Hibernian

One player your club should sign?
Christian Karembeu, because his wife [former Wonderbra model Adriana Sklenarikova] is a darling and would liven up the players' lounge

Worst ground to play at?
McDiarmid Park: nice pitch, no atmosphere

Any odd pre-match rituals?
Gary Smith goes into the showers and does these strange stretches. He must have watched Geri Halliwell's video

Best display last term?
Celtic at Parkhead. We lost 3-2 to a late goal. Even Celtic fans said we were the better team

Worst performance?
Losing 4-1 at home to Dunfermline. We got a hiding — a terrible night for everyone

Personal highlight last season?
Scoring against Celtic from 25 yards in the 3-2 game: the best goal I've scored and the best feeling I've ever had in football

Funniest moment last season?
Ian Murray came in before the last derby with 1973 dyed in green into his hair. Hearts fans got the last laugh, though

Best performance against you?
Craig Brewster scored two for Dunfermline in the 4-1 matchand showed Hibs were wrong to let him leave

Best set of away supporters?
Aberdeen fans always fill the away stand

Worst cup of half-time tea?
Tynecastle, you don't get anything there. The spread at Ibrox after full-time is brilliant — chicken pakora and everything

Who should compose a club song?
Kylie Minogue because she is a very, very good singer-songwriter

Rob McLean or Jim Delahunt?
Rob McLean. I have spoken to him and he seems like a nice, big guy

One rule you would change?
Do away with offside so you can just poach and score lots of goals

Worst part about being a pro?
Coming back from your holidays not fit and having to run your guts out

One word to describe your feelings on the eve of the season?
Excited

Describe manager Bobby Williamson in three words: Fat, honest, baldy

3 key questions that will decide this season

1 Will the fans ever see Bobby as an Uncle figure?
Bobby Williamson, the Hibs manager, is known in media circles as Uncle Bobby, sometimes belligerent, but always affable. He has yet to be perceived as part of the family by the support. His image among the Easter Road faithful has still to be established and questions about his brand of football will need to be answered with results — quickly. He'll also need to do everything in his power to hold on to Ian Murray. The midfielder is maturing into a quality box-to-box player, and Hibs fans have seen too many of their best players head to the Old Firm in recent years

2 Can young guns be relied upon to shoot straight?
Garry O'Connor and Tom McManus had mixed seasons last term, neither quite building on the potential of the campaign before, their talent burning out after an initial blaze of publicity. The challenge now is for Derek Riordan and Scott Brown to avoid the same fate, but can Williamson rely solely on youth to plunder the amount of goals that guarantee a top-six finish? McManus is now the oldest striker at the club — and he is only 22. The club attempted to sign the experienced Scott Booth, only for the player to favour a return to Aberdeen. Hibs will score goals, but perhaps not consistently

3 Is their debt problem as pressing as neighbours Hearts?
The spectre of ground-sharing at Straiton, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, looms. Hearts are set on moving, Hibernian, they claim, are still prevaricating. Hearts are frank about their huge level of debt and its implications, Hibernian altogether more evasive whenever money is mentioned. The truth will be made plain by the Straiton decision because this is dicated by finances. With only Ian Murray likely to attract serious offers of the remaining Easter Road
squad, there seems no other source of additional income at a time when it appears urgently required

New arrival

Only one Scotland cap, but at 27, it is easy to see through Stephen Glass's reasoning in returning north to bolster his international prospects. Hibernian was still a surprise move, though, not least the matter of how the cash-strapped club were able to afford him. Still, Glass had real quality when he first appeared on the left flank at Aberdeen. He suffered on the bench at Newcastle and was a victim of Watford's financial problems, but should still bring some sunshine to Leith

Strongest XI

Hyldgaard
Smith
Zambernardi
Orman
Fenwick
Murdock
Brebner
Murray
Glass
O'Connor
McManus

The squad

1 Morten Hyldgaard G
2 Gary Smith D
4 Yannick Zambernardi D
5 Colin Murdock D
6 Ian Murray M
7 Tom McManus F
9 Garry O'Connor F
10 Derek Riordan F
11 Stephen Glass M
12 Kevin Nicol M
13 Daniel Andersson G
14 Mathias Doumbe D
15 Steven Whittaker M
17 Stephen Dobie F
18 Scott Brown F
19 Kevin Thomson M
22 Alan Reid M
23 Alen Orman D
Manager: Bobby Williamson

Celebrity fan

Charlie Reid, The Proclaimers
It will improve marginally for Hibs this season. If we get a good start, we could have a reasonable season and maybe get a run in the Cup, but I can't see us doing anything spectacular

Where are they now?

Willie Miller: Went to Dundee in 1998, was loaned to Wrexham in 2001, joined Raith a year later, and was at Cowdenbeath last season