Petrie ‘Shifting The Goalposts’

Paul Kane has been critical once more of Hibs former chairman and shareholder telling the press Rod Petrie has been guilty of ‘shifting the goalposts’ whenever he’s approached him with regards to an attempted fans takeover of the club.

Now Kano has been forthright in his views regarding Petrie over the past few years and this latest statement from the lifelong Hibee and former player highlights the need to remove the now non executive Director from any involvement at Easter Road.

Petrie could have walked away with a considerable sum of money had David Low’s consortium been successful in their attempts to take over the club and despite a statement to the contrary it was he who knocked the bid of £3.5 million back to leave Hibs in a state of limbo with a football manager trying to learn his trade with one arm tied behind his back.

Had he had the decency to walk away from any involvement whatsoever in the summer after a catastrophic relegation from the Premiership then over time fans may have forgiven him for some disastrous appointments in the Easter Road dug out.

As it stands he’s forcing the fans into an us versus them scenario with very few supporters believing he no longer has any dealings on the way the club is run financially and can thus be held responsible for another apathetic transfer window.

So long as he remains he’ll be a divisive figure and one who is seen to be holding the club back as many fans refuse to return until they see the back of him for good.

Such negativity surrounds the whole football club these days and the majority of it leads to the door of one person and one person only.

A succession of incompetent managers, reduced playing budgets due to excessive compensation packages, few incentives to purchase season tickets, trying to establish the club as a corporate rather than footballing identity and an eye more interested on the balance sheet rather than the pitch are a few of the charges Petrie could be found guilty of.

The club has been dying by a thousand cuts over a number of years and the appointment of Leeann Dempster as Chief Executive which was supposedly the beginning of ‘the wind of change’, but has been more like an occasional gust of hot air built in the Rod Petrie world of lip service.

Nothing will change until he leaves the club and Vital Hibs encourage every fan to sign the Supporter Direct Scotland backed survey at www.scottishfans.org/hibs in order to promote change at Easter Road with the aim of invoking a supporters trust to take over the club.

Kane himself has also backed the survey and stated: “The club is on its knees and our fear is it will sink even lower.

“We didn`t think the mismanagement could get any worse, but it has.

“After relegation last May, around 2000 fans attended a rally at Easter Road calling for chairman Rod Petrie to step down and owner Sir Tom Farmer to take action, but the club chose to ignore the fans.”