Hibs wise not to press the panic button over John Hughes

Hughes himself has struggled to explain why results have been so consistently poor, just as he was unable to work out why they had been so promising before the turn of the year. Ascribing both good and bad runs to luck is not a satisfactory explanation.

Nor is it any consolation to the fans when the manager suggests his team possibly overachieved during that spell last autumn when they were third and closing in on second. Those fans enjoyed that time, they wanted it to last longer, and they resented the implication from Hughes that it was all some sort of unexpected aberration which really should not have happened in his first year in the post.

Their team's results would be enough on their own to cause disquiet among the Hibs support. Throw in the manager's at times baffling public utterances, and it is little wonder that a significant section of that support have decided enough is enough. They want the rot to stop now, and for them that means one thing: Yogi must go.

Hughes is feeling the pressure already, and if his team lose heavily at Celtic Park this afternoon that pressure will increase. But, at least for the time being, it will not come from Hibs chairman Rod Petrie, the man who hired the former Falkirk boss, and the one who will decide when it is time for a change.

As anyone who has seen the steady improvement in Hibs' finances should be able to conclude, Petrie places great store on the long-term stability of the club. As those who have seen him negotiate a player's contract or transfer fee will attest, he is a self-controlled individual, not given to precipitate action.

Together, those two facets of the chairman's personality mean he will not rush to judgment in Hughes' case. And the inordinate number of managers the club has gone through in the past decade makes it even more likely that the incumbent will be given time to turn a difficult situation around and ensure some continuous progress.

Counting acting bosses Donald Park and Mark Proctor, Hughes is the ninth man to hold the post since 2000. One or two of the nine would have been dismissed had they not left by mutual consent, but Franck Sauzee was the only man to be swiftly dispensed with - and that was with the threat of relegation hanging over Easter Road.

Although Hibs are only a point off the foot of the table this morning, it is far too early in the season for any reasonable analyst to conclude that they are currently as in danger of demotion as they were during the Frenchman's brief tenure. Indeed, all that can safely be inferred from that table, where ten teams are within four points of each other, is that below the Old Firm there is little to separate the clubs.

If Hibs are poor, they are not the only ones. As long as they keep their heads above water, Hughes will be allowed the time to make things work or to prove conclusively that he is not the man for the job.

A new manager means another clear-out of players, another raft of new signings, and fresh potential for disruption if he attempts a significant change in the club's style of football. Hughes has at least striven to avoid such disruption by trying to synthesise the contrasting styles of his two immediate predecessors.

John Collins wanted an aesthetically pleasing style of football, to the extent that Hibs would sometimes pass the ball nicely around between themselves without getting anywhere. His successor Mixu Paatelainen favoured a more direct approach - too direct for many supporters.

Hughes, for all his own lack of finesse as a player, has genuinely tried to marry entertainment with effectiveness.

And, in addition to the virtues of the current manager, a relevant question to be asked of those who want him sacked is who they would have as his replacement. As Craig Levein said in the context of criticism of his own work as Scotland manager, "I don't think Jose Mourinho is available", and there are few young coaches within Scotland doing such a good job that they can be regarded as good bets to succeed at a club the size of Hibs.

In other words, a change at this stage would represent an unacceptable risk. However frustrated they may be right now, however much they may cringe at some of their manager's assaults on the English language, Hibs supporters should accept that for the good of their club, for the time being at least, Yogi must stay.