Hibs Armageddon dividend, gift the young will never know

Well done to Hibernian fans for turning up in sufficient numbers to increase turnover to £8.0m from £6.9m the previous season, allowing the club to turn a profit in Armageddon season, despite some mediocre performances on the field.  The challenge for chairman Rod Petrie is to ensure the elevated income level results in the club outperforming village clubs, who survive on a fraction of Hibs income.

Hibernian should tower over St Johnstone, Inverness, Ross County and Motherwell in the race for second place.

Debt remains high at £5.5m (if Celtic’s debt was a similar proportion to turnover it would be circa £40m) but with the wages to turnover ratio at 49% there is scope to both bring debt down and get better value for money on the field.

30 friends, family and supporters of the Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Trust will be leaving Celtic Park on tomorrow afternoon heading to Dingwall where they will start a 400 mile cycle round every Scottish Premiership ground returning to Celtic Park on Sunday 15th September at 3:30pm. Their goal is to raise £100k for Melanoma Action and Support Scotland (MasScot) who are looking to introduce Scotland’s first ever mobile skin cancer screening unit which is bound to save lives given the success rates when diagnosing melanoma in early stages.

You can follow the team @TommyBurnsSCT and on Facebook this week as they begin this amazing fundraising event. Please support the team if you can at MyDonate. Packie Bonner and Frank McGarvey are signed up and Bertie Auld is getting involved in the final day.

You can participate in the last hour of the cycle, from St Mirren to Celtic Park, leaving around 2:30 on the Sunday, by emailing scottmcgarvey@gmail.com.  Scott will get you organised and help with a fundraising page.

Our thoughts to Jock Stein’s surviving family today, 28 years after his death, as another former Celtic manager prepares Scotland for a World Cup qualifier.  Those old enough to remember his time have a gift which the young will never know.
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