Of all the stinging criticism aimed at Hibs over the last several years, dysfunctional recruitment has arguably been the most vociferous.
It is the facet of backroom operations in which fans are most invested, and, therefore, the most heavily scrutinised. The outcome of painstaking work to identify and sign transfer targets plays out in public across transfer windows, and clubs often find that work being judged well before they end. It is highly pressurised for all involved.
But the value of having a quality recruitment operation cannot be understated. The perception around the modern game is that every aspect is becoming increasingly complex as clubs search endlessly for every single marginal gain. But there's a basic football premise that has held for a long time - sign the right players, hire the right man to coach them, and you'll probably succeed.
Hibs have found that combination elusive for too long. The partnership with Black Knight FC generated such excitement not simply with the promise of investment - although it certainly helped - but the expertise that comes with it. Their work at Bournemouth is ample evidence of this. A provincial club with a modest following, the Cherries are more than holding their own in the Premier League these days. And now, after a mid-summer rebuke from Bill Foley and a disastrous start to the Scottish Premiership season, it appears they are now set to exert greater influence at Hibs.
It's anticipated that Garvan Stewart will soon be confirmed as the new man to lead recruitment at Easter Road. The Irishman has served as Bournemouth's head of recruitment analysis, and it's expected his move north will be a permanent one, as opposed to a footballing spin-off from Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Bournemouth have enjoyed some big transfer market wins under the Black Knights' leadership, most recently the £36m profit made on Dominic Solanke following his move to Tottenham Hotspur. His £40m replacement, Brazilian striker Evanilson, has made a promising start to life on the south coast. Statement wins over Arsenal and Manchester City suggest they've hired well again over the summer.
Stewart will take on an entirely different challenge in Edinburgh. While Hibs' recruitment has been thoroughly inconsistent, the dysfunction has been driven by the constant turnover of managers. David Gray inherited a squad patched together across the tenures of Nick Montgomery, Lee Johnson, Shaun Maloney, Jack Ross, Paul Heckingbottom and, if you want to include Martin Boyle, Alan Stubbs. Gray was backed with 11 new summer arrivals, but the jury remains out on all of them. It's clear that even if several successes emerge in time, the squad still needs significant work.
That is the task awaiting Stewart.
60-plus players over four seasons
An incredible, unsustainable number, and the inevitable consequence of constant dugout churn. The misses have outweighed the hits, and it's created an imbalance that Stewart will look to redress. An obvious solution is to stop sacking managers, but to do so you need to hire the right one in the first place. Gray is under mounting pressure with just one win from 12 Premiership matches, and unless that form reverses in the coming weeks, Hibs could find themselves back at the beginning of the dreaded cycle once more.
The need to establish a clear recruitment focus will not be lost on Stewart. In his interview with The Scotsman in October, Ian Gordon conceded the club had previously gone 'too international, too young, too soon' in their attempts to alter the player trading model. The appointment of Gray as head coach and Mackay to oversee the sporting structure marked a shift towards reintroducing Scottish football experience, with seven of 12 summer arrivals having previously played in the SPFL. However, with the Black Knights' reticence towards hiring Gray and Mackay all-too well known, will Hibs change course again? The answer will probably lie somewhere in the middle. The option to take in players from elsewhere in the group will always be live, but Mackay has repeatedly stated that this only works for Hibs if they are ready to immediately impact the first team. Up north, Aberdeen's rapid turnaround suggests you can have the best of both worlds. The Dons, following an external review of their football operations, have mixed SPFL know-how with shrewd additions from the continent.
Either way, Hibs' immediate priority must be to move away from endless squad rebuilds. That may sound hollow when we already know there's another one hurtling down the track in 2025, but this one must be viewed as the beginning of their end.
15 players out of contract
In an exclusive interview with the Hibs Observer in June, Mackay stated although Hibs' squad was bloated, the most significant turnover would not be seen until next summer. With 15 players approaching the end of their contracts, decisions on some will have already been made, while others will require further consideration. Among them are first-team regulars Boyle, Lewis Miller and Chris Cadden. Rocky Bushiri, out of favour under Gray, is another, while the likes of Dwight Gayle and Junior Hoilett were captured on single-season deals during the summer.
Mackay described the potential for a 'clean slate', and Stewart will have a significant role in deciding what that looks like. Hibs have the option to trigger an extension to Boyle's deal, but the departures of Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson back in May show they are prepared to put sentiment aside. Boyle has struggled to reach his mercurial best for some time now, and despite affirming his commitment to Hibs during the summer, it would not be a surprise if noise around a move to the A-League picked up again in January.
Stewart will walk into HTC with a fresh set of eyes and no loyalties at a significant moment for Hibs, and there will be a need to make tough decisions. In dispensing with Gary O'Neil for Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, the Black Knights demonstrated a ruthless streak. Hibs could benefit from a similar approach.
Restoring fan faith in the club
It is not expressly on Stewart, who hasn't even been formally announced yet to rebuild shattered trust. But such is the influence recruitment can exert on a club's fortunes, he can foster reconciliation between club and fans by helping revamp it.. Getting the fans back onside is surely top priority for everyone in a position of power at Easter Road right now. Terrace sentiment, in some quarters, has turned outright mutinous, while others are seeping towards a dangerous apathy. Hibs not only need to turn this season around, their relationship with supporters requires a reset. Gordon's decision to front up to mistakes with that round of media interviews was a commendable move, but he will know it means little if those missteps are not corrected. Since he spoke, the team on the pitch has been tailspinning all the way to the bottom of the Premiership.
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The lessons Gordon stressed had been learned, albeit without divulging specifics, are part of an extended process within which Stewart will be key. However, pitching patience to angry fans on long-term improvement when they're currently suffering through another bout of Hibs-induced misery is tough. Obviously, Stewart cannot be held accountable for anything that's come before, but with a potentially pivotal January window just around the corner, fans will expect seeds of improvement to be sewn quickly. Groundwork for the winter market will already have been laid, and there are few more effective ways of satisfying supporters than Hibs emerging from it stronger than they went in.
Above all else, though, Stewart's arrival and the strengthening of the Black Knight partnership must act as a catalyst for better things.
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