Remember the AGM before last ? I do. Hibernian were a public relations disaster. The club have advanced on the football field since then, though not quite as far as the fans would like to see. And in that same period of time, almost unnoticed, they have improved beyond recognition in their use and control of PR.

To realise how far Hibs have come in this field, you first have to remember just how bad their PR was at that time and what the atmosphere around the club was like.

The club had been relegated and had just begun their First Division campaign which was going okay but had not yet caught fire. Simon Pia was writing a series of damning articles in the ‘Scotland on Sunday’ newspaper about mismanagement and about Sir Tom Farmer’s motives and behind-the-scenes manipulations. Brian Kennedy was trying to buy control of the club and had mobilised a large section of the fans behind him. These fans had established a ‘Hands on Hibs’ campaign with high profile leaders, such as Charlie Reid of Proclaimers fame. Brian Monteith, leader of the Hibernian Shareholders, was also highly vocal in his condemnation of the running of the club.

And what had the club done in response to this barrage of criticism ? Next to nothing. Sir Tom Farmer refused to speak to the press and the Hibernian board were dismissive of Kennedy’s approaches and kept ‘Hands on Hibs’ at arm’s length. In addition to this, the club seemed incapable of getting any good news stories out. In summary, zero out of ten for public relations.

Remember that PR is about spinning a good story and getting the press on your side - it is not about who is right and who is wrong.

As an example: if you asked a hundred businessmen to compare the merits of Sir Tom Farmer and Brian Kennedy and choose one to run their business, then ninety-nine would choose Farmer. And what has happened to Kennedy since that abortive take-over attempt. He has deserted the fans who supported him and proved to be untrustworthy. Would it have been a good decision to let him buy the club. I think not. So why did none of that come out in the press at the time. Because Kennedy had the PR machine working, was feeding the papers with good stories, and was getting all the coverage.

This is not meant to be an article in support of Farmer. I remain neutral on Sir Tom. All I am trying to point out is that Hibernian’s public relations at that time were so bad that even the so-called quality newspapers seemed incapable of printing a balanced article.

And the turning point. Well, almost unnoticed, Hibernian appointed Malcolm Macpherson and Stephen Dunn to the board. Shortly after this the Hibs PR machine got into gear. Before the AGM, the club announced that the football team and the stadium would be re-united. The debt from building the new stands disappeared from the balance sheet of the club and to cap it all the North stand was renamed, ‘The Famous Five Stand’. The fans were happier: their team now owned Easter Road again, the debt had reduced and the press were printing positive stories for the first time in ages. Good PR, and no doubt precipitated by the imminent AGM, which the club knew would be stormy.

Now look at these moves from Sir Tom Farmer’s perspective. He has put a lot of money into what he might call his ‘greater Hibernian portfolio’, which consists of a group of companies of which the football club is one. All that he has just done is shuffle the assets around this group of companies - it has cost him nothing. But the football fans are pleased and so are the press. He has spun a good story. PR in action.

So Hibernian had woken up to the value of good public relations by this point, though they were still in reactive mode. Much of the above was a knee-jerk response to the mauling they had taken leading up to the AGM.

As for the AGM itself, the board were assailed from every side of a packed hall inside the North Stand. The head of steam that had built up with relegation, Kennedy’s take-over attempts and Hands on Hibs vented itself on every utterance of the board members. Lined up to challenge everything they ventured were Kenny McLean (who’s father had led the successful ‘Hands off Hibs’ campaign and who left early in disgust at Farmer’s non-appearance), Charlie Reid (Hands on Hibs), Brian Monteith (shareholders), Sean Allan (Mass Hibsteria), Simon Pia (Scotland on Sunday) and various others. The only person sitting on the stage that got a warm reception was Alex McLeish.

However, the thing that really brought home to me how bad the atmosphere around the club had become happened after the meeting. The club had bar staff working on for anyone who wanted to remain. There were hundreds at that AGM and bar about twenty people, they all left to drink elsewhere. I heard several Hibernian fans (and, of course, shareholders) stating that they would not spend their money inside Easter Road because they did not know where it would go. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

I was one of the few who remained for a beer in one of the reception rooms. We were shortly joined by Alex McLeish and several members of the board. I happened to get a couple of words with Malcolm Macpherson, who despite coming across as a formidable man, was obviously disturbed by the depth of feeling against the board that had just been displayed.

Since then, of course, Malcolm Macpherson has become chairman of the club and I don’t think it is any coincidence that Hibernian have worked extremely hard at the PR side of their business since that point.

Good examples abound of how hard they are trying to engage with the fans, create good atmosphere around the club and get positive press coverage. To name but a few, we have :

The Board welcoming and embracing the Erin Community Trust.
Malcolm Macpherson giving an interview to Mass Hibsteria.
The new Club Badge competition.
Free draw for a holiday with the team in Tobago on the mid-winter break.
Cheerleaders and penalty kick competitions in the half-time intervals.
Competitions for Latapy shirts, autographed balls, Hibs Kids Halloween fancy dress etc. etc.

How much is all this worth to the club ? Quite a lot in my opinion. Whilst results will always be by far the most important thing for any football club and its fans, creating a good atmosphere around the club, getting positive media coverage, and making the fans feel they have a board who listens to them and engages with them should not be underestimated.