Any thoughts on replacing John? You and Colin keep it moving but easier with 3? He looked pretty down recently, hope he's ok.
The reason I gave for leaving Longbangers that Matty communicated to listeners is that I have increasing demands on my time. I contemplated carrying on as time allowed until those demands were reduced, however I’d been considering my position for over a year and reached the end of my rope in ‘The 4 O’Clock Show’ two Fridays ago. The podcast and everything surrounding it (Twitter, WhatsApp Community, Group Chats) had become an increasingly demotivating, isolating and exhausting experience for me.
In fairness to Matty and Colin, I’ve had two spells I recall where they picked up the slack when I needed to take a step back for a bit. The first time was when the demands of trying to be a (mature) student, husband, new dad, football supporter, gym goer and podcaster became too much for me to sustain and I needed to re-evaluate my priorities. The second was when I was beginning treatment for Crohn’s and going through a tricky part of my degree. However, it hasn’t been a one-way street, flexibility and commitment have been key parts of Longbangers success. For example, we continued to put out content over the summer because Matty wanted to satisfy the YouTube algorithm, we adjusted when we recorded Extra Time because Colin had football runs to do every other Monday or one of us were otherwise unavailable aka suffering from dysentery. My notes suggest there was a third break around April 2025 however I can’t remember the reasons for it.
I’ve outlined in a couple of places how I support Hibs. I’ve written about it for Longbangers and I’ve offered justification for the answers I’ve provided on Longbangers by referencing it however it’s possible I’ve never described it on The Bounce before because I haven’t been active user in a long time so I include it here only to address the frustration HibeeKev describes about my reluctance to criticize anything Hibs.
Broadly speaking, I support Hibs the way I did when I was told I was a Hibs supporter and given my first Hibs strip (P&D Windows). I spent a long time wanting to see my team but being unable to because money was tight and my parents divorced after moving to Livingston so it wasn’t until I was around 16 and able to go by my own means that I was able to go regularly. In the meantime, I was usually the only Hibby in my Primary School and High School classes in Mid Calder, West Calder and Deans through the late 80s to the late 90s where it seemed like doings from the Old Firm were commonplace and we wound up relegated. Oh, and my Mum took up with a jambo to add complication to an already difficult childhood. Defending Hibs is pretty much ingrained in me. They are simply my team, I hold a lot of affection for the players that play for Hibs and I enjoy going to Easter Road. Perhaps if I’d gone to Easter Road more regularly than the 3 games my dad took me to against Brechin (1989), St Johnstone (1993) and Aberdeen (1998) I would have become more familiar with the criticism and abuse that the club and players experience and be more comfortable handing it out myself. However, I wasn’t and I’m not so often I don’t. Am I disappointed by a defeat? Of course. I simply hope that next week it might be better. And then maybe we’ll go on a run and challenge for the cup or the league. There will be someone salivating over the prospect of pointing out that that’s the definition of accepting mediocrity, but I have zero influence over how Hibs perform and I don’t think that would change if I swung the pendulum to the opposite side. I’d probably just feel a bit more shit.
In addition, I don’t think I’m qualified to offer much in the way of criticism of a club official. I have avoided answering questions because I don’t feel qualified to answer them and have deferred to Matty and Colin because they’ve occupied senior positions during their career and I’ve not. I did offer some criticism in my ‘An Exhibstential Crisis’ 2-part article that I wrote for Longbangers where I queried the managerial churn and appointment of Malky Mackay and contrasted this with my experience of being a Hibs supporter. I’m happy to share this with anyone who is interested but is not a subscriber. When it comes to criticizing a footballer, I try and apply what I think is a bit of empathy when a pass goes astray, a shot goes awry or they lunge into a challenge and get booked or sent off. While not playing remotely close to the level Sallinger and Co are playing at, I have had stinkers and done stinking things while playing.
Incidentally, I recall getting pulled up for questioning the role David Marshall was appointed to after he hung up the gloves so there’s been an overarching feel during my time on Longbangers that I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t. It’s not been an entirely bleak experience and there have been compliments too. I had a friend tell me and a stranger approach me at Easter Road to tell me they were glad I was back on (following my Crohn’s treatment) because they’d stopped listening when it was just Matty and Colin and hadn’t laughed while listening when I wasn’t on. Other compliments and well wishes are on this thread and another on Hibs.net and some came in the immediate aftermath of my abrupt departure two weeks ago.
What I think is worth pointing out is that I was never in it for either. When criticism came my way, I used it on a couple of occasions to improve what I was doing and other times it hurt a bit. When praise came my way, I shrugged it off because I’m not comfortable accepting compliments.
At the start of this post I mentioned how demotivating, isolating and exhausting appearing on Longbangers had become. In April 2025 I confided in a mate and a listener that “I’d been struggling to get myself up for Longbangers for a while and I didn’t miss it” and that “What started as a laugh has begun to feel like a chore”. Additionally, I noted “The Montgomery period was really challenging for me. Every episode felt like a losing battle of “How’s John going to justify not sacking him this week?””. While walking away from the Gent game, I was asked something about when Longbangers would be talking about the Gent game and I mentioned that I was thinking about packing it in due to some new commitments I have. At the derby, that same person remarked how I looked like I had a weight on my shoulders when they last saw me knowing the shit that was about to come my way. They also noted that lately, I’d been getting interrupted more and I’d be asked questions but would be cut off before having the opportunity to speak.
‘The 4 O’Clock Show’, originally The Preview Show, was intended to be a quick 20 minutes to satisfy the algorithm and chew over the possible lineup we’d see on Saturday or Sunday. One of my new commitments on Friday’s is doing the school run and then taking my daughter to a dance class that finishes just before we record at 4pm. I didn’t think we could discuss the disappointment of the Gent game in the detail required but I was pressed on it and I shared my thoughts and feelings. While this was going on, my daughter came through from the kitchen to the living room and wanted to see who I was talking to, so I was holding her back which was upsetting her so I could protect her privacy from YouTube. Disappointed by the result, pressed on something I didn’t think we could really do justice, distracted by my commitments at home, frustrated at what felt like not being heard for the umpteenth time, I probably made a total *&*^ of it – or as a poster on Hibs.net put it “John tries too hard to be an uber-Hibs apologist”. The contrast of that message is an anonymous one forwarded by a mate that read “I thought John was excellent this evening”.
Hibs are poor right now. Results are disappointing. I hope it gets better. A couple of weeks ago I suggested that it was inevitable that David Gray would be sacked due to the strength of feeling I was reading and seeing. I think that was my attempt not to be drawn on sacking him or suggesting he should be given more time. I recall another observation about my podcast appearances that I’d sit on the fence when asked questions. Upon reflection, I wonder if that was a subconscious or deliberate attempt to avoid the scrutiny and interrogation of being expected to defend my position yet again. That's not why I got involved in Longbangers 7 years ago.
There are other reasons I’ve left. The podcast was not mine and I never treated it as such, however you don’t put the time and effort into the podcast that I did and not feel an attachment to it.
I don’t think the recent switch to Riverside.fm was successful and equipment choices made the live recording challenging. Suggested changes and improvements were rejected.
I think the generative AI image being used to promote the phone-in isn’t representative of the tone of the phone in or the podcast generally.
I don’t understand how the generative AI image being used that simply doesn’t look like me was published.
I’m happy to be called a hypocrite because I benefitted from subscriber payments, ad revenue and other endorsements including chasing up Matty for final payment recently however we were churning out content to satisfy an algorithm rather than providing listeners and subscribers value for money.
TL;DR I was a dick on a podcast, trying to have a laugh, amusing myself with silly introductions whose desire was “talking shite about Hibs, not talking about how shite Hibs are”.
fi Malky. Or St J Simo.
.
% behind him and hope he gets the time and patience to guide this team to success this season. GGTTH.