When Terry Butcher was appointed manager of Hibernian, he acknowledged a need to lift the confidence of his squad.
It is somewhat unfortunate, then, that Butcher will begin his reign my looking down on them.
The Englishman has been given an immediate one-match ban - with a further match suspended until the end of the season - for an incident during his previous guise as manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He accepted a charge from the Scottish Football Association which had accused him of "acting in an aggressive manner towards players of the opposing team" during a Scottish League Cup win over Dundee United last month, a match in which both Butcher and Darren Jackson, the United coach, were sent to the stand. Butcher's punishment includes a £1000 fine.
The Hibs manager will spend his first match in charge sitting in the stand, his side facing St Mirren tomorrow. He has at least been able to get his views across from close quarters in training this week.
"Every one of them has impressed me, and I see them all in a different light to what I did before," said Butcher. "So, in that aspect it has been brilliant. I have got to eliminate their weaknesses now and work on their strengths, whereas before we would have tried to capitalise on those weaknesses."
He has still found some profit from that, though, with the player deemed to have toiled most in training instructed to make coffees for the coaching staff afterwards. It is designed using Butcher's own ebullient sense of humour and has caught the imagination of his squad.
"I've had to make the coffees once," said James Collins, the Hibs striker. "Me and Owain Tudur Jones made it because it was a split decision. That sort of stuff is always good for the team spirit. It's a good set of lads here, an honest, hard-working bunch."
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