It’s been a good week on and off the pitch for Hibernian.
A 3-1 win in tricky conditions in Arbroath on Sunday was followed by news that the club have frozen season ticket prices for the 2022/23 season and launched a ‘Football for a Fiver’ initiative allowing fans to attend the upcoming league fixture against St Johnstone for just £5 all over the stadium.
In addition to this, the club’s annual accounts were released with a pre-tax profit of £919,000 posted despite an incredibly difficult 12 months of trading which included an entire season being played behind closed doors.
So, to the football. Sunday’s trip to Arbroath on Scottish Cup duty had pundits and opposition fans licking their lips at the prospect of an upset.
High-flying Arbroath are on track to upset all the odds and gain promotion to the SPFL Premiership as one of the only part time teams in the second tier.
With an effective style of play and an iconic seaside stadium, Dick Campbell’s side have been better than everyone else so far this season and the task facing Hibs last week looked to be a difficult one.
Even more so when ex-Hearts man Craig Wighton fired the home side in front after just six minutes. You could almost feel the headlines being written in the main stand.
From that point on though, Hibs showed a commitment and professionalism which allowed them to go on and win the game relatively comfortably in the end.
Goals from Demetri Mitchell, Kevin Nisbet and Chris Mueller in utterly dreich conditions sent us into the quarter finals where we look forward to a trip to Motherwell.
On Wednesday the club announced a freeze to season ticket prices for the 2022/23 campaign – hugely welcome news at a time when the cost of almost everything else in life is rising.
The price freeze is essentially a price reduction for any season ticket holders used to paying after the early-bird deadline, which in the current climate is a huge commitment from the club.
Season ticket sales have remained strong in the last two years despite the uncertainty surrounding Covid, so a price freeze will hopefully allow our solid base of season ticket holders to grow as we head into Shaun Maloney’s first full season as Hibs boss.
On Thursday it was announced all tickets for the St Johnstone match on Saturday 5th March would be priced at £5, for all areas of the stadium including the away end.
There have been some grumbles this season about the price of walk-up tickets, with the best seats for the best games coming in at £35. This offer – in conjunction with a Utilita-backed promotion offering £5 tickets for today’s game with Ross County – is a big step in making a trip to Easter Road affordable for everyone.
In light of the ticket news, fans from throughout the Hibernian family had been requesting the opportunity to purchase tickets on behalf of others, in a similar way to the Premier Sports Cup final drive which saw hundreds of tickets distributed by the Hibernian Community Foundation.
With some quick work by Supporter Liaison Officer Kieran Power and the superb ticket office staff, fans can now donate the price of a ticket or tickets via the club’s eticketing platform here.
The club have done their bit, now it’s over to us to fill the stadium.
Also announced this week was the club’s annual accounts for the year ending 30 June 2021. In a year where the Covid pandemic really took its toll on the football industry, the club have posted a pre-tax profit which is quite astounding.
Thanks in part to business interruption insurance expertly acquired by Rod Petrie and Leeann Dempster and some monumental continued backing from supporters during a really tough period, it’s excellent news for the football club from a business point of view and should allow us to build confidently as we move forward and, hopefully, leave the effects of Covid behind us.
It is perhaps thanks to these positive results that the club have been able to implement the season ticket price freeze and St Johnstone initiative. A really good week for everyone connected to the club.
Turning back to the football, today we have another big game as Ross County visit Easter Road with Shaun Maloney and Hibs desperate for three points in the league.
Recent home results against Livingston and St Mirren have been miles from good enough and if we have aspirations of qualifying for European competition this season we need to start picking up points – and fast.
The one negative from last week’s Scottish Cup win in Arbroath appears to be an injury to Demetri Mitchell, who has started his Hibs career brightly.
Mitchell joins Paul Hanlon, Paul McGinn, Joe Newell, Harry Clarke and Kyle Magennis on the side lines at a really important stage of the season and he will be a huge miss with his pace and threat going forward.
With Kevin Nisbet back amongst the goals and Chris Mueller grabbing his first for the club we go into the game with a little bit of form.
Fingers crossed we can finish off a good week for the club in some style this afternoon.
The East Stand 