What Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

23 March 2012 11:46
Pat Fenlon and Billy Brown do not look like people that would back down in the face of player disagreements. Hibs are putting on a united front as they fight for SPL survival

It not not much of a surprise that Hibs manager Pat Fenlon has come out to say that morale is good at the clubs despite suggestions of dressing room unrest ahead of Saturday's SPL clash with Dundee United. There were reports that Leigh Griffiths had been dismissed back to Wolves after a training ground incident but on Wednesday the club issued a statement, which read: "Contrary to a report (striker) Leigh Griffiths did not headbutt manager Pat Fenlon nor punch assistant manager Billy Brown."

 Like most managers, Fenlon will do things his way and was not in the mood to comment on the reported incident when he met the press yesterday. He also ignored questions on a reported fine for Martin Scott after the midfielder was said to have missed a training session. The Irishman claimed the reports could galvanise his side, still reeling after last week's 2-0 loss to Hearts which extended their winless run in Edinburgh derbies to 10 games. Fenlon said: "Saturday afternoon will tell. It doesn't help. Sometimes you can get different reactions from different things. The morale has been very good. We had 45 minutes against Hearts when we didn't play well and because it's Hearts people read more into it than any other game. The players have worked really hard since I've been here, both on the pitch and off it, in training, everything else. Whatever happens in here, as far as I'm concerned, will stay in here. If other people want to go outside, that's fine. We'll put a stop to that fairly sharpish."Hibs were unbeaten in three game ahead of last Sunday's game at Tynecastle and Fenlon is eager to focus on success in the next three; against United, Inverness and Motherwell before the SPL splits for the final five games of the campaign. The Hibs manager said: "We've got a lot of tough games coming up that we've got to focus on and make sure we get some points. We've got big games coming up before the split and we'd like to get ourselves a little bit of breathing space before that if we can and drag a few other teams into it as well, rather than just worry about Dunfermline. If we can win a few games on the bounce that should maybe bring other people into the equation. That would be interesting if we can get to that stage, we'll see what happens."

Source: FOOTYMAD