Dempster ‘indebted’ to supporters for cash boost

LEEANN Dempster insists Hibs are “indebted” to their support after claiming the fans will help the club emerge from the coronavirus crisis in “as strong a position as we can be”.

The Easter Road outfit revealed last month they were consulting with players and staff over cutbacks and redundancies after owner Ron Gordon admitted the global cris and subsequent football shutdown was placing a “substantial and unsustainable” strain on the club’s finances.

Against that backdrop, Hibs have courted controversy by splashing out £250,000 on striker Kevin Nisbet from Dunfermline and have also snapped up out-of-contract duo Drey Wright and Alex Gogic. And Dempster has conceded that the Leith side have their supporters to thank for throwing their weight behind a fresh fundraising push from Hibs Supporters, the fan body initially set up to buy a stake in the club.

Almost £25,000 was ploughed into the club last month, with 1000 new or restarted contributors signing up since mid-June.

Dempster said: “We are all indebted to our supporters and not least those who have backed Hibernian Supporters. The regular, increasing payments from Hibernian Supporters [HSL] will enable us to emerge from the other side of what has been an uncertain period in as strong a position as we can be.

“Supporters have demonstrated time and time again not just what their club means to them, but that they will do whatever it takes to play their part.”