PLEASE CAN WE HAVE SOME MORE
Ross to ask Hibees chairman for further recruits after Nisbet hits ground running
OVER here and out of quarantine, Ron Gordon’s first post-lockdown visit to Scotland was almost guaranteed to end in victory on the golf course last night.
Well, with Jack Ross maintaining the proud managerial tradition of always being in the market for another couple of signings, the Hibs boss was hardly likely to upset Mr Chairman by refusing to concede putts.
Asked if he’d be letting the US-based owner win, Ross laughed as he said: ‘Yeah, I will do. That will most definitely help!’
In all seriousness, even missing a two-footer for a half on the last shouldn’t have been enough to sour Gordon’s mood ahead of this evening’s trip to Tannadice.
To borrow an American sports term, his team have just gone two for two at the beginning of the Premiership season.
Their three new signings — Kevin Nisbet, Alex Gogic and Drey
Wright — have all settled quickly. And, in keeping with Gordon’s dire public warnings about financial fears, eight players have been offloaded as part of budget reductions.
Ross has done everything that has been asked of him and made Hibs look like a more rounded team in the process.
Admitting that the subject of recruitment is likely to crop up, the former Sunderland boss said: ‘Yeah, I mean it’s just about trying to continue to improve.
‘We have streamlined a lot of aspects of the club. And we’ve streamlined a lot of aspects of our squad.
‘I’m happy. I mean, I’m happy with where we’re at. But like everything, as a manager, you are always looking.
‘I think the time to strengthen is when you are doing well. That’s key. But we’ll chat about other stuff as well. I’ve obviously met him face-to-face a few times when he was over last season.
‘Prior to me taking the job, he was in Scotland, so I met him a few times before accepting the position. But a lot of the recent communication has been via Zoom and email, etc.
‘It’ll be good to see him face-to-face and it does help foster that personal relationship, which is good already. He’s not a difficult man to get on with. He’s good company.’
Nisbet’s hat-trick against Livingston on Saturday will have helped Ross make the case for investment. It always helps if the last guy in is proving to be a hit.
The forward’s treble possibly also endeared him to team-mates who, let’s be honest, would have been entitled to feel just a touch conflicted by his arrival.
Hibs spent £250,000 on the Dunfermline striker just as they were negotiating more long-term pay cuts with senior squad members. The irony certainly isn’t lost on experienced winger Daryl Horgan, out of contract at the end of this season and yet to receive any kind of offer.
Yet the Irishman, addressing the apparent imbalance between slashing budgets and forking out six figures on a new signing, admitted: ‘Football is a weird industry in a way. It’s probably the only industry where you can do things like that.
‘But it was probably tough for him (Nisbet) as well. He’s looking at this from the outside in. Hibs have paid money, he’s probably thinking: “Jeez, I’d better be good”. But everyone’s been sound about it with him, a couple of jokes here and there but nothing major.
‘He works hard, he’s worked his socks off. Now he’s got the goals, that’s brilliant for him. It’s a weight off his shoulders.
‘It’s tough for a striker when you make that move. You’re judged purely on goals. You could be brilliant for 90 minutes and hold the ball up, run the channels, but if you don’t get the goal and it goes on to the next week, and the next, it becomes a goal drought. ‘But, thankfully, he got his hat-trick, which is brilliant, and he can kick on again. ‘He does most of his talking on the pitch, where it’s his quality that stands out. His work rate, which you sometimes don’t get from pure goalscorers, is unbelievable as well. And that’s a big plus.’ Horgan bagged two assists in the 4-1 thrashing of Livingston. The wide man, who celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday, looked extremely impressive in tandem with teenage fullback Josh
Doig. In normal circumstances, you would say he is playing for his future as he enters the final season of his contract.
Horgan is hoping that the impact of Covid-19 doesn’t change too much, revealing: ‘I’ve no contract offers, so I don’t really know.
‘It will come to a chat down the line. If I’m playing well, there will be a contract offer. If I’m not, there won’t.
‘Times have changed, I’m getting older — and, obviously, we have the pandemic at the minute.
‘That’s the way football is. It will be different for a little while, definitely, so we’ll have to wait and see if there is an offer coming. But, at the moment, there hasn’t been.’ Ross admitted a number of players are caught in this kind of limbo, given the continued financial uncertainty. ‘The good thing is, the type that Daryl is, temperament wise, I have absolutely no issues about how he’ll continue to go about things,’ stated the manager. ‘And, if and when there’s an opportunity to extend his stay here, I’m sure we will do that.’ Something else to discuss with Gordon, perhaps. Just as the chairman has wrapped up the front nine, back nine and match treble to win 4&3, ideally.
“I think the time to strengthen is when you are doing well”