Hibernian 1 Livingston 0

28th September 2002
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:

Scorers:
Hibernian: Murray.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 29th September 2002

Williamson wages war of words

BOBBY Williamson’s relationship with the media, ever a frosty, unstable marriage kept alive by strained co-operation, has been simmering towards genuine antipathy for some weeks now.

Ever since an early-season run of defeats brought forth the dreaded word "pressure" to be attached to the Hibs manager’s position, his Friday and Saturday appointments with journalists have been characterised by hostility.

At some point during his time at Kilmarnock, Williamson sussed out the reporter’s habit of asking a leading question and putting a spin on the answer, and determined to put a stop to it. He created a list of clever disclaimers, through the use of which he could avoid being quoted on anything remotely controversial. Or for that matter, relevant.

Ask him about a trialist under his eye, and he does not comment in case it jeopardises the player’s chance of getting another club in the event of Williamson turning him away. Ask him about injuries, and he discloses nothing on the basis that his next opposing manager might benefit from any clue. Ask about opponents, opponents’ players, financial issues, the weather. . . "I’m here to talk about my team." These are seven words that it seems he will never tire of saying.

The relationship has never broken down fully because Williamson is rarely even slightly impolite or discourteous. He unfailingly returns calls, usually helps out in the matter of arranging interviews with players, and always shows up on time. He simply refuses, almost gloatingly, to provide the kind of considered answer that might fill a page.

On Saturday, somewhat paradoxically after Hibs’ third victory in a week, Williamson got some long-pent-up feelings of distaste off his chest.

On the back of improved results it was not the time to accuse the press of sabotaging his team’s success, so he instead pointed to the lack of quality on display in the 1-0 win over Livingston as evidence of the hindering influence of some newspaper stories.

Singling out and eye-balling individual reporters, Williamson complained that too much intensity was being attached to games at such an early stage of the season. Some newspapers had described Saturday’s game as crucial because it would dictate how much of a gap existed between two of the bottom three sides in the Premierleague. Williamson considered this harmful and restrictive.

After Ian Murray’s third goal of an excellent season deepened the gloom around Almondvale, Williamson reflected on a match dominated entirely by mediocrity, mistakes and misdemeanours: "I’m happy with the points. The performance wasn’t great, but what do you expect when there is so much pressure being put on the players out there?"

After a transitory pause, he added: "And I don’t mean by the fans."

This was the prelude to a lengthy lecture on media ethics, one which ended with Williamson’s conclusion that he is not alone in thinking that the reporting of Scottish football is a cancerous blight on the technical merit of the teams.

"You think it’s only me?" he asked. "I wish I was that intelligent."

Let us refrain from talking of paranoia, a word which is too often banded about in reference to managers, most often in the more asphyxiating world of the Old Firm. We might even be going too far to say that Williamson is being irrational.

He simply has to understand that the nature of the media is not going to change. If he fulfils his potential and goes on to manage at a higher level, he will have to deal with far worse. In other countries, newspapers do not talk of pressure - they simply call for heads.

If Williamson’s outlook is common within the ranks of Premierleague managers, Jim Leishman is clearly a non-subscriber. The Livingston manager, who missed Murray’s injury-time goal in the first half because he had already vacated his seat in the stand, seemed to be pursuing the same line of criticism when he spoke of his misery at what he was reading in the papers at present. "But I don’t mean you guys," he hastily reassured. "It’s just seeing the league table and us at the bottom. You see it in one paper, then you move on to the next one, and then the next, and it’s all the same."

Grant Brebner, whose tender, volleyed through-ball from Garry O’Connor’s head-flick sent Murray in on Javier Sanchez Broto for the deciding goal, spoke of his relief at Hibs’ renewed ability to grind out the points.

"We never played particularly well today, but I know what it felt like when we weren’t playing well and getting beaten, and this is a whole lot better," he reasoned, before suddenly screeching out in pain and clutching his thigh.

"Cramp," he explained with a laugh, and there was relief all around. Getting injured in a press conference? You can see how it would have looked.

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