And what might you ask brought this on less than a month into his reign as Hibs supreme? You’ve guessed it – the team’s "calamitous" defeat at the hands of Vetra Vilnius in our recent InterToto Cup encounter.

Let’s not forget that Hibs had a skeleton staff to choose from, they had played no competitive games since May, the Lithuanians were 11 games into their season and, to quote Wee Craig Brown, "there are no minnows in world football anymore". Let’s examine the evidence further.

Big Tone – will he have the fans singing from the same songsheet?

Mogga, as he has now unimaginatively been christened, had the equivalent of "5 minutes" to get to know his players, both fit and unfit, and as a result a makeshift squad was assembled for the two-legged encounter. He was down to the bare bones with nannies looking after the bairns on the bench and two players being dragged in from Holby City!

The pitch in the first leg was effectively waterlogged and, unless you’re a water polo international, was unplayable. This contributed to stifling the passing game that Hibs were trying to play – a welcome move by Tone. The surface brought new meaning to the oft-heard cry from the Easter Road faithful: "Get the Subs on!!"

The Lithuanians of Vetra were classed by some misguided individuals as being no better than Cowdenbeath and being the equivalent of The Vilnius Arms Sunday League XI. This is grossly unfair on a country that, although it is relatively new, has done a lot of catching up in recent times and has pushed our national side very close in games between the two. Likewise, the likes of Latvia, Georgia and Moldova should never be written off. Hibs, with a poor recent record in Europe (when they get there), have no divine right to expect to beat these teams. I’m confident enough to believe that if Hibs had been 11 games into THEIR season then they would have been warm favourites to get to the next stage. But as it is, the competition always falls at the wrong time of the year to be of any real value to Scottish/British sides. Let’s face it - any lengthy involvement would have been a bonus.

Some observers (obviously wearing blinkers and a blindfold) have suggested Hibs’ defeat was the worst Scottish result in European competition. EVER. One word to that - merde! I’m sure we can all recall plenty of occasions when we have all pissed ourselves silly at yet another Rantic exit from Europe, usually before the festive season has crept into view. Losing in the InterToto Cup is the equivalent of losing in the Scottish Masters. Nice if we win but if we lose, so what?

Where would I rank Hibs’ recent defeat in the list of illustrious exits from European competition? Here is my Top 10. (Although it is no particular order, I would put the Aberdeen result at the top.)

1. Aberdeen lost on away goals to Bohemians (Eire) 2000-2001 UEFA Cup

2. Celtic lose 4-3 on aggregate to MTK Budapest after winning the first leg 3-0 in the 1963-1964 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final

3. Celtic lost 5-1 away to Switzerland’s Neuchatel Xamax in the 1992-1993 UEFA Cup

4. Celtic lost 5-3 on agg to FC Zurich in the 1998-1999 UEFA Cup

5. Celtic lost on away goals to FC Basle in the 2002-2003 Champions League qualifiers (Those bloody Swiss again!)

6. Dundee United lose 4-0 at home to Dutch side Arnhem in the 1990-1991 UEFA Cup

7. Motherwell lose on away goals to My-Pa 47 of Finland in the 1995-1996 UEFA Cup (Tam Cowan later commented that it was the first time that Motherwell had been beaten by a National Insurance number!)

8. Kaiserlautern beat Rangers 3-0 (3-1 on agg) in the 2000-2001 UEFA Cup

9. Rangers lose on away goals, after extra time, to Viktoria Zizkov of the Czech Republic in the 2002-2003 UEFA Cup

10. Hibs lose 4-3 on agg to Osters Vaxjo of Sweden after leading 2-0 from the first leg of their 1976-1977 UEFA Cup tie

(I have included no Hearts ties as I take it for granted that their sojourn into European competition will be brief and it usually is, hence no shocks there!)

The above list shows that Hibs defeat in Vilnius ranks approximately nowhere in the list of worst Scottish European defeats and truly puts the defeat into perspective. And that’s before we even think about the national side.

So to all those Hibs fans who feel that we should be throwing a noose over the nearest tree, please feel free to do so because Hibs don’t need doom merchants like you (we have enough already!). The real season starts with the Kilmarnock game and until then certain Hibs supporters should keep their ill-informed and downright stupid opinions to themselves because it helps no-one and is ultimately counter-productive.

The Cat

=^..^=