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Hibs Now 1 Short

Jack K

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of having 3 full teams of first team players after Gullan leaves.
We have a remarkable 32 first team players.

Almost Hearts squad levels of players after struggling for players during the 1st half of this season.

What's changed?
Answer - 4 new players, 2 retrievals from loan and 3 back from injury.
1 more player and we have added a whole outfield team.

Competition is going to be fierce for places for the rest of the season then a load of players will leave in the summer.

Still no news of new clubs for Gogic and Allan or photographs of Daz in his slippers and smoking jacket?
 
It's all changing up at Hibernian for the 2nd half of the season.

2 dry runs against Celtic & Cove before setting phasers to malcay against Motherwell.
 
I think there’s about half a dozen of those that are possibly still considered development players. Prior to RG we did try to have a first team squad of 23 with development cover for each position with varying success.

I wouldn’t surprised to see a couple of departures, too.

Maybe carrying an extra couple of bodies to the summer as we try to fix the squad balance for how SM wants us to play?
 
Think we’ll see a bit of a clear out in the development too, the likes of Innes Murray and Sean Mackie who haven’t made a breakthrough but I suspect a few others will join them if there’s no sign they will make that breakthrough.

Every year there’s more players coming through, so holding onto players at 21,22,23 that haven’t shown or been given a chance just blocks the pathway. Interested to see what Steve Kean does to address that.
 
Think we’ll see a bit of a clear out in the development too, the likes of Innes Murray and Sean Mackie who haven’t made a breakthrough but I suspect a few others will join them if there’s no sign they will make that breakthrough.

Every year there’s more players coming through, so holding onto players at 21,22,23 that haven’t shown or been given a chance just blocks the pathway. Interested to see what Steve Kean does to address that.
I didn't count Innes Murray because he is out on loan.
Innes won't be back.

Mackie is running out of time.
We haven't been told he is available for selection yet but I think he may be very close.
Like everyone else Maloney will assess him and if he can impress him and stay fit they might offer him another half season deal.
The guy has ability but he has to avoid further injury to stand any chance.
Has had the same injury on both legs now so hopefully the conditioning work will prevent recurrence.
 
I think there’s about half a dozen of those that are possibly still considered development players. Prior to RG we did try to have a first team squad of 23 with development cover for each position with varying success.

I wouldn’t surprised to see a couple of departures, too.

Maybe carrying an extra couple of bodies to the summer as we try to fix the squad balance for how SM wants us to play?
Bradley is probably the only one I would see as a development player in that he is the only young guy in the first team squad who has come through the youth ranks. He is 20 in March with a contract that expires in the summer so another guy that has to impress Maloney now he is back in the building.
It's tough for young players to get game time at our level rather than at the bottom 6 clubs.
 
Think we’ll see a bit of a clear out in the development too, the likes of Innes Murray and Sean Mackie who haven’t made a breakthrough but I suspect a few others will join them if there’s no sign they will make that breakthrough.

Every year there’s more players coming through, so holding onto players at 21,22,23 that haven’t shown or been given a chance just blocks the pathway. Interested to see what Steve Kean does to address that.
If only it was that easy. Every young player develops at different rates physically and as a player.
Make a decision to move a young player on too early and you can easily lose out. Football history is littered with loads of players who were moved on from clubs as youngsters because they were considered too small to make it only to go on a growth spurt and make it elsewhere.
Hibs approach hasn't seen us move along young development players who have gone on to make it big whereas Hearts moved along the likes of Jason Cummings and Josh Doig. That was probably about £2.5 million worth of mistakes right there.
Steve Kean will be no different from anyone else. He will have to make the difficult decisions about when to move kids on to make room for others.
The best thing he can do is try and attract better youngsters than we presently do.
Porteous, Doig and Campbell have been the very best to come through in recent years but for every one of them there have been hundreds who have been moved on.
Lots have come through but haven't had enough to stay at Hibs and have ended up in the Championship. Off the top of my head this seasons Championship sees Stanton & Gullan at Raith Rovers, Martin & Stirling at Hamilton and Murray & Shaw at Kilmarnock.
All young players of quality who didn't have enough to make it at Hibs
 
No point , speculating IMO 🤷‍♂️ Time will tell
 
It's only January 8th and there are still 3 weeks left of this window.

I think we will see more comings and goings in the next week or two, and IMO we will get a firm offer for either Boyle, Nisbet or Porteous. When that happens it will be interesting to see how the club handles it.

Four players have arrived this week, well marketed and sufficiently hyped up by the club to get the fans excited and that is fine and good, however expectations have to be realistic in my view. Maloney even alluded to this in his statement on the official site when Melkerson signed. “We will have to give him time, of course, to adapt to our style of play as a team and also to our league, so we’ll be conscious of this". Henderson and Clark are also fairly young and might take a while to adapt, although Clark has been playing for Ross County...a club with significantly lower expectations than Hibs have. I'm not trying to put a dampener on things I just think we have to be aware of just how raw these lads are, and they are now playing for a club with fans who will want to see a clear difference to what we had before....and with this being 2022, it all has to happen immediately. This is the "instant" society we now live in.

IMO Hibs need at least two more experienced players in, either now or in the summer. In the last third we could really do with a player who really knows what he is doing and can lead the line properly. I'm not convinced Nisbet is going to be here much longer, and Doidge will do well to emulate what he achieved last season given he still recovering from a serious injury. I also think we still lack proper leaders in the team. Also if Scott Allan goes, IMO we need an established creative player to replace him.
It was good to get these players in this week given how hard it is to get quality in during the January window, and I really hope we can make a push for a Euro spot, but next season will be the big one for Shaun Maloney.
 
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It's only January 8th and there are still 3 weeks left of this window.

think we will see more comings and goings in the next week or two, and IMO we will get a firm offer for either Boyle, Nisbet or Porteous. When that happens it will be interesting to see how the club handles it.

Four players have arrived this week, well marketed and sufficiently hyped up by the club to get the fans excited and that is fine and good, however expectations have to be realistic in my view. Maloney even alluded to this in his statement on the official site when Melkerson signed. “We will have to give him time, of course, to adapt to our style of play as a team and also to our league, so we’ll be conscious of this". Henderson and Clark are also fairly young and might take a while to adapt, although Clark has been playing for Ross County...a club with significantly lower expectations than Hibs have. I'm not trying to put a dampener on things I just think we have to be aware of just how raw these lads are, and they are now playing for a club with fans who will want to see a clear difference to what we had before....and with this being 2022, it all has to happen immediately. This is the "instant" society we now live in.

IMO Hibs need at least two more experienced players in, either now or in the summer. In the last third we could really do with a player who really knows what he is doing and can lead the line properly. I'm not convinced Nisbet is going to be here much longer, and Doidge will do well to emulate what he achieved last season given he still recovering from a serious injury. I also think we still lack proper leaders in the team. Also if Scott Allan goes, IMO we need an established creative player to replace him.
It was good to get these players in this week given how hard it is to get quality in during the January window, and I really hope we can make a push for a Euro spot, but next season will be the big one for Shaun Maloney.
I agree, but just keep Scot Allan.What will you get better this January window? Also how much could he and the new arrivals possibly conjure up with SM's influence? While I'm here, Daz should not be written off yet!
 
I agree, but just keep Scot Allan.What will you get better this January window? Also how much could he and the new arrivals possibly conjure up with SM's influence? While I'm here, Daz should not be written off yet!

I cant see Scott playing a big part, he doesn't have the energy or the workrate to fit the apparent style.

Talented passer of the ball, but with all the other attacking options I just can't see him getting the game time.
We very likely won't get a player with what he brings to the table, but those might not be the most important attributes for us.
 
It's only January 8th and there are still 3 weeks left of this window.

I think we will see more comings and goings in the next week or two, and IMO we will get a firm offer for either Boyle, Nisbet or Porteous. When that happens it will be interesting to see how the club handles it.

Four players have arrived this week, well marketed and sufficiently hyped up by the club to get the fans excited and that is fine and good, however expectations have to be realistic in my view. Maloney even alluded to this in his statement on the official site when Melkerson signed. “We will have to give him time, of course, to adapt to our style of play as a team and also to our league, so we’ll be conscious of this". Henderson and Clark are also fairly young and might take a while to adapt, although Clark has been playing for Ross County...a club with significantly lower expectations than Hibs have. I'm not trying to put a dampener on things I just think we have to be aware of just how raw these lads are, and they are now playing for a club with fans who will want to see a clear difference to what we had before....and with this being 2022, it all has to happen immediately. This is the "instant" society we now live in.

IMO Hibs need at least two more experienced players in, either now or in the summer. In the last third we could really do with a player who really knows what he is doing and can lead the line properly. I'm not convinced Nisbet is going to be here much longer, and Doidge will do well to emulate what he achieved last season given he still recovering from a serious injury. I also think we still lack proper leaders in the team. Also if Scott Allan goes, IMO we need an established creative player to replace him.
It was good to get these players in this week given how hard it is to get quality in during the January window, and I really hope we can make a push for a Euro spot, but next season will be the big one for Shaun Maloney.
Good post.
Of the 5 new players Clark and Mueller look the nearest to ready to roll at Hibs level.
Clark has a lot Porteous character traits both good and bad, I think he can do very well at right back if he can be a little more disciplined than he was at times with Ross County. He will add physicality and forward drive.
Mueller has a good steady base of experience, he will work his bollocks off, will want to keep improving and will believe in himself. Will add an energy and work ethic to the team.

Tait need to jump from the championship to 3rd to 5th finish Premiership level
Henderson probably moving up from bottom 6 Premiership level but has the advantage of having been used to at least being at a big club
Melkerson making a jump up from lower half of Championship level but has a wonderful 1st touch and looks comfy on both feet both of which help a player make the jump. Ron's biggest project and gamble since coming to Hibs.

We need to give these guys a little time but will get a good idea what standard they are once we see them play.
 
Good post.
Of the 5 new players Clark and Mueller look the nearest to ready to roll at Hibs level.
Clark has a lot Porteous character traits both good and bad, I think he can do very well at right back if he can be a little more disciplined than he was at times with Ross County. He will add physicality and forward drive.

2 yellows and 1 red isn't all that ill disciplined.
 
Good about time we had a bit depth can’t compete all season with 22/23 players
 
Jack Wilshere has just arrived in Edinburgh.

Who’s he signing for…
 
Jack Wilshere has just arrived in Edinburgh.

Who’s he signing for…
If ever a player encapsulated the gunts...

(I reserve the right to deny I ever posted the above should he be on his way to HTC)
 
If ever a player encapsulated the gunts...

(I reserve the right to deny I ever posted the above should he be on his way to HTC)

Our physio is fully booked.
 
2 yellows and 1 red isn't all that ill disciplined.
He won't be under as much desperate pressure at Hibs as he was at Ross County so will be less inclined to pull folk back or foul them.
 
Jack Wilshere has just arrived in Edinburgh.

Who’s he signing for…
He’d be lucky to get a contract for Edinburgh city
 
Jack Wilshere has just arrived in Edinburgh.

Who’s he signing for…
If I was a betting man which I’m not I’d punt Kelty Hearts.
 
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If only it was that easy. Every young player develops at different rates physically and as a player.
Make a decision to move a young player on too early and you can easily lose out. Football history is littered with loads of players who were moved on from clubs as youngsters because they were considered too small to make it only to go on a growth spurt and make it elsewhere.
Hibs approach hasn't seen us move along young development players who have gone on to make it big whereas Hearts moved along the likes of Jason Cummings and Josh Doig. That was probably about £2.5 million worth of mistakes right there.
Steve Kean will be no different from anyone else. He will have to make the difficult decisions about when to move kids on to make room for others.
The best thing he can do is try and attract better youngsters than we presently do.
Porteous, Doig and Campbell have been the very best to come through in recent years but for every one of them there have been hundreds who have been moved on.
Lots have come through but haven't had enough to stay at Hibs and have ended up in the Championship. Off the top of my head this seasons Championship sees Stanton & Gullan at Raith Rovers, Martin & Stirling at Hamilton and Murray & Shaw at Kilmarnock.
All young players of quality who didn't have enough to make it at Hibs

To an extent it is easy. We make it more complicated than it could be.

If you want to integrate youth players from the academy into the first team then you do that. If you'd rather bring in players from external sources then you do that. There's probably a balance between the two, and we've not made a good job of it for a number of years.

I suspect there's one very interesting part of Steve Kean's CV - his time at Real Sociedad.

This years Real Sociedad squad has 15 home grown players. Backed up with another 9 under 21s.

Central to making their system work is a commitment to integrate players from every age group team into the first team squad. They don't pull from a massive area either, the area they traditionally pull from is no bigger than the Lothians.

This isn't particularly unique to Spain though, teams all over Europe integrate youth players much better than we do.

But there's probably a central point here, in terms of thinking, and as far as I can see it pervades most coaching set ups.

If you blame the players for not being good enough, then the academy set up will always have a get out and the coaching recruitment and infrastructure and progression won't be scrutinized for their part in the development process. Development Coaches can be notoriously loyal to players they have an emotional attachment to, and have incredibly over stated visions of successful outcomes for their teams. I suspect that Ron and Ian Gordon are latching onto this, which is why things have been restructured. I'm not certain they will get it right straight away, but I am pretty sure having seen their ruthless decisive action over the last month, that they will keep on working at the academy to get it to work. I think they will get it working too.

I'm not absolving the youth players, I think they need a healthy dose of reality - that they need to work much, much harder to become established first team players.
 
I don't know anything about this kind of stuff, so it makes interesting reading.
 
To an extent it is easy. We make it more complicated than it could be.

If you want to integrate youth players from the academy into the first team then you do that. If you'd rather bring in players from external sources then you do that. There's probably a balance between the two, and we've not made a good job of it for a number of years.

I suspect there's one very interesting part of Steve Kean's CV - his time at Real Sociedad.

This years Real Sociedad squad has 15 home grown players. Backed up with another 9 under 21s.

Central to making their system work is a commitment to integrate players from every age group team into the first team squad. They don't pull from a massive area either, the area they traditionally pull from is no bigger than the Lothians.

This isn't particularly unique to Spain though, teams all over Europe integrate youth players much better than we do.

But there's probably a central point here, in terms of thinking, and as far as I can see it pervades most coaching set ups.

If you blame the players for not being good enough, then the academy set up will always have a get out and the coaching recruitment and infrastructure and progression won't be scrutinized for their part in the development process. Development Coaches can be notoriously loyal to players they have an emotional attachment to, and have incredibly over stated visions of successful outcomes for their teams. I suspect that Ron and Ian Gordon are latching onto this, which is why things have been restructured. I'm not certain they will get it right straight away, but I am pretty sure having seen their ruthless decisive action over the last month, that they will keep on working at the academy to get it to work. I think they will get it working too.

I'm not absolving the youth players, I think they need a healthy dose of reality - that they need to work much, much harder to become established first team players.

Totally agree with what you've said.

On that final point, I think it’s vitally important that players realise they need to take responsibility for themselves in terms of being physically and mentally ready for first team football… All the coaching in the world can only take you so far, at some point the player themselves have to step up and prove themselves. Josh Campbell this season, and Josh Doig last season, are great examples of players who’ve done just that.
 
To an extent it is easy. We make it more complicated than it could be.

If you want to integrate youth players from the academy into the first team then you do that. If you'd rather bring in players from external sources then you do that. There's probably a balance between the two, and we've not made a good job of it for a number of years.

I suspect there's one very interesting part of Steve Kean's CV - his time at Real Sociedad.

This years Real Sociedad squad has 15 home grown players. Backed up with another 9 under 21s.

Central to making their system work is a commitment to integrate players from every age group team into the first team squad. They don't pull from a massive area either, the area they traditionally pull from is no bigger than the Lothians.

This isn't particularly unique to Spain though, teams all over Europe integrate youth players much better than we do.

But there's probably a central point here, in terms of thinking, and as far as I can see it pervades most coaching set ups.

If you blame the players for not being good enough, then the academy set up will always have a get out and the coaching recruitment and infrastructure and progression won't be scrutinized for their part in the development process. Development Coaches can be notoriously loyal to players they have an emotional attachment to, and have incredibly over stated visions of successful outcomes for their teams. I suspect that Ron and Ian Gordon are latching onto this, which is why things have been restructured. I'm not certain they will get it right straight away, but I am pretty sure having seen their ruthless decisive action over the last month, that they will keep on working at the academy to get it to work. I think they will get it working too.

I'm not absolving the youth players, I think they need a healthy dose of reality - that they need to work much, much harder to become established first team players.
Good interesting post
 
Rocky makes it 33 first team squad players.
3 full teams!
That's a lot of wages.
A team of outfield players could leave the club or squad before summer:
Scott, McGregor, Allan, Gogic, Hallberg, Wright, Mackie, Murphy, McGinn, Rocky

Plus Porteous will be sold.

Probably 4 in plus 2 of the above staying making a first team squad of 28 including 3 goalkeepers

A further 8 players out of contract at the end of the 2023 season

It really never stops for club
 
According to Hibs twitter Mackay has gone out on loan. Doesn't say who to though. Fake or real?
 
According to Hibs twitter Mackay has gone out on loan. Doesn't say who to though. Fake or real?
Edit... Killie and kosher.
 
Edit... Killie and kosher.
Good stuff.
He needs game time to get him up to speed again.

Then there was 32.
 
Is 32 all that many? I can remember Hibs having over fifty senior players in the squad in the late 90s.

And Chelsea - who of course are a bit of different animal - had something like fifty players just out on loan a few years ago.
 
Is 32 all that many? I can remember Hibs having over fifty senior players in the squad in the late 90s.

And Chelsea - who of course are a bit of different animal - had something like fifty players just out on loan a few years ago.
Think we will go back to circa 28 players in the summer
Obviously we needed temporary reinforcements in this window and will chuck the out of contracts overboard this Summer.
Hopefully we can move a few of them on before the end of the month.

Chelsea are player harvesters with endless money so no point in looking at them.
 
I agree, but just keep Scot Allan.What will you get better this January window? Also how much could he and the new arrivals possibly conjure up with SM's influence? While I'm here, Daz should not be written off yet!
Scott Allan was done the day John McGinn left Hibs and Daz is now more done than a man with Chernobyl underpants
 
Scott Allan was done the day John McGinn left Hibs and Daz is now more done than a man with Chernobyl underpants
Drunk man talking?
 
Drunk man talking?
Not at all.
McGinn's combative style took up a lot of opposition teams resources allowing quarter back Allan to do his thing unhampered.
Once he left Allan no longer had the time he needs to do his thing and Hibs, Lennon and Allan floundered.
Similarly we saw against St Johnstone this season that when Allan had time he destroyed the opposition. On that occasion the space to operate came as a result of 9 St Johnstone players who had been run ragged for an hour before Allan came on with Murphy and put them to the sword.
As a result his contract will not be renewed.

In the case of Daz, father time has caught up with him this season.
A great Hibs player who has been fighting issues with his knees for years now.
Last season he somehow managed to summon up good performances every time he was called upon.
However, this season has proved one to far, sent off twice and lots of mistakes. It comes to all players and there is no coming back.
A supporter of the Croatian team that knocked us out asked who the lumberjack was at the back for Hibs in the away game. It felt a sad end for a once great player and not dissimilar to a boxer who has one fight too many.
 
A supporter of the Croatian team that knocked us out asked who the lumberjack was at the back for Hibs in the away game.

Because of his fuckin great physique and manly beard I expect.
Either that or there’s no trees in Croatia and Daz looks like he could be responsible.
 
Because of his fuckin great physique and manly beard I expect.
Either that or there’s no trees in Croatia and Daz looks like he could be responsible.
:22:
 

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