Former Hibs boss Alan Stubbs reckons the underachieving Easter Road side needs to break the constant cycle of hiring and firing managers - and claimed his failure to net promotion during his third season in charge might have seen him sacked had the current board been in place back then.

Stubbs, who led Hibs to their memorable 2016 Scottish Cup triumph over Rangers at Hampden, insists that Nick Montgomery deserves a bigger crack to see if he can turn the Capital club into the country's third force once again.

Hibs found wanting in terms of recruitment

Since the history-making Stubbs left Edinburgh in the summer of 2016, Hibs have parted company with no less than five managers - Neil Lennon, Paul Heckingbottom, Jack Ross, Shaun Maloney and Lee Johnson.

Stubbs believes in terms of recruitment, Hibs have been found wanting in both the managerial and player incoming departments compared to their levels of expenditure.

He said: "You’ve seen the turnaround of managers at the club and I think their wage bill is as high as it’s ever been. They have stalled a little this season. Hibs have not hit the heights you’d expect and their position is not a reflection of their spending.

“I just feel their recruitment has been left short over the last couple of years. When you look at what they have got for their budget, they have underachieved. The club would have wanted to be pushing for the top four, and this would have been one of the years they would have a chance with Aberdeen struggling. It was realistically up for grabs – but they are nowhere near it.

“The clubs have to have some sort of stability. They can’t keep changing managers. If they think he’s (Nick Montgomery) the right guy – and they must have done when they appointed him – they need to give him a good run, unless things are drastically going wrong.

“They don’t seem to be. When you are trying to achieve something you need a bit of assurance from above."

'I might have been binned in 2016 if I hadn't won cup'

Stubbs understands only too well the pitfalls of being a young manager and he admits that back in 2015/16 he failed with his initial remit of getting Hibs back into the top flight and the trigger could easily have been pulled on him.

The Scouser led Hibs to both the League and Scottish Cup finals so the board at least knew they were headed in the right direction.

However, the 52-year-old admits that the dramatic 5-4 aggregate Scottish Premiership play-off loss to Falkirk still rankles with him.

Stubbs said: "You have to believe. The good thing I had at Hibs was, we were all on the same page. There were no differences of opinion over how we wanted the clubs to progress. To be honest, we failed on our priority in our second year, because we didn’t get promoted to the Premiership. The club could see we got to two cup finals.

"We should have come through the Falkirk play-off game and I remember Lee Clark at Kilmarnock saying he was dreading playing us. It wasn’t to be, but I think they could see what we were doing on the pitch.

“Some other clubs might have pulled the trigger quicker. It might have been different for me under the current board. This board has still got things to prove. They’ve made decisions and their recruitment has been questioned. They’ve got questions to answer.

“The easiest thing in the world is to get rid of one person. It’s the same group of people who made the decisions, so sometimes you have to look within and ask, ‘Where are we going wrong?’

“They did their due diligence with Nick and they have certainly backed him up to now but he will need another window to start to mould it into his team.

"That’s where you need people who don’t just believe in you, but who are strong characters. I had that with Leeann (Dempster) and George (Craig). Thankfully we were able to repay their confidence with a trophy."

It wasn't just a trophy. It was the mother of all trophy wins as Stubbs and right-hand man John Doolan - who had lost his father before the showpiece - guided Hibs to Scottish Cup glory to end 114 years of hurt.

Hibs entertain Rangers in the last eight of the Scottish Cup at Easter Road on Sunday.

It doesn't take much for Stubbs to flashback to 2016 and he can still recite the words of Sky Sports commentator Ian Crocker.

Stubb said: "I still get that hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moment when you watch clips of it. It'll never grow old in terms of Mr Crocker saying those words. If it didn’t make me smile then there's something wrong because of how momentous it was and what it meant to the fans.

"The biggest enjoyment from that day was the smiles on everyone else's faces. You know you’ve achieved something big when you see that and the euphoria. It was important because John’s dad had died not so long ago before that so it was emotional as well.

"My only regret, and it's only a very small one, is the fact we didn't have a chance to do a lap of honour in front of the fans with the cup and celebrate that way - but I'm not complaining."

  • Alan Stubbs was promoting Viaplay's live and exclusive coverage of Celtic v Livingston and Hibernian v Rangers on Sunday. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV, and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.