Behind me is a whiteboard covering the entire wall, filled with names written in black marker, forming teams, from under-18s all the way down to individuals with birth years that make me feel very, very old indeed. 

Opposite me is Gareth Evans, director of the Hibernian academy, and the man tasked with overseeing the progression and development of hundreds of youngsters. Next door sits Guillaume Beuzelin, the head of academy coaching, and under-18s head coach Darren McGregor. 

We discuss the meteoric rise of Rudi Molotnikov from under-18s to first-team regular via a brief loan spell with Stirling Albion, the ultimate goal of the academy, the hard work and long hours that go mostly unseen by those outwith the inner sanctum of the Hibernian Training Centre, the promising start by the current crop of under-18s and the number of players competing in higher age groups, and the seemingly vast swathes of former Hibs academy players still playing at a high level, which played a part in the club scooping £1.5 million in funding from the Scottish FA. 

With a combined 607 games for Hibs and one Scottish Cup, two League Cups, and one Scottish Championship winners' medal between them Evans, Beuzelin, and McGregor are well placed to pass on exactly what the next generation needs to do to have the best chance of following in their footsteps. While Evans' role has changed in recent years, he is still a familiar figure on the touchline for academy matches, prowling the technical area flanked by Beuzelin barking Gallic-accented instructions and McGregor - calmer than you might imagine given his approach to games during his playing days - gently cajoling and chastising as required. 

It's important to remember that the days of players being 'old enough if they're good enough' no longer exist. The pathway to professional football in 2024 is intricate to say the least. The absence of a reserve league in the traditional sense means carefully selected loan spells are now vital to a player's development - but the players themselves have to have the drive, the mentality, the willingness, the determination to succeed as well. 

I ask Evans about the seven-figure funding boost from the Association.

"You get points for players who are under 27 and playing international football from 15s up to the senior national team. Each team puts in their points table at the end of every year and it gets checked by the SFA," he explains. 

"We've just finished fourth behind Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen, which is the highest that we've ever been since they brought in the measurable outcomes table so we're really, really excited about the future, and the past, and it's something that we're very proud of.

"There was extra funding this year because of Scotland qualifying for the last Euros so more money was put in the pot. I think we have been in a good place, and we're still in a good place.

"Going back to Scott Brown and Steven Whittaker, whose faces you can see all the way down the corridor; the service Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson gave the club after coming through the academy; Kevin Thomson, and then latterly with Ryan Porteous and Josh Doig, there's been a lot of money that's come back into the club by way of the academy and a lot of service given to the club by academy graduates," he adds.

"Being fourth in the MPO table tells us what we've done for Scottish football over the past few years as well."

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Evans shows me on his laptop a squad photo of an academy team from a 2020 trip to Portugal. There are more than a few familiar youthful faces smiling back at us from the screen but what pleases the academy director the most is that all but one of the boys remain in football. He goes along each row with where they are currently playing. There are SPFL clubs, Lowland League teams, a couple of East of Scotland outfits, and one or two who remain attached to Hibs. 

Talk turns to Molotnikov, who was handed his senior debut by David Gray during a previous interim spell - away to Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League, no less - before getting a chance under the head coach in pre-season. The 18-year-old impressed during the pre-season trip to the Netherlands and has since started 75 per cent of Hibs' first-team games in the Scottish Premiership. 

"Little things like that are really positive," Evans agrees. "Last season we had six academy graduates who made their first-team debuts, which was more than any other club in Scotland, which is great for us as an academy.

"But what you've got to remember is that our academy goes up from pre-academy, which is kids of eight, nine, ten years old, then from under-11s up to under-18s and then there's that gap in between the first team and the under-18s so it's a massive operation but we're really pleased with how it's going - and of course, that's been recognised by the Scottish FA."

For Evans and his academy cohorts, the 'next generations' if you will are the focus of their attention. But they are only too aware of the pecking order at the club, and the order of importance for supporters too.

"We know that the most important thing at the football club is the first team and how the first team is doing. We totally understand that," Evans explains.

"But what we have to remember is that we've got to develop players and find for them the best way to try to get them into the first team. For example, is Murray Johnson ready to play Scottish Premiership football at 19 years old? Probably not, so we've got to find a pathway for him to be ready in maybe two to three years' time or whatever it may be for him to play as the first-team goalkeeper for Hibs.

"There's got to be a pathway for him, so he's gone to Airdrie this year and he's playing regularly in the Championship in Scotland which is fantastic; it's a good level of football and a good football club which is hopefully making him ready to one day come back and play in the Hibs first team. Murray Aiken is exactly the same, another 19-year-old who's playing in the Championship in Scotland.

"It maybe gets overlooked a little bit by people who are focusing on the first team but not by Malky Mackay our sporting director, and not by us in the academy, that's for sure."

In terms of that pathway, Hibs currently have young players out on loan in the Championship at Airdrie as mentioned, and Partick Thistle; Annan Athletic, Cove Rangers, Kelty Hearts, and Queen of the South in League One; Spartans in League Two, and Civil Service Strollers in the Lowland League. 

"It can be hard to get players out on loan," Evans admits. "Clubs may be looking for a certain type of player, but what we try to do is get them out to where they are going to play football if they can, but it's also up to the individual to get to that club, get the jersey, and keep the jersey and keep playing and they've also got to learn that it's not easy out there.

"One or two have found it very hard going out on loan and one or two have had failed loans, but that's all part of the development of football."

It could be argued Molotnikov was one of those who found it hard going out on loan during his loan with Stirling Albion last season. The Binos ended up suffering relegation via the play-offs at the hands of Dumbarton and the Hibs loanee started just two of his eight appearances, had single-figure minutes in another three, and wasn't involved in another four. The player himself has already described it as a learning curve but attributes his rapid rise to the basics: working hard over the summer. Nevertheless, he can be held up as a success story and role model for those currently in the academy with the message that hard work brings opportunities.

"Rudi came in here at the age of ten; a long time ago," recalls Evans. "He's got himself in a better position physically in the last six to nine months which has really helped him, but that's all probably part of his own physical development and his own growing up, if you like.

"He was playing under-18s football as a 15-year-old and being tested; he was playing UEFA Youth League football and scored a goal against Nantes away from home when he was still just 15, and that's all part of his experience, that's got him in the place where he is now.

"But Rudi is still an 18-year-old playing men's football. In any other walk of life, say somebody working in the banking industry - are they expected to go in and run the show and be the top man as an 18-year-old? I don't think so.

"It's similar in football: they have to get their experience and they have to find their feet but I think he's done exceptionally well in the short period of time that he has been in the first team."

Molotnikov is not alone in having played above his age group due to his physicality, and one need only look at the sheer size of particularly the centre-backs turning out for the English teams that send youth squads up to Scotland to face Hibs academy teams in friendly matches to know this is no bad thing. Paying attention to differing maturation levels has become a crucial part of the academy set-up. 

"It's something we do look at in the academy, even from the younger ages," Evans explains. "If a player is physically better, we play them up. I'm thinking of Jacob MacIntyre for example, who never played at his own age group coming through the academy - he always played a year up. That puts him in a better position and able to get into the under-18s earlier [MacIntyre was a regular starter for the 18s at right-wingback when he was still just 15].

"From the team that won the under-18s league a couple of years back there was Mack Weir, Jacob Blaney was another one, Josh O'Connor - they were all playing under-18s football at the age of 14, so they were probably a little bit more physical and a little bit bigger than other players. But they'd been playing under-18 football since 14, they were getting pushed.

"We've got another example of that now with Arran McSporran who's been playing under-18s football since he was 14 last year. He's playing for Scotland Under-16s in the Victory Shield this week. Ben Vickery, who is also away with Scotland, played in goal against Celtic under-18s in the last game of last season as a 14-year-old which is great for us and great for them. 

"Some players might be more physically developed so we tend to play them up an age group. There are one or two more in the academy, without mentioning too many names, who are playing up an age group and we've got a lot of boys who train up an age group as well because they are probably that little bit more physically developed."

Talk turns to the current under-18 team, which has more than its fair share of players who are well below the age of 18 regularly starting. One of them is Dean Cleland, who has been scoring for fun since being thrust into the team at a young age.

'It's still very early in their football careers, there's still a long way to go," Evans warns. "But what I will say is that we've got two very good coaches in Daz [Darren McGregor] and Boozy [Guillaume Beuzelin], who put in a power of work that the vast majority of the supporters don't see.

"It's refreshing to see two ex-players who know the club inside out, and how much work they put in, not just with the 18s - they're always at the under-16s' games, they're always on the pitch, even with the younger ones, and most of the kids in the academy now are from under-11s up, basically. So it's pleasing to see how the 18s have done so far this season, given the work that the two of them have put into them.

"What we've got to remember is a lot of these kids are still boys and they're still learning their trade. Dean in particular, is still only 16 years old. But they've got two great people and two great coaches to learn from at the moment. They've started the season brilliantly for what it's worth; they're at the top of that 18s league having won five and drawn three so far. But what's important for us as a club is to get one or two of them through to play in the first team, like a Rudi."

Six debuts last year; regular first-team football for Molotnikov this season. If they are to be joined by further academy debutants, the ball is in the players' court, says Evans. 

"I think it's more about what the player does but we're in a good position that the manager, David Gray, has been here for quite a while now so he knows a lot of the younger players, and he has one or two go over and train with the first team pretty regularly.

"So he knows what the younger players can do and what they can't do, and he also knows that there is a gap between the 18s and the first team. Our job in the academy is to keep trying to bridge that gap and try to get those players into the first team.

"The Scottish FA recently published a report by the new head of men’s elite strategy Chris Docherty on the transition phase, so the governing body realises that there is a problem between 18s football and first-team football. It's about how we can bridge that gap and try to find a way to get these players into first-team football sooner."

During his coaching career, Evans has watched countless players get to the fringes of the Hibs first team but not quite make it. He's also seen players dismissed as youngsters who go on to make something of themselves, often in convoluted or roundabout ways.

McGregor, who along with Beuzelin has popped through from next door to join in the chat, was 24 before getting his big break at St Mirren. As a result, the under-18s coach understands only too well that not every player develops at the same rate, and that some might take longer to recognise their potential.

There's also the threat of bigger teams swooping in and hoovering up talented youngsters when they're still in their mid to late teens. In recent seasons academy players from Celtic, Hamilton, Hearts, Hibs, Motherwell, Rangers, and St Mirren have been snapped up by clubs in England, most before they've even got close to the first team. Brexit certainly hasn't helped in that sense. 

The knock-on effect is an increased chance that the clubs who lose their best players to England will look closer to home for a replacement. When that happens, it's about trying to help the youngsters make the decision that will give them the best route into senior football. 

"Obviously, we want the same as the fans; we want to help to produce players for the Hibs first team each season," Evans continues, as Beuzelin and McGregor nod in agreement. 

"It is harder than you might think; there's a lot of work that goes into it and it takes a lot of time and effort and planning. If it happens, great. But if it doesn't work out for them then hopefully we have, at the very least, made their lives a little better."