Fyvie backs his former Wigan team-mate to hit ground running at Hibs
HIBERNIAN cup hero Fraser Fyvie is adamant that former Wigan team-mate Shaun Maloney will be a success at Easter Road after being confirmed as the club’s new head coach.
Maloney was officially unveiled as Jack Ross’s successor yesterday morning, signing a three-and-a-half year deal after leaving his coaching post with the Belgian national team under Roberto Martinez.
Fyvie – a member of the Hibs side that lifted the Scottish
Cup in 2016 – has nothing but good things to say about the 38-year-old after being a colleague of the one-time Scotland, Celtic and Aston
Villa forward at the Latics when Martinez was in charge.
And Fyvie is adamant that Maloney can deliver success playing a brand of football that will excite the Leith outfit.
Fyvie, who is now playing for League One leaders Cove Rangers, said: “I think it’s a great appointment, I wish him all the best and I really do believe he will succeed in it.
“Working with Roberto Martinez for the last couple of years with Belgium, coming off the back of that he’s worked with some top players and one of the best managers in world football.
“He also played under him as well so that obviously set him in good stead. I think he’ll go and play in the right manner, get the ball on the floor and I think he’ll make a really good impact.
“Overall for me, when his name came out I thought, ‘that’s a great appointment’.
“I wish him all the best and I’m sure he’ll go in there and play in a manner that he played himself in terms of getting the ball on the floor and playing the Hibs way.
“It’s how Hibs as a club like to play with the ball on the floor. I’m sure he’ll go in and do that.”
Fyvie insists the friendly way Maloney presents himself on television as an occasional BBC Sportscene pundit is true to his former team-mate’s personality.
But former Aberdeen playmaker Fyvie insists the new Hibs boss will not be scared to read the riot act to the players if he needs to. Fyvie added: “The guy you see speaking on the telly, that’s just Shaun but the bit you don’t see is the hard work that he puts in.
“I can guarantee you he will be there morning and night making sure he has done everything to make sure he has set his team out the right way to win football matches.
“He is very driven, very honest and he’s got that bit about him, if he needs to he’ll dig into the players to get a reaction out of them.
“He has obviously done really well, working with that pedigree of manager in Roberto and he is going to learn so much everyday.
“To be able to coach the best players you need to have something about you so there is no doubt he has got that in
terms of the character, but also the humility.”
Despite struggling for regular game time at Wigan after leaving the Dons in 2012, Fyvie insists he always valued Maloney’s quality and input as a senior player during the two-and-a-half year they had working together.
He added: “He was a top, top player, there is no question about that. He could have played at a higher level a couple of times if it was not for his injuries, although he still played at a really good level. He played at Villa when they were getting top six.
“Not only that but he is a great guy, he is a top, top guy, a very likable guy and very driven at the same time, so I’m sure he’ll go in there and know already what he is going to implement.
“At Wigan you always got the impression he would move into coaching, he has always spoken really well, a really good talker in terms of detail in the game, the finer details.
“I used to take into account some of the stuff he used to say being a young boy at the time.”