Sad Sauzee had no chance

EASTER Road became engulfed by an outpouring of regret yesterday as Franck Sauzee lamented his sudden sacking as Hibernian manager, and the club’s chairman, Malcolm McPherson, conceded that his appointment had been an error of judgment in the first place.

Sauzee showed no anger, only frustration at having been dispensed with before he had really started.

"I am sad because I did not have enough time - eight or nine weeks," said Sauzee. "If you start to work in society or business, you have a minimum of six months. But that is football; that is life."

A series of ignominious results and soulless performances from Sauzee’s side having led to two board meetings on successive days, McPherson visited the Frenchman at his Edinburgh home on Wednesday night to tell him his services were no longer required. After 69 days’ employment, it was the swiftest sacking in the history of the Scottish Premier League.

Two weeks after expressing their continued support of one of the most respected players ever to walk through the doors at Easter Road, the Hibs board deemed Sauzee to be unprepared for the rigours of high-level management. "It is our belief that the club need a more experienced man at the helm at this stage to steady us through a difficult period," read a statement from McPherson yesterday morning.

The club is now coming to terms with the cost of the directors’ mistake. Two months ago, they were looking for a new manager following the departure of Alex McLeish to Rangers. Today, they are still looking for a new manager - and in the process, they have lost one of the club’s most valued employees.

If that isn’t bad enough, it is expected the club will have to pay Sauzee compensation, and then come up with the money to attract a better manager.

The club’s supporters, half-a-dozen of whom cottoned on to events quickly enough to furiously interrogate McPherson as he exited an 11.30am press conference, have every reason to be perturbed.

Sauzee had extended his playing contract by a further two years at the end of last season, only to permanently hang up his boots in order to fully concentrate on the manager’s job he inherited on 14 December, after Alex McLeish’s seduction by Rangers. Now the man is utterly lost to the club, and to the Scottish game, and his presence will be unanimously missed.

The 36-year-old was as gracious as ever when he willingly

met the press an hour after McPherson, to convey his reaction and bid farewell. But the politeness did not hide his exasperation at having been so swiftly, and unfairly, hustled out of a club he had grown to love. "I am disappointed because even if it is difficult at the moment, you don’t forget there are nine points between St Johnstone and us," he pointed out. "I am not at all afraid, or worried, that Hibs will stay in the Premier, no problem at all.

‘I gave 100, no, 200 per cent for the club, as player and manager. I just hoped to have more time’ - FRANCK SAUZEE

"I spent three wonderful years here, but sometimes life is strange. My first game was on 20 February 1999, and on 20 February 2002 I was sacked. It is a hard moment for myself.

"But the big sensation I feel is that I gave 100, no, 200 per cent for the club, as player and manager. It was a new job for me and it was difficult because I had to cope with a lot of suspensions and injury problems, and I just hoped to have more time. I was thinking about the future.

"My last word will be for the fans," he concluded. "Even if it is not a happy moment, I will never forget these three seasons. It was a wonderful, wonderful time, and that is life."

Then he was on his way, with no questions allowed. The French international had not won any of his 12 league games in charge, and saw his side succumb in despondent fashion to Ayr United at Hampden in the CIS Insurance Cup semi-finals. Yet in the aftermath of that result, McPherson excused the rookie by claiming that most of his problems had been inherited from McLeish.

Yesterday, the chairman reiterated that sentiment, but said the decision to sack Sauzee was taken with the interests of Hibs in mind, rather than as a direct response to the poor performance of the individual.

In doing so, McPherson all but admitted that the recruitment of the European Cup-winner in the first place had been a foolishly romantic business.

"If you look back, it has to be seen as a mistake," he admitted. "But at the time it was the right decision. It is very easy to look back and say we made the wrong decision, but he was the unanimous choice of everyone connected with the club.

"We desperately wanted him, he desperately wanted the job and we desperately wanted him to be a success. It just panned out this way."

One aspect of this sacking in particular will have surprised most observers. It came ten days in advance of a game against St Johnstone, the only team who can prevent Hibs retaining their Scottish Premier League place this season. The team will now have to prepare for that pivotal game under the guidance of Sauzee’s assistant, Donald Park.

McPherson went on to express sympathy for an outgoing manager whom, if not completely blameless in Hibs’ demise, is more victim than perpetrator.

"It went wrong a long time ago. We lost very significant players over a short period of time. Franck was not able to play much in the course of this season, and we lost Russell Latapy and Mixu [Paatelainen], both of whom were very influential players. That was like taking the heart out of the team."

On the task of hunting for a replacement, McPherson said: "There will be no stone left unturned. Last time we were in this position [when McLeish left for Rangers] we had 26 names within the first 24 hours."

Taken from the Scotsman