Hibernian owner Ian Gordon has revealed club chiefs were approached by parties keen on a takeover before linking up with American billionaire Bill Foley's Black Knight Football Club network.

The 34-year-old confirmed that there had been interest in the Scottish Premiership side in the wake of father Ron's passing in February 2023 but the hierarchy felt the best way forward was with the Black Knights, who own AFC Bournemouth in England and have interests in A-League expansion side Auckland and French side Lorient. 

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"It's something my dad and my family had always discussed - at some point, we would look to bring in a partner that can help improve us financially, but also bring best practices and a network that we work with," Gordon told Sky Sports. 

"After the passing of my father, there were many approaches by many different groups and individuals. We always felt that through those discussions, Black Knight presented a great opportunity for us. There were different levels of options, people had approached about taking over the club and that was something that we never entertained - but from a minority shareholding standpoint, there were a few options that we considered.

"As a family, we want to lead this club. We feel as caretakers for this club we can continue to drive it forward like we have planned. We're happy with where we are with Black Knight and we feel that there's going to be many benefits for years to come."

Despite hints that Hibs could look to engage in player trading with their Black Knight sister clubs, there was no intragroup movement in the summer transfer window after attempts to bring in Bournemouth defender Owen Bevan on a second loan deal, after his first one in January was cancelled due to injury, were dashed when the Welshman suffered another injury.

"We looked at the network and there were players lined up but injuries happen, things come up, so it was kind of out of our power. We would love to bring in players from the network, but it didn't work out that way this summer," Gordon added.

He also moved to clarify the nature of the relationship with Foley's network, particularly after the tycoon's comments in the wake of Hibs' 1-0 Premier Sports Cup defeat by Kelty Hearts in July suggesting that the two leadership groups weren't seeing eye to eye - particularly with the appointment of Malky Mackay as sporting director and David Gray as head coach.

"I think it's been well reported that throughout the appointing of our sporting director and manager, Black Knight was very involved in that process, but when it came down to it the family and the board felt it was the best choice to make the appointments that we did," Gordon explained. "I think it showed that it's always Hibs first.

"The relationship is in a good place. There are things ongoing in the background, we are in constant communication with the guys at Bournemouth, with Ryan Caswell as well and now Tim [Bezabatchenko, president]. Tim is going to be coming up and there are going to be certain people from Bournemouth's team coming up to work with our guys."