newhavenhibby

He did move to the UAE for 6 months but returned to us last season before his second cruciate ligament op..................he did this playing in pre world cup games for Australia so missed the tournament. Forgot to put that the last time Hibs played an English Club in Europe was as long ago as the 1975 Season when they played Liverpool in the UEFA Cup. Hibs won 1 . 0 at Easter Road plus missed a penalty late on. This turned out to be crucial as Liverpool won 3 . 1 at Anfield and Hibs would have won on the away goal rule in those days. How times and money have changed the game, especially in England as Hibs wouldn't be able to lay a glove on Liverpool now, or any other top English side for that matter.

As much as I would love to see Hibs play Villa, especially at Villa Park, ( would be my first visit back there in 20 years) I very much doubt it is going to happen. If we are still in the tie after Thursday I will be very much surprised. We have 3 main problems ...............apart from playing in the SPL 1. Goalkeeper.....our first choice is David Marshall who is not 100% fit and is no spring chicken and lately has been prone to goal giving mistakes. Our number 2 keeper was injured last week in the second leg against the Andorran side and will be out for a while. Apart from them we just have inexperienced development keepers. 2. Our defence has 2 players ( Hanlon and Stevenson) who although have been great servants to the club should have been replaced 3 to 4 years ago. it can also be argued that they have only stayed at the club so long as they weren't ever good enough to play at a higher level! Add into the equation that at present our "wise" manager, R2D2, plays a young development player at right back who in actual fact is a midfielder whilst having an Australian specialist right back twiddling his thumbs on the bench. 3. Our midfield is very poor with very little creativity. Usually what happens is that long diagonal balls are played up to a striker which Mings will deal with all day long. If you press them then mistakes and stray passes will happen. I'm sure Lucerne would have had a scout at Easter Road last Sunday for our loss to St Mirren and will have come to the same conclusions. Our attack has a couple of fairly quick players in Youan and Boyle ( not 100% fit as just recovering from an ACL op ) but its whether they will actually see much of the ball. Then we have Doidge and LeFondre who won't have the pace to bother a Premier League back four. Obviously if a small miracle does happen I will post some info for supporters coming up for the game. Easter Road holds just over 20,000 so Villa fans should get at least 1000 based on the UEFA 5% rule. Good luck to Villa whoever they end up playing and will be good to see them back in Europe again. ( my last Euro game with Villa was a certain night in Rotterdam in 1982 ) GGTTH

Thoughts with his family and friends. Was fortunate to see him play for Santos at Villa Park in 1972. RIP

Feel for you guys. Said when he left Rangers for Villa it was one almighty gamble which has since proved to be foolhardy. Up here, our cat could be in charge of one of the "big 2" and eventually win something due to their financial superiority in our pub league and some would say that one trophy in his time at Ibrox was underperforming? To then go straight into the Premier League was ambitious for both him and Villa. His next move should have been to a lower Championship Club or a big name in Div 1 at best, where he could learn his craft and develop his "people skills"!! Wish you lads all the best and hope the next manager has more idea about how to set the team up and get the best out the players. ps: if you've finished with McGinn, send him back up here as he should still be able to do a job at our level. Perhaps the new guy will see him as a squad player and not an automatic choice every week and certainly not Captain!

In the Villa supporting days in the 70's and 80's , many grounds were interesting !! but the worst was Millwall in the mid 70's. Middlesbrough in the 80's was also "hectic" Up here , Ibrox was the most intimidating ground I went to in the late 70's..................................................ironically some of the worst violence I have seen at a ground was at Villa Park in 1976 when Rangers played a friendly. Game had to be abandoned after 50 minutes or so due to the trouble after Villa scored their second goal.

Although the result is pleasing to all other football fans up here, in fairness to McGregor he has played really well in the last few seasons and as was seen at Anfield last week still produces great performances................but not tonight

Make it 8 please

Keep it going Liverpool

Love the NFL but their set ups and methods should be kept for the States............certainly not for the Premier League. Agree about the pro bowl, it is more about an end of season show rather than a decent game which is understandable as no one wants to get badly hurt and the playbook has to be limited as the players obviously haven't played together all season in the main.

Agreed, cannot remember the Jets winning the Superbowl in 1968 but hoping the system enables them to rise to the top again soon............mind you been saying that for years. Over to see them again in December v the Lions and no doubt our season will already be over!

Considering everything I thought he did fine for his first game and will grow into the Killie way of playing. Will learn a lot from McInnes and has to get used to the artificial surface. Unlucky with the shot that hit the underside of the bar. Looks like he will get more game time than Caleb did under Martindale at Livingston last year.......... coming to think of it, he's already done that

Napoli, Ajax and Liverpool................love to be at Ibrox for the Liverpool game...........any spare tickets Been to Ajax a few times........great atmosphere.......mainly drugs and watch out for the beer shower when they score Good luck........and try to keep 11 men on the park

Aye, wouldn't believe it was basically the same side that played us last weekend. Is it correct that Celtic will get more money than Rangers due to past level of performance, ground capacity etc? Seems unfair when they are both competing at the same level in the tournament............especially as I say, I'd rather go to Celtic Park as an opponent than Ibrox.

Congratulations to The Rangers at reaching the Champions League group stages. Even more remarkable that they can keep their standards up whilst playing pub league sides for most of the season. We will see the gap now grow between the big 2 Glasgow clubs and the rest of the league once the Euro gravy train money comes to them. Better players will be attracted to both of them although this present side has overcome the likes of Dortmund, Leipzig and PSV Eindhoven in the last few months. They will obviously now meet more serious opposition but I know from experience there is not a side in the competition who will relish the thought of an evening Euro game under floodlights at a "bouncing" Ibrox............something to behold. Good luck to our pub neighbours, The McCrae Bar, tonight in their Europa League second leg against Zurich. I think with a rocking Tynecastle they will prevail and again will be into the Group stages of that competition. Tynecastle when it's packed is another very intimidating ground mainly due to the close proximity of the stands and fans to the pitch. Not sure Zurich will cope. It's a little like West Hams old Boleyn ground. Anyway good luck to all sides in Europe from us all at "The Persevere" here in Leith.

Well as I predicted last week, the Red Lion Dundee found it a lot tougher in Holland last night.........although I didn't quite expect the scoreline! They were doing OK for 25 minutes and had a great chance to draw level on the night with the scissor kick brilliantly saved by the AK keeper. After that once the third goal went in, you could see any belief go and the confidence of the dutch team rise. The big Australian keeper unfortunately was culpable for at least two of the goals .....especially the killer third Will have to get themselves back up as they are away at McCraes Bar in Gorgie on Sunday where their field at Tynecastle is always an intimidating place to play. Funnily enough I am there tonight to see the fringe play about the 16th Royal Scots, McCraes battalion , in the First World War and especially The Somme. Anybody who likes a good historical football story, google "McCraes battalion" .........both inspiring but also sad and one has to admire the bravery of especially all the Heart of Midlothian players ( along with all the other clubs who had their players there, especially Kilmarnock, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers.)

Certainly is a "funny old game". Motherwell go into the Sligo game with a manager who did really well for them last season . they lose, get rid of the manager and then go and win their first SPL game last weekend managerless. The main problem for sides who play in these first qualifiers is that as they come so early in our season most of the teams up here have not had any real pre season and limited friendlies. I know it is the same for both sides but it ends up being a bit of a lottery as to which team gels best on the night. I watched the Sligo games and they played really well and good luck to them although Motherwell missed some glorious chances. However you also have to take into consideration that Vikings season is different and they have been playing competitive football for months ( since April?) including such ties in Europe as Sparta Prague, so are very much up to speed so it was always going to be a tough ask for Sligo.

Well done to our "arab" friends from the Red Lion in Dundee last night for winning against the Eridivisie side AZ Alkmaar in a European qualifier. Good to see an old patron of ours, Glen, score a cracking goal. The bar manager, Jack Ross, seems to have put together a very good team with some old regulars keeping things calm for the young crew. Think they may find it tough in Holland next week but good luck to them. Think their next home game might be against the Dog and Duck so am expecting to see their astute bar manager Martindale change tactics from last weekend when of course they had to play a professional side , The Rangers. In these games the only chance us pub sides have is to park the bus for a vast amount of the 90 minutes and try to stifle and slow the game down. This is especially so when you take an early lead as the Dog and Duck did with a great finish from the hulk that is Nouble and so does not lead to a game that is very exciting to watch. Martindale will play it differently against the Red Lion and gets the most out the limited players at his disposal although he did struggle last year with a young player brought in from Villa down South.....Caleb something ?

Saw them at Hibs the day after the Celtic game. Played mostly the fringe players in the first half against a mixture of our first team and some fringe. In the second half we played mainly our development team with a couple of old heads and Norwich brought on more of their established players. I know it was only a friendly but if I was a Norwich fan I would not be too confident for the new season. Apart from a couple of promising speedy youngsters they didn't offer much at all.

Some were saying it for the game against Ukraine...........he'll forever be a legend at Easter Road and adored by 99% of Hibs fans. Sorry if I didn't make that clear , however he was poor the other night ! .............as were several others

He was at his brothers, Paul , wedding up here last week. Even on the Hibs forum they were saying he was a waste of a jersey last night...........and these are the same who claim he will get a multi million pound move away from Villa very soon ,so we can get our percentage of the sell on fee

Since the Livi game v St Mirren didn't mean that much, Martindale gave Caleb his first start in the SPL probably to see what he could do from the off. Couple of nice touches and unlucky with a header going wide although he probably should have done better. By the 63rd minute, Martindale had seen enough and replaced him with the American, Soto...........another loan signing, this time from Norwich City. Martindale is obviously running the rule over the loans to see if there are any he might like to negotiate in order to keep..........I don't think Caleb will be on his "to keep" list, which will probably suit them both!

Aye sad news indeed. Remember watching him in that great side of the early 80s. No doubt he will fight this latest battle with the same tenacity he showed as a player. Good luck Gibbo

Cannot believe I am saying this but well done to the rangers, a great achievement against some very wealthy clubs. Good luck to the people of Seville and of course............... 'mon Frankfurt .

Still feel he never got a chance at Livingston and in hindsight was the wrong loan move for him at this stage of his career. When I watched Livi up here, it also didn't help in the limited game time he did get that, Martindale played him out of position. ( although Martindale claims Caleb wanted to play wide despite Villa wanting him to be a number 9?????) With more game time in his proper position I believe he would have got used to the physical aspect of it and done well. Our best player over the last few years till he was sold in January was Martin Boyle who took a year to learn to deal with this physicality but then did a tremendous job for Hibs and he was a lot smaller than Caleb. Feel sorry for the lad but hopefully will find a better club to showcase his talents next year if he goes out on loan again, if still under contract at Villa. Good luck to him.

Hereford United for me till they went out of existence and now since 2014, the new club, Hereford FC . Only get down to the games right up in the North of England within National League North. Apart from Darren Peacock my favourite player was local lad, Chris Price........a cracking fullback..........wonder what happened to him?