Stuart Bathgate: Back to square one as spineless Hibs throw in towel

To a degree, Fenlon knew he would have to start afresh in the summer. Having signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, he was always aware that the half-year would be about crisis management and the avoidance of relegation, while the two years to follow would be devoted to the rebuilding of the squad.

But he must have hoped that some progress would have been made during this campaign which could at least be used as a platform for the next season and the one after. Instead, the manner in which 2011-12 ended has left a bigger question mark than ever over his suitability for the job.

With a larger budget than Dunfermline and the luxury of signing half a new team, Hibs should have kicked on after beating their relegation rivals on the second Saturday of the year. Instead, their progress quickly stalled, and it was almost another four months before they at last got the result – a 4-0 home win over the Fife side – which ensured their SPL survival.

They had bright moments in the league after that 3-2 win at East End Park in January, notably victories in Aberdeen and Inverness last month, which made it look as if they had turned the corner. But Saturday proved that any improvements apparently made then were illusory.

Fenlon and his players talked a good game in the week leading up to the final, claiming that the pressure in the biggest Edinburgh derby of all time would be on Hearts. They were eager and excitable and ready to give their all – or so they said – and that exuberance contrasted with Paulo Sergio’s insistence that he would treat Saturday like any other match.

That statement from the Portuguese manager was widely misunderstood: he meant that every match deserves 100 per cent concentration and effort, not that the cup final was just another humdrum fixture. And the right noises coming out of Easter Road were also misheard by anyone who presumed they meant that the Hibs team would play out of their skins.

Instead of doing that, Fenlon’s team looked lackadaisical – which was the strangest thing of all on Saturday. Anyone can be forgiven for making an honest mistake, and limited players should not be lambasted if they do their best. But few of the 14 players used by Hibs could truly state that they tried their utmost.

As football matches go, one which offers the chance to win a trophy for the first time in 110 years must rank right up there with the most important events of a professional’s career. But, with two or three honourable exceptions, the bunch picked by Fenlon looked like they had come to the collective conclusion that everything – not only competitive sport but existence in general – was futile.

If the likes of Matt Doherty and Tom Soares, Jorge Claros and Isaiah Osbourne had played in World Cup finals and were winding down their careers, you could understand their jaded approach to a little matter like a Scottish Cup final. But that quartet, and others in the team, are men of modest achievement with a lot of football still to play.

So why on earth did they give up so easily? Even allowing for the fine form shown by Hearts, those players’ dispirited attitude was perplexing.

As they look back on the season, Hibs fans might want to ask where they would be without James McPake. There are two answers to that. The First Division, is one. The other is ‘Wait and see, because you’ll find out soon enough’.

The centre-half and captain is due to return to Coventry after his half-season loan and, while there is a clamour from those fans for their club to offer him a permanent deal, he looks sure to reject any such proposal.

The loss of McPake would be bad news for Hibs, all right, but it would at least be partially counterbalanced by the departure of the other half-dozen or so who have also been at the club on loan – the exception being Leigh Griffiths. The striker, who is due to return to Wolves, has attracted a lot of bad publicity in recent months, much of it justified. But on Saturday he deserved considerable credit for his willingness to keep competing long after most of his team-mates had thrown in the towel.

Speaking of Griffiths, earlier this year he was disciplined by Hibs for making offensive gestures to supporters. Pretty much the same thing that got Fenlon banished to the stands for the final two minutes on Saturday.

The manager claimed it had not been aimed at the Hearts fans who just happened to be singing “There’s only one Pat Fenlon” at the time, but was instead born of frustration at his own players. It doesn’t matter. Either way, the gesture was proof – if any more were needed – that Fenlon had lost the plot.

He doesn’t have long in which to rediscover it if Hibs are to avoid next season being as traumatic as this one. New players will be needed – not just on loan this time – and team spirit will have to be revived.

The rot set in at Easter Road long before Fenlon arrived, so he cannot take the entire blame for Saturday’s performance. But the minute he began as manager he accepted responsibility for sorting out the mess. Half a year on, he has hardly begun to do so.