Hibs’ Head Coach Alan Stubbs has issued a rallying call ahead of today’s first game of the season at Easter Road against Livingston.
Writing in the official programme, Stubbs said: “This is my first competitive game in charge at Easter Road, although the phenomenal welcome I’ve received so far from everybody at the club means it already feels like home.
“Our recent Open Training Session enabled us to connect with our fans and we want that bond to strengthen further over the course of the season.
“I would like to congratulate Hibs supporters Dan Wallace, Neil Speirs and Josh Taylor on winning gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and to congratulate Scotland on hosting such a hugely successful event.
“Looking back on Tuesday night’s Petrofac Cup tie at Ibrox, I thought that overall, especially during the 90 minutes, our performance was dominant.
“It took us about 10 minutes of the match to get into our stride and to display the confidence to get on the ball and play.
“But after that I thought we continued to become stronger as the game went on and we were unlucky not to win the match comfortably.
“In my opinion, the sending off changed the game, but even after we went down to 10 men we still continued to perform well and we showed great resilience and character throughout.
“The players deserve a lot of credit for summoning up the courage to produce that type of performance. All I’ve done is given them belief, direction and reassured them to not be afraid to make mistakes.
“Mistakes will always happen in football, but what really matters is how quickly you learn from them and how effectively you correct them.
“I’m a very competitive person and I’m here to win games, so naturally I was disappointed that we lost the Cup tie and the players were all hurting afterwards too.
“But when you take a step back and you look at the bigger picture, there were several positives that emerged from the game – all building blocks that we can use in our continued development as a squad.
“I firmly believe that if we can produce that type of performance on a regular basis then we will win a large percentage of our games.
“The majority of our squad have been through a hugely challenging and traumatic nine months, but Tuesday night proved that a big change has happened and we are now taking steps forward together.
“Our confidence and belief will continue to grow each week with the full backing of our fantastic supporters. We want the fans to get behind the players and we want the players to give the fans something to cheer about with everybody pulling in the same direction.
“Our aim is to become a team that truly represents Hibs supporters – winning games and playing the right way.
“Our fans have invested in the club both financially and emotionally and we want to repay that commitment by achieving a continued level of success that everybody can be proud of.
“We’ve started on a journey here at Hibernian and, although we acknowledge we won’t reach our goals immediately, we are making steady progress and hopefully everybody can see that development.
“Saturday’s match against Livingston will be a difficult match against a well-organised team in a massively competitive league, but we’ll be targeting three points and a positive start to the new campaign.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
