Sevco Slips Further Into Gloom

Those in the media and the governing bodies who are looking forward to our next game against Sevco look as if they’re going to have a long wait.

Tonight, Hibs beat them by 2-0 in a game that was characterised by blood and thunder football from the Ibrox club but no end product to speak of.

This was probably inevitable when you saw that the starting line up included Kris Boyd, who increasingly looks like a man who’d rather be in the local chippy.

The performance of both teams was pretty poor, but Alan Stubbs has better players at his disposal, and this showed, especially with the second goal, which was a classic piece of counter attacking which Sevco simply could not contain.

The result puts Hibs in front of the Ibrox club in the play-off spots, albiet with Sevco having a few games in hand. The way they are playing right now – with a dismal record under their temporary management team which reads like the goriest chapters of American Psycho – you would not put good money on them winning those …

What this means is that they are, at the moment, in the position of having to play in the 3rd – 4th place playoff match before they even face second place Hibs, and if they manage to circumvent that two leg tie – and in three efforts this season they’ve lost every match, scored one goal and lost nine – they will still face the stiff challenge of needing to beat the team that finishes 11th in the SPL.

The chances of them successfully navigating that minefield look more slim every week. The odds are firmly stacked against them.

With a brutalising schedule coming up – they have Raith, Falkirk and Cowdenbeath up next, all away from home – they face the prospect of dropping further points.

On 22 March they face Hibs again, at Easter Road, and there are two further games with Hearts to come before the season ends.

This is a colossal, epic fall from grace which puts Dave King under massive pressure as the club approaches the crucial EGM which will decide who controls its ultimate destiny.

I wrote a piece on that yesterday, for On Fields of Green, which you can read below.

It is clear that whether it’s King or not who comes out on top, the club is facing an extended period of pain and with the transfer window now firmly slammed shut they are stuck with the players currently on the books, including a cadre from Newcastle who will have to quickly decide if they fancy the fight for a club that is in freefall.

King and his colleagues will have to stop talking shortly, and actually get down to the business of fixing this multi-level screwup of a team. That is going to be neither cheap nor easy. A dozen players are out of contract at the end of the season, and their management team is on borrowed time.

With Ashley certain to use the EGM to grab control of some of the club’s most prized assets, the South African tax cheat faces one heck of a hard time …

The rest of Scottish football continues to watch all of this in undisguised amusement.

Those who are staking their future on the return of “the Old Firm” … well, tonight things went from bad to worse.

Hell mend them. This ship is sinking fast, and all the lifeboats are sponsored by Sports Direct.

To read On Field’s of Green’s article “A Happy Ending?” click here.