Bonjour mes amis, I have just returned from a smashing holiday in France to discover that Darren Jackson has been flogged off to Celtic in my absence. It was only last month that I was saying that things were bad but at least it looked like Jacko was going to sign up for a few more seasons. What baffles me is that our best player by a mile can be sold to an opposition club the season after we were almost relegated. If the reports are to be believed it seems that Jackson no longer wanted to play for Hibs anyway. Not a terribly bright thing to say Darren considering your first game for the Tims may be against Hibs at Easter Road, you could at least have had the perception to say you were reluctant to leave.

Jim Duffy has been busy giving trials to a bunch of French players who are household names, well they probably are in their own houses at least, and, in Tony Rougier and Stevie Crawford, made a couple of potentially exciting signings. If any of the foreign trialists that Duffy is looking at are kept on let's hope it is because they can add an extra dimension to Hibs and are not just a cheap alternative in a bargain-basement buying spree.

At Parkhead a new head coach has at last been appointed. All the big names that the media tempted the fans with have been passed by for that legend in his own lunchtime, Wim Jansen. Under Wim's expert tutelage the bhoys finished off a hugely successful pre-season tour of Ireland with a superb 1-1 draw against those giants of European football, St Patrick's Athletic. I wonder if the deciding criteria in appointing Wim was that he was Dutch and, as it's a proven fact that all Dutch people are fantastic at football, he had to be a tactical genius. It will be a shame if this simple but brilliant plan goes horribly wrong and poor old Wim turns out to be a numptie like his predecessor.

Yours from behind the goals, H.I.Bees.
Leither Hibs column, July 97.