Interview With the Enemy: Hibernian FC

By: Matt | August 29th, 2009

Welcome to another installment “Interview With the Enemy” before Celtic’s next match against Hibernian FC on Sunday. Since the Hibs Offside blogger managed only to bust out one post before calling it quits, I had to go outside the Offside. I found the excellently run Easter Road blog run by Rich. It’s a quality site, so if you’re a Hibs fan or if you need any info on Hibs, I recommend it. Rich was great to get the questions back to me so quickly, and while I don’t agree with all of his answers, I appreciate Rich taking the time to answer me. Check out his answers.

First off, a history of Hibs? Weren’t Hibs were founded before Celtic, for the same reason that Celtic was, to help the needy Irish immigrants of the Edinburgh area.? However, it seems Hibs has attempted to move away from this past and become more “Scottish”. Why was this done, what were the effects on the fan base, and what does the current Hibs fan base think of it’s history?

There are several innacuracies with your version of events. Hibs were started before Celtic and the initial idea behind Celtic was to build a similar club to Hibernian in the West of Scotland. Unfortunately the Glasgow club was hijacked by businessmen and never managed to do any charitable work, becoming a commercial enterprise first and foremost from the very start. Amateur Hibs were still good enough to help out their Glasgow cousins start up only to be stabbed in the back by Celtic who took many of their best players with the lure of cash.

Hibs have never attempted to move away from their Irish roots, this is typical misinformation spread by bigoted Celtic fans. Hibs fans have heard this nonsense plenty over the years and The Celtic View published an apology a couple of years ago after publishing the same rubbish. Unlike Celtic fans, Hibs fans encompass and accept all faiths and beliefs equally and accept that we are a Scottish team with a proud Irish history.

Hibs always seems to be one of the “best of the rest” in the SPL, who can’t compete with the Celtic and Rangers, but always seems to be competeing for third in the SPL? Do Hibs fans ever see competing with the “Old Firm” again? What would it take to do so?

To say we can’t compete with Celtic ignores the fact that they haven’t beaten Hibs at Easter Road for 2 years. We have regularly beaten both sides of the Old Firm over the last few years. Hibs haven’t had the depth of squad to compete over a whole season. We appear to be getting closer to doing so with a strong youth policy (Hibs under 19s won an unprecedented league/cup double last season), good training facilities and strong signing policy (Anthony Stokes, Derek Riordan, Ian Murray being among the bigger names to have signed for the club recently).

Steven Fletcher was added to the list of another Hibs star who was eventually sold. Do Hibs fans ever get frustraited about this practice?

Of course. No fan wants to see their best players leave but most Hibs fans are happier to see their players show a bit of ambition in moving south rather than taking the easy option of moving west. It’s intriguing that Rangers/Celtic can’t afford Hibs’ best players these days – this is a great indication that the gap between Hibs and the Old Firm is narrowing.

While most think that the Celtic-Rangers rivalry is the most intense, Hibs and city rivals Hearts is one of the most intense derbies I’ve ever seen and can compare to a Celtic-Rangers match. What is your favorite memory from an Edinburgh Derby?

Waking up on a beach in Thailand, finding the only internet connection on the island was £1 per minute then finding out the score was 6-2 to us!!! I had to spend £20 to find out all possible details.

What is your worst memory from a Hearts game?

Seeing a player (Steve Fulton) being booked for merely being ugly. A travesty

For those that aren’t familiar with Hibs, what are some of Hibs biggest accomplishments?

First to wear the green. World Champions. First British team in Europe. A few leagues, a few cups, some great results against the biggest clubs in Europe. The greatest team the world has ever seen.

How did the off-season treat Hibs? Any new signings that the SPL should watch out for? Who left Easter Road?

The big players who left were Steven Fletcher (Burnley £3m) and our captain, Rob Jones (Scunthorpe £0.3m). We have two talented Moroccans return from loan deals (Benjeloun & Zemamma). This may not sound much but Zemamma is a huge player for the future. We also signed Anthony Stokes from Sunderland, brought through some youngsters and got a couple of decent midfield players from Falkirk.

What are your thoughts on the new season? Can Hibs compete for 3rd, or possibly even break the top 2?

3rd certainly. I’ll be disappointed with anything lower although I think Dundee United will be up there. It might be too soon for the top 2 but if the old firm continue to decline at their current rate, who knows?

Special thanks again to Rich. It’s always refreshing to see someone with as much passion for their club, even if they are a rival. Hibs have always played attacking football, instead of the usual 10 behind that most Scottish clubs try against Celtic. Once again, check out the Easter Road blog for all things Hibs.