Theres Only One Sauzee: When Le God Graced Easter Road

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After thirty minutes of the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Hibs looked completely dead and buried, three-nil down to a tigerish and eager young Falkirk team looking for the blood of an SPL scalp and finding it. Very seldom have I witnessed such an abject forty-five-minute display by Hibs — or indeed any time. In spite of a famous victory there were few pass marks being handed out to players in Green and White yesterday. The great and notable exception was year old Alex Harris who used the big stage to good effect in his fledgling career.

Full marks go to the young winger. It is being argued today that having identified his errors yesterday he set about correcting them in the second half to good effect. That may well be true, and fair play to him on the tactical changes he made, but in my view, the turnaround came from deep down inside the players themselves.

Apparently, there are rumours of dressing room fisticuffs at half-time and harsh words. It this is true then so be it. We football supporters tend to be a slightly bi-polar bunch in present times. After a decent win the world is our oyster and everything in the garden rosy.

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2. There's Only One Sauzee - When Le God Graced Easter Road (Electronic book text);
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4. There's only one Franck Sauzee | Irvine Welsh | Football | The Guardian.
5. Capabilities;
6. My Little Stalker (Redeemed Fallen Book 1).
7. Calligraphy story (Japanese Edition);

When our team loses there tends to be a corresponding diametrically opposite view which leads directly to anger, despair and dissatisfaction. Hibs message boards can be a holocaust after a particularly bad day at the office for the team. The point is I think it has come to the stage where this negative reaction is more than deserved. In the earlier part of the season, Hibs, whilst not necessarily convincing in their displays, enjoyed much enhanced results from season The Hibees indeed topped the division briefly and were regularly in second spot — a great achievement considering the tragic state of affairs twelve months prior.

Since that time however, there has been a long series of dismal performances, punctuated only by odd notable wins such as those against Celtic and Hearts. Over this period the Easter Road faithful appear to have become at first bored and further, increasingly restless. I need to align myself with those feelings.

This season, Pat Fenlon appeared to be showing his mettle. So, here we are up-to-date. Not only have results seriously deteriorated but the fans are not being remotely entertained. Each time I watch Hibs through my available mediums I am shocked as to how little creativity they have and how lacking in ideas they seem to be. Most games appear like a rearguard action by Hibs with the men in green playing deeply and defensively, inviting teams to come at them — often with inevitable consequences. I find McPake — a player I have a lot of time for generally — particularly reckless in this respect.

The midfield, and tellingly its incoming personnel brought in by Fenlon, has almost no significant creative passing ability. They play sideways and backwards before someone obliges with the aforementioned long, hopeful punt up the field. Just a single player of this type would be sufficient Claros. An honourable exception to this assessment is awarded to Paul Cairney who though now seeming to have run out of steam a little has had a very good season — despite being hampered by Fenlon playing him out of position and less usefully, wide left. This brings me to another problem with Fenlon, who has a penchant for playing players away from the position they are most familiar and accomplished in.

I do feel that far too much is made of tactics these days but his only plan for his team appears to be to sit back cagily and play on the break or use the long ball game with the ball hoofed down the pitch. A further criticism, apart from his very negative mentality, is his abjectly poor use of substitutes. He appears not to be aware about using them tactically to change the pattern of a game and has continually used them or not at inappropriate times during games.

Last night alternatively, Fenlon substituted Gary Deegan just four minutes into the second half. It is tedious, dull and dreary and is turning the fans away steadily. I, like many, do not enjoy the constant merry-go-round of managers that the club has invested in during recent years. A recent question on the Hibees Bounce forums queried how optimistic the Easter Road faithful were feeling with just four weeks to go until the coming season is upon us.

Steps forward may or may not happen over the next few weeks but until then, what I see is a requirement for an almost total rebuild of the playing squad. The recent statement attributed to Manager, Pat Fenlon but clearly not written by him did nothing to make me feel hopeful. To sum up, its early days. They have an awful long way to go to do that at the moment after the past few seasons and in particular the debacle of the whole of last season and its final capitulation. I found the below article that I wrote a few years ago on an early website that I created around that time.

Ivan was eventually transferred back to Easter Road. The young Ulsterman is currently cutting a swathe through every defence that trembles in his way to goal, and what excitement he is creating for the Hibs support! There have been many players in the game previously with huge pace and not a little trickery combined that have come along and taken a club and its league by storm and Ivan Sproule is but the latest in a long line of such players.

Of course it might be said that the reason previous similar players have fallen by the wayside might be due parlty to the huge expectancy placed upon the shoulders of every footballer of this kind. Yes defenders do actually talk to each other at times despite contrary opinion, they chat about which way a player tends to move, whether he has a right foot roll, his pet tricks and all. This boy by all accounts has something special, he has blinding pace and we all know that the modern game revolves around that quality.

Speed disorientates in sport. Sometimes we see a footballer or other sportsman deceive the opposition but at a pace that the defender has time to recover. The same trickery performed at pace however can be murderous and extremely incisive. We think back to players like Paul Gascoigne and Stan Collymore who I had the pleasure of watching a few times. These players were dynamic for many reasons but the primary one was that they ran directly at defenders. Note again however the two temperamental individuals concerned here.

The next stage for the young Irish forward will be in actually establishing himself in the first team! In all the excitement, perhaps some of us are forgetting that his recent deeds have all been as a substitute.

Now if there's a smile upon my face…

Time will tell if Ivan Sproule will be a five-minute wonder. My considered opinion is that he will succeed as a good honest pro.

In the meanwhile Hibernian will hopefully reap the benefit. This was always going to be the main problem — keeping the players focused on doing their job and performing to the best of their abilities in the game. Thomson duly took Black to one side for what was easily arguable as a red card and after a long lecture did…absolutely nothing — effectively offering Black the opportunity to run around with impunity like a rabid dog for the rest of the game.

History records that within seconds of the restart the game was over as Thomson called a penalty against Hibs from a challenge by Kujabi on Suso several feet outside the area. The forward managed to spectacularly dive those final few feet into a sprawling heap in the penalty area and Thomson needed little more to blow for a spot kick and order the Hibs full back off the field.

The game barely into the second half — Hibs down and reduced to ten men — there was little way back as the game descended into a training session look-alike of a non-event. Perusing the Hibs forums I see amongst the anger and despair that some people are optimistic regarding the coming season. This I find remarkable considering the season the club has just had, following several other poor seasons of late. The club requires a complete overhaul at playing level and a large influx of new players with a hunger to do well, look after themselves like athletes and help the club move away from an apparent very poor culture behind the scenes.

I have yet to be convinced about Pat Fenlon. In some ways, for example his strong work ethic, single-mindedness and honesty he is laudable. In other respects such as tactics, team selections and substitutions he has been found wanting and made many mistakes. He has also been almost totally unable to inspire and galvanise the players at his disposal and I have a fear that his players do not necessarily hold him in the greatest respect.

I feel the task at Hibs is somewhat beyond him but I want to record that I honestly and truthfully hope that he proves me wrong. He needs a further chance to show what he can do. This brings me onto the thorny subject of the ownership of the club and the men placed in charge. This was over twenty years ago however — how much longer are Hibs fans supposed to feel grateful for merely surviving? Mr Farmer is known as a benevolent man in some circles, my heartfelt request to him would be to at long last invest some of his vast wealth into Hibs.

I have never seen eye-to-eye with Mr. We all understand the need for financial prudence — especially in these tough times — but this penny-pinching policy appears hardly ever to be relaxed. Time and again Hibs are too cautious and it has resulted in a blandness about the club which does not reflect a colourful, imaginative and oft romantic support This is one of the many reasons I have little optimism for Hibs in the near future.

Hibs are truly a club that underperforms consistently and attitudes amongst all need to be seriously challenged. It was with great pleasure that I was able to contribute the following article for the return of the Hibernian FC fanzine, Mass Hibsteria, specially produced for the historic Scottish Cup Final between Hibernian and Hearts. And so it remains…. The unimaginable has happened and we are somewhat improbably pitched against our oldest and most bitter rivals at Hampden Park in search of the Holy Grail of the Scottish Cup.

I really should have known that an all-Edinburgh final was in the stars and the deeply emotional feelings that washed over me as I returned home to go online and find out the result will live with me forever. There were hushed tones in the quiet Musselburgh household that early winter Saturday evening.

The men of the house were holding what seemed like another post-mortem. I vaguely understood it was about football and football meant Hibs. School days were fresh and as a little time went on, and after a barrage of pleading, I was taken to Easter Road for the very first time by my dad. Memories of the game are few but some of the sights and sounds are etched into my soul. The lines of neat yet austere tenements seeming to draw us ever nearer to the source of the excitement beyond our view. An intricacy of smaller streets and my dad and I were inside this awe-inspiring place, inhabited by members of our family for generations.

A small boy, I was in turns astounded, frightened and full of wonder at what surrounded me. A huge crowd, an even larger imposing terrace and a crackling of noise and anticipation filled my eyes and ears. We steadily picked our way to near the very top, me probably with my mouth open all the way. The smell of cigarettes, the laughter and banter, the tones of a distinctive dialect that is still in my head, wherever I may be.

A view of the old Easter Road stadium with the huge East Terracing to the left of the picture. There was never any going back. The men in the beautiful green shirts with their smart white sleeves weaved their pretty patterns for us and I watched, enthralled. I was uploaded onto maternal uncles in a bid to quench my new-found thirst for football at the two Nottingham grounds. The men from the City Ground were exactly ninety places above Notts County who were in their annual bid to avoid the re-election process at the bottom end of the Football League.

This family favoured the Magpies, the glamour club of the previous decade, the s and imperious and idolised England spearhead Tommy Lawton but I was nonetheless introduced to both the red and the black and white sides of the Trent. Great excitement was forming on the south side of the River Trent and a dashing, brave and lightening quick centre forward was plying his trade in the Garibaldi Red number nine jersey.

It seems a little forlorn these days to say but my main contact in keeping Hibs and in some ways Scotland, alive in my life was through The Sunday Post which was not available in our local paper shop until Monday lunchtime when I would be sent to collect it. Of course the sports pages always came first and the report on the Hibs game was the pinnacle of that. It was all Stanton almost every week.

The writers talked in wonder at his authoritative, composed and brilliant displays week in and week out. I almost knew what Jack Harkness et al. I also counted myself very fortunate to be taken to see the great man and his fabulous and exhilarating team on many, many occasions during our visits. Darker days came along after the days of the Tornados, only punctuated by the incredible signing of Georgie Best who put the beautiful team in my heart firmly in the headlines in England. Life, relationships and jobs caught up with me, my parents passed on but still my deep feelings for Hibs and the family tradition endured, personally, privately.

In time, the younger team came along with a flow of ebullience, headed by the brash and confident talent of a young Johnny Collins. In fact they were planned around them if truth be told. A lull presented itself and the man who delivered me from the doldrums was Franck Sauzee. Thank you Franck, you brought me back from the wilderness. Of course by now the internet was making huge inroads into my relationship with Hibs.

As a distant fan I could now keep much more in touch with my team and the people who surrounded it. As I sit here and write, my most recent emotions were over friends trying their very best to find me a gold dust ticket for our date with destiny on May 19th. I know that my late father would have understood.

A few days ago I received a message that brought completely unexpected news — I am to be there to witness the big day. A dear friend gained me that precious ticket to be with my team in their greatest hour. After a lifetime of following Hibs, this is the most important game of them all. The usual cloak and dagger juncture that we anticipate from Easter Road in these circumstances has been a feature of the operation with few fans or media correctly guessing at Calderwood, at least until the very last day or so.

These times are always interesting of course and we are told that as many as individuals have applied for a job which some see as something of a poisoned chalice of late. It is unfortunate to see that Easter Road has, like many other clubs, become something of a graveyard for managers in the past few seasons. Since the relatively successful and hugely entertaining tenure of Tony Mowbray, Chairman Rod Petrie has presided over the rapid passing of former Hibs stalwarts John Collins who walked out, Mixu Patalainen and John Hughes.

Searching questions have been asked of Petrie, his board and their selection process which has allowed this state of affairs to occur. I for one am still questioning that process and the confines with which the men in charge at The Holy Ground impose upon it. For many months Hibs have been a shambles on the pitch, in stark contrast to the fantastic advances in the infrastructure of the club. Hibs are not a rich club by any means but financial prudence has allowed these developments to happen. It will be said in fairness that the bank balance in Leith is far healthier than probably most professional clubs in the UK.

For a club with the modest attendance figures of the men from the Capital that is certainly a great achievement, but at what price? There has to be balance and I feel that the club have not achieved this. For several years the fans have had to stand and watch many, many excellent players being sold off. This in isolation is not the fault of the board as modern footballers have a lot more say about where they ply their trade and Hibs cannot necessarily afford to pay them the salary they can demand elsewhere due to the fiscal framework at Easter Road.

A more relevant criticism for me is that none or very little of the funds raised from selling excellent player after excellent player appear to be redirected back towards acquiring new quality replacements to the squad. The same thinking appears to be prevalent when choosing and dealing with new managers. There is no significant investment in an individual that could potentially drag the club out of the reach of the rest of the also-rans of Scottish football.

There is only one Sauzee – When Le God graced Easter Road

It would take bravery, boldness and imaginative thinking for that to happen and the sad thing is that the very innovatory influences the club has been famed for through its year history no longer exist. Rod Petrie is an inveterate accountant and whilst his three-column approach to running a football club is admirable in some ways, his occupancy at Easter Road is not characterised by imagination or calculated risk-taking.

His leadership is that of an artisan, not an artist, a Roundhead, not a Cavalier. Two managers ago, I felt Hibernian fell lucky in appointing John Collins, the former classy and dedicated Scotland midfielder. Collins splits opinion amongst fans radically with the chief criticism being of his mediocre signings.

My answer to that is that again, millions of pounds worth of talent was sold from under him. The inevitable happened in spite of Collins insistence on discipline, dedication and trying to play the game the way it should be played. His forward thinking ideas were diamonds in a rough sea of mediocrity. The well-documented player revolt against his methods was seen to be most feebly backed by the board and Collins, realising he was kicking against the sticks at Easter Road gave in to the small-minded and penny-pinching thinking at the club and unexpectedly walked.

A sad day in my view and a real opportunity lost. I digress but these events lead us to here via the generally poor eras under Paatelainen and Hughes. Many times I have seen Hibs, other Scottish sides and in particular the Scottish national side adopt this and ultimately fail. For Hibs to play their football, keep the ball and build up some momentum and pressure. Hibs have ninety minutes to score three times and take this tie further.

Leaving the NK Maribor European tie aside for a moment, what we look for from pre-season games is performance and promise. We understand that players are not fully match-fit that goes for both sides of course! I think that can be quite counter-productive, but I think we have an exceptional situation here. In Hughes defence he has had little time to move things his way but I have to say the portents are not good.

His is the type of nosedive that very few managers climb out of. He was a popular choice with many fans though and looked a reasonable choice. Things progressed quickly and this lead me to bite my tongue on former reservations about him. Fair play to the man. Since that time however I think he has shown that his appointment was a huge mistake. He learns nothing from his previous mistakes and is stubborn in the extreme.

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Actions speak louder than words however and I think his very regular and increasingly embarrassing sound bites in the media do not disguise the fact that he is basically clueless when it comes to managing a club like Hibs. He is out of his depth. In some ways, we the Hibernian fans take our part in his appointment — as in two or three other ex-Hibby appointments in the past few years. There was a wave of enthusiasm to get those individuals back in the fold. Unfortunately it has been seen time and again that it is not a successful policy.

Conversely, the unknown Mowbray was relatively successful and this tells us something. Hibernian FC in is in most ways a thriving football club. A rarity in modern football. The club is financially sound, has an enviable training facility and the near completion of an impressive new stadium. I do feel that the same ambition is nearly always lacking where managerial appointments are concerned.

The club need to spend serious money on getting the right individual — whoever that may be. Bringing in a popular former favourite is a cheap option it seems to me. On a final and familiar note I was dismayed to see our forty-goal strike partnership of Riordan and Stokes confined to the bench last week in Slovenia. We can argue about tactics and formations ad infinitum but leaving those guys out in that game was ludicrous and baffling. The game is simply all about having the best players and they are two of our best and most effective. It should be said that others held a more pragmatic view of the current state of Hibs however and that these were the angry remarks of post-game supporters.

To compound the disappointment, an opportunity to gain gain ground on Celtic who dropped two points at home to Falkirk was lost. Welcome to a short history of Hibernian Football Club, the Green and White side of the Edinburgh professional football scene. The club sports an impressive 17, seat facility in Easter Road Stadium where they play their home games.

Hibs have traditionally played in green and white strips since their formation, a pointer back to the Irish origins of the club. These origins emanate and embrace Irish emigration into Scotland and its capital during the dark days of the Irish potato famine when many were displaced into the country and further afield around the world.

The club enjoys something of a high-profile fan base amongst its regular faithful fans. Notably, author Irvine Welsh has featured the club in his novels on many a memorable occasion, even hitting celluloid in the case of Trainspotting. Hibs hit one of their periodic financial crises, and fan power cajoled Franck into taking the manager's post.

I think that he did this for the supporters and against his own better judgment. It didn't work out. Hibs were back in boom-bust mode, shipping their top earners and bringing through untried youngsters. It was the harshest possible environment to learn the managerial trade. The board panicked and gave Franck no chance to turn around the club's fortunes, dismissing him after only 11 games.

Whether or not he would have been a success as a manager remains unestablished. It was an unfortunate close to such a great relationship between the player and the club. However, far from diminishing the love the fans have for Franck, this has grown stronger over the years as, in his absence, we realise just how special he was.

Hibernian « The Tears of a Clown

You can't go on any of the supporters websites without somebody pining for him and wondering when he's coming "home" to Edinburgh. I recall attending a send-off for Franck at the stadium, where myself and the actor Dougray Scott, a Hibs fanatic, were privileged to spend some time chatting with him.

Like most of the fans present, I was taken by his great charm and his obvious love for the club and its supporters. He was more than just a great player, Sauzee was one of us and he always will be. I dedicated my novel Porno to him, and sent a signed copy to Franck at his home in Provence.

At the time he was in the restaurant business; now he's regularly appearing as an soccer analyst on French television. Like all Hibernian supporters, I'm desperate to see him back at Easter Road soon. I think Franck stays away out of respect for the current group of players, who would have to put up with the entire crowd singing "there's only one Sauzee" and saluting up to the directors box, while ignoring events on the field.

For a man who unfailingly comes across as a genuine, modest and decent human being, that kind of fanatical adulation, removed from the context of active service on the field, might understandably be just a little galling. Perhaps though, now that his old colleague Mixu is in the manager's chair, Le God might just be tempted back for a visit.