Somebody write the Scottish Patient a sicknote as it will take a while for him - and Hibs - to recover from the loss of Mowbray to West Brom. As I've written more than once on this blog, Hibs has played some of the best free flowing football I've seen this year and despite the fact that Hibs would lose at least one of their best players year on year - Ian Murray, Garry O'Connor, Derek Riordan and Gary Caldwell - Mowbray seemed to come back the following year with the free transfers, cast offs or 'I thought he'd retired two years ago" to replace them.
Actually, it might be an idea to write Kev a second sicknote 'cos the danger is that Mowbray does what nine out of ten managers do when they are head-hunted by another club: they try and pack three or four of their best players from their old club in the kit bag before they leave the ground for the last time. Everytime I've seen clips of Scott Brown I've been impressed, and Sproule will scare the bejesus out of an defence when he is running at them. Throw in Zemmama and Benjelloun, and Kev will be on a respirator for the rest of the season.
With the appointment of Mowbray at West Brom coming the same week as Peter Grant getting the nod at Norwich, I can't help but wonder when it became an unwritten law when appointing managers that if you opt for a solid but not that spectacular former Celtic player then you have the makings of a canny investment. Did it start with David Moyes? Or maybe even the late great Jock Stein? Does anyone know if Marting Hayes or Wayne Biggins have managerial aspirations?
3 comments:
I have never been totally convinced about the manager making that much of a difference in terms of a team's success. But I have become more and more convinced that it does.
O'Neill going to Villa made me think about it as I thought, one, why the fuck go to a struggling club like them and, two, his last season and a half with us saw us play some really unattractive football so why would they want him. The results, with much the same squad - although they do have a quality addition in Petrov - are blinding!
And on to Mowbray, who has turned Hibs into - as you have quite rightly said on a few occasions - one of the best sides in either England or Scotland to watch. That they do not always get a cosistent result is another matter, of course, but they do still put on a very entertaining show.
Wayne Biggins - we'd have been better off with Ivor Biggun.
I see that rumours from today's press is that Middlesbrough are considering making a bid for Scott Brown. I bet if he goes anywhere it will be West Brom.
With regards to the matter of whether or not a manager can make that much of difference, I guess the obvious candidate that comes to mind is Jock Stein. I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of players that made up the Lisbon Lions were all at Celtic Park prior to Stein becoming manager in '65, and yet it was Stein that led them to the title for the first time in 12 years in '66, and the clean sweep of all trophies in the '67 season.
I didn't realise that Hibs had sold both Riordan and O'Connor! When I saw them play Falkirk last year Riordan looked absolute class, scored two amazing goals and sauntered around the pitch like the QPR number 10s of old (Bowles/Marsh/Stainrod/Wegerle). Oh how I wished that the hoops would have snapped him up (that would, of course, required money which we haven't got). O'Connor on the other hand looked like a big useless steaming pile of shite (perhaps that's why they worked so well together?). Currently plying his trade in Moscow isn't he? So how much did Celtic steal Riordan for?
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