Mowbray fights for Hibs

So what if Hearts are spending a lot of money attempting to put a team together. What price do you put on a team that is already together? The past week has demonstrated just how united Mowbray’s players are. It was 1am in the early hours of last Sunday morning that Mowbray’s mobile went. It was his club’s physio, Malcolm Colquhoun, revealing he was with Steven Fletcher at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after the player had sustained facial injuries when struck by a bottle as an innocent bystander at Bar 38 in the capital’s George Street. Mowbray thanked him for breaking the news. It was how the incident was reported next that the problems started.

By last Monday, it was front page news and Mowbray found himself reading of “20-man brawls” involving members of his first-team squad. “They were almost insinuating that the Hibs players were out fighting other guys in the street and that’s just not on,” said Mowbray. “Fletcher was out with his girlfriend. Scott Brown and Dean Shiels were at the same bar, but they weren’t in a big gang, they probably didn’t even know the others were there. It’s just an easy story and certain newspapers took the opportunity to write something that wasn’t right.” That same day the players resolved to boycott all media interviews ahead of today’s derby meeting with Hearts at Tynecastle. It was the wrong call, but Mowbray could understand why they made it and did not attempt to dissuade them.

“That siege mentality shows how much they care for each other,” he said. “If they can take this forward, this sense of protection, this mentality of trying to look after their own, onto the field for the rest of the season then that will only benefit the team. I’m not portraying them as angels and I wouldn’t do that, if they get into trouble I won’t have my Arsène Wenger specs on, you know what I mean, I’ll see it and they’ll know if they’re out of order and they’d have to take their punishment.

“To me, though, this was like someone having a pop at your family. If you ever speak to Steven Fletcher you’ll get one word answers; he’s a quiet, shy, unassuming young boy who couldn’t hold an interview. The image that people probably have of Fletch now is that he’s a rogue, he’s a boozer who’s always out on the town, and he’s far from that.”

Mowbray’s concern is that any misconceptions about Fletcher were based on his club’s supposed previous form. Derek Riordan and Garry O’Connor have been arrested during nights out in Edinburgh, and while both were later cleared of all charges, the stigma has been more difficult to drop. “A lot of them are from the inner city of a capital city, they are what they are and where they’re from,” said Mowbray. “If we were in Norwich or Ipswich at the moment they’d be lovely boys all living out in the country in villages with a pub and a post office, but these lads are from tough areas of the inner city. These are streetwise boys, but when I talk to them there’s no cynicism, they’re not nasty or devious, they’re decent lads.

“I don’t see the evidence to suggest they should have a bad reputation. Derek was cautioned for shouting and swearing at a policeman, went to court and there was no case to answer. What does that suggest? Is it because he is Derek Riordan and on a night out? I can’t go around and stick a padlock on their doors, all I can do is advise and make them aware of the dangers.” Mowbray will tell them what he was once told himself as a Celtic player: remember this isn’t a one horse town. Enjoy the ride, but while half the people will be jockeying for your autograph, the remainder will be wanting to see you fall.

“I want them to live their lives properly because the best players with longevity in their careers, they do the right things,” added Mowbray. “I think 20 or 30 years ago somebody would argue the case that the best footballers were the biggest drinkers and the biggest womanisers, but I think the game has changed massively. You can’t tell a youngster never to have a night out, but you tell them their responsibility. They’ve got to be able to smell danger. As young footballers with the trappings of success they can be misconstrued as flash and they’ve got to see the guy in the corner who’s looking at them. In a city where there’s two teams and the rivalry is quite strong, it might be the same guy who was effing and blinding at them all game and now wants to punch their lights out. They’ve got to sniff it out and walk away from trouble. ”

Mowbray has known George Burley, his Hearts counterpart, for years, but the pair are not close. What he has to try to prevent is a distance developing between their two clubs as well. Vladimir Romanov, the new Hearts owner, is targeting the Old Firm; he is seemingly taking overwhelming Hibs as read. “Let’s wait and see how it goes,” said Mowbray. “I don’t know the financial implications of Hearts’ spending. Where are they going to be in three years’ time? This club has a philosophy on how it’s going to be run. Maybe short-term Hearts might prosper, long-term I don’t know.” His sceptical tone of voice indicates he has his suspicions they won’t.

What he emphasises is that his own job hasn’t changed. Hearts, according to Mowbray, buy the finished articles, while he works on players still constructing their opening sentences. When they reach somewhere near their prime, they are bound to leave anyway, much as Ian Murray, his captain, did last summer for Rangers. It is a difficult road for any manager to take and Hearts’ funds mean Burley can bypass it. Hearts are being offered players by agents that Hibs will not be because their pay structure is not the same. Mowbray doesn’t know precisely what it is, but it doesn’t take much to figure it is substantially more.

“Have we got a right this year to finish in front of Hearts? Can we finish in front of Hearts with the budget they’ve got and the money they’re spending? What sort of achievement would it be if we do? Would it be perceived as George getting it wrong, him mismanaging it, getting the wrong players, or would it be Hearts were good this year, what does it say for Hibs, on their budget, finishing above them? Every football manager knows what they work under. The guy who finishes third bottom might be the best in the league if he had peanuts to spend,” said Mowbray.

“I don’t know what the worth of our team is. What price would you put on Derek Riordan in the open market? And Garry O’Connor? And Scott Brown? And Steven Whittaker? To me they’re all good footballers with a value. Is that a value greater than spending, say, £350,000 on a Czech or whatever it is? Would you get more for that or not? We’re all expecting, because Hearts have spent a lot of money, that they’re going to have a great season.”

Mowbray’s potential problem is the gap in resources becoming a gulf. His only consolation is that there are still some things which money can’t buy.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk