Doyle

By Graham Barnstaple
May 25 2012

After a disappointing SPL season and humiliation in the Scottish Cup Final, Hibs boss Pat Fenlon is being trusted to build a new squad at Easter Rd. 

Fenlon came in half way through last season and achieved his first task, to keep the Hibees in the SPL, although it was a close run thing and in truth was partly down to how poor Dunfermline were!

He brought in a number of players on loan to try to turn things round and these players have had mixed success. He has already stated he would like to keep Cup Final skipper and scorer James McPake, who was on loan fromCoventryCity.

WithCoventryhaving been relegated from the Championship this may allow McPake to move back north, although it could also mean this would be a level the Sky Blues may want to play him at.

As for the others, there appears to be no will to keep them at Hibs, Roy O’Donovan, Matt Doherty, Tom Soares, Leigh Griffiths, George Francomb and Richie Towell have all returned to their parent clubs. It has also been reported Hibs want to get out of the 1 year loan of Jorge Claros after the Honduran failed to impress in the first six months.

Also heading out this week have been Ian Murray and Graeme Stack, with doubts over the future of Mark Brown and Garry O’Connor.

This will leave Pat Fenlon with a major rebuilding task, with a possible 12 players heading out the door. There is already talk of Motherwell defender Tim Clancy being the first to be brought in. This would tell you, despite Hibs being second bottom last season, they still have a budget to tempt players away from a side who qualified forEurope.

My fear for Hibs would be looking at Fenlon’s signing to date wouldn’t fill me with confidence. Apart from many of the loan players he now has no interest in, he also brought in Pa Kujabi and Eoin Doyle, neither of home have set the heather on fire since January!

Looking to next season I can’t seeRossCountybeing as poor asDunfermlineand this could provide Hibs a real test if the re-building is not done correctly.