for now. Scott did say that although Hibs financial position made us fairly safe from the worst effects of any recession we still need to be cautious and only proceed when the costs are sensible

Scott then thanked Ian Spence the departing director before stating that Hibs as a club can’t and won’t rely on transfer income and that there would be no shift in direction or policy.

As we moved on to the manger’s session and there was a general outline of why Mixu was the man for the job we were treated to some fancy graphs on the screens which showed the money spend on the player pool had increased markedly in recent years. That was followed by the declaration that the signing of Derek Riordan was a “statement of intent” that the board would try and back Mixu whenever possibly.

We were then entertained by a video of goals scored since Mixu took over before we moved into the managers’ question and answer session.
Mixu took his seat on the platform and David Forsyth read the questions on the cards.

The first question was about the importance of the fans to the team especially regarding the new East Stand. Mixu stated that the fans had been fantastic so far and that a new stand would mean a larger capacity which should mean a greater crowd noise.

Next question was about Riordan, asking how far he was from full fitness. Mixu replied by saying he hadn’t bought Derek for his work rate but his goals! Mixu continued saying that although Derek still lacks a bit of sharpness that should come back after a couple more matches.

Mixu was then asked if it was his decision to sell a player or keep him. His response was an emphatic yes. He quickly backed that up by using the example of David Murphy. He stated the board told him there was an offer from Birmingham for Murphy and asked him what he wanted to do. Mixu stated that as Murphy was unhappy he wouldn’t stand in the player’s way.

The next question was “Do Hibs ever practice throw in’s” Mixu laughed and admitted that although they did they were pretty poor and there was a lot of room for improvement.

“Why don’t Hibs play reserve games at Meadowbank?” was the next question. This brought the response of “we don’t have running spikes” from Mixu who followed it up with a more serious point that the playing surface wasn’t really that great at Meadowbank.

“Is there money available to strengthen the team in January?” Brought a positive response from Mixu, who stated that the main positions he was looking at were goalkeeper and he explained his reasons, a playmaker to replace Buezelin and a player for a wide right role so we can play different systems.

A question regards the communication –or lack of it- between goalkeeper and defenders was asked and Mixu was fairly honest in admitting there had been mistakes. Mixu stated that Hibs were too quiet on the field “not enough talkers” was a phrase he used, although he indicated he was looking for more leadership from senior players.

When asked about the loan deals for Benji and Zemmama he stated that Benji had become frustrated at not playing more often, but as he had no intention of starting him it was better he go out on loan somewhere he could play. Incidentally later in the night Mixu told us that Benji’s wife had come to Scotland to join him, but had quickly returned home. Zemmama he described as a “little magician” and the situation with his wife not being let into the country by Home Office rules lead to his loan to the club in the U.A.E. till next June when Mixu clearly stated he expected him to return to Easter Road and play for Hibs.

When asked about his football philosophy Mixu said his was an attacking ethos. In principle he wanted his team to pass from the back through midfield to the strikers, He commented on the response to his statement on arrival that Hibs needed to be “more direct.” This was not a signal Hibs were going to hoof long balls forward just that he thought we should be passing it forwards rather that sideways. He did admit though that at times the passing has been poor.

Mixu was then asked about his use of the diamond formation… didn’t he think it was too narrow and would Riordan’s arrival mean the end of it. Mixu defended it’s use saying it was a great system to pass the ball and that they were working to get the full backs to provide more width. He acknowledged we lack width at times and stated he did like playing with proper wingers but at the moment he was concentrating on getting the full backs more involved. While we played at Aberdeen with the three forwards it was definitely an option for Hibs – just not every week!

When asked to look at his time so far and his expectations of the year ahead Mixu stated that he had enjoyed it and although it was a young squad there were some excellent youngsters and he enjoys working at the training centre with the players.

His aim for Hibs was simply to have them as far up the league and at least challenging for a European place.

We then moved back to general questions on the club with the first question being on the viability of the new East Stand and suggesting that delay could make it even more expensive if steel prices continued to rise.

Rod Petrie admitted that delay could make it more expensive but that everything would need to be assessed before he pointed out that we still have 18 months left on the planning permission and that even if we reached that deadline we could apply for an extension to the planning. Scott Lindsay added that steel prices had started to dip which might make it more viable, but they seemed like they were hedging their bets.

A question was asked regarding the possibility of a membership scheme which could help with ticket difficulties recently encountered with Category A games. After a brief discussion Scott Lindsay admitted he was unaware of the previous attempt which ran for one season and stated that if they were to do something, it would be researched and thought out so it would last and not just run briefly.

When asked the tradition question regarding erratic fixture planning Rod gave an interesting response. This season there were external consultants planning the fixture list so we no longer play the other 11 clubs, then play them again in the same order with venues reversed, it is much more random. Rod Petrie also revealed that he has joined a “fixture working group” which has been set up to try and sort out concerns regards fixtures, although he did reiterate the fact it is mathematically impossible to play a traditional home, away, home, away schedule. Although Rod did say he had insisted on a return of a January Edinburgh Derby and it was unfortunate it hadn’t worked out to be at Easter Road.

Mixu was asked about Buezelin leaving and if Yantorno wasn’t a replacement. Mixu stated that while Yantorno was a fantastic talent which was reflected in signing him on a two year deal the time he had spent out of action recovering from his injury had robbed him of his explosive spark. He was currently undergoing hard training to get him back to full fitness and we will hopefully see him soon.

A point was then made that after a fairly poor season and in the light of the credit crunch Hibs had still decided to increase the price of season tickets. This sparked an interesting discussion both about ticket prices generally and how Hibs fixed the prices, with both fans and board making good constructive points. An interesting aside was the fact that 80% of Hibs season ticket holders get some sort of discount off the full price and that Hibs have the cheapest family ticket in the SPL. Hibs apparently had fixed season ticket prices based on projected costs at a time when it looked like we would finish third rather that the eventual disappointing sixth.

Someone complained about the increase in the price of drink in the Almond Suite and was told that prices had been held back for a while and although they would have liked to have implemented two small increases, supply reasons meant one larger price increase.

It was stated that once again Hibs fans were been asked to pay more to go to Tynecastle than Hearts fans were charged at Easter road despite previous assurances fans should be paying the same. Rod Petrie talked at length about a meeting with Campbell Ogilvie the Hearts executive which had covered several issues including ticket price, although Rod made a comment which cast on whether Hearts had fulfilled any of their promises.

It was asked if the East Stand could be financed with a loan provided by Tom Farmer. This was dismissed by Rod Petrie as being unfair and he defended Mr Farmer’s role and influence on Hibs. He then stated Hibs were strong as the club was in control of its own destiny and relied on no outside influence to fund or develop the club.

Another point was raised regards ticket prices in response to the Celtic fans demonstration at Kilmarnock with particular attention being given to away games where the usual discounts or season ticket deals didn’t apply. Scott Lindsay stated that tickets for away fans were a concern and that was one of the reason they had opposed the 5% levy, as it could easily have been the thin end of a wedge with other clubs charging away fans extra.

A final question was aimed at Mixu by a shareholder that stated that footballers had it easy compared to those in other sports who had to practice continually to perfect their skills. Mixu agreed that practice made perfect and stated that at East Mains after formal training was concluded players were free to stay and freely practice their skills. He happily stated that several players regularly stay to practise their skills.

And with that Rod Petrie brought the meeting to a close, although a handful of fans did hang around and chat to Mixu for a while.