Stubbs says swift action was needed to sort out the mess at Hibs, where it’s now ‘one million per cent better’
WHILE the various parties angling to buy the shareholding of Hibs owner Sir Tom Farmer call for regime change at Easter Road, a quiet revolution has already taken place behind the scenes.
Especially vocal in their desire to see Rod Petrie removed from the board have been the fan-backed Hibernian Forever group, but the fact is that the club chairman has been as good as his word to cede day-to-day running of Hibs to new chief executive Leeann Dempster.
In conjunction with head of football operations George Craig, Dempster has set about overhauling an infrastructure that had, to put it kindly, become dysfunctional.
‘People don’t realise what we’ve had to change over the last eight weeks,’ said manager Alan Stubbs, appointed after the club’s relegation and now looking forward to leading the team into the first ever secondtier Edinburgh derby today. ‘From day one to today, it’s a million per cent better.’
Asked to expand a little, his words don’t reflect well on his predecessor Terry Butcher, who is never named but damned all the same by a description of a coaching department devoid of any purpose or structure.
In particular, the curious case of Steve Marsella stumped Stubbs. How, he wondered, could any individual operate as goalkeeping coach while taking charge of the club’s scouting operation? Marsella is still employed by Hibs but has as much influence as Butcher and assistant Maurice Malpas, who remain parked on gardening leave.
‘I’m not sitting here blowing smoke up my own backside but the club — Leeann, George, myself, the players, the staff — have done an incredible amount to try to get us to where we are,’ added Stubbs.
‘When I came in, we had 14 players and five young players who were suddenly told they didn’t have the contract they’d been offered.
‘We had no physio, no fitness coach and there was no sports science involved. I had no assistant, no first-team coach and there was a scout/goalkeeping coach — I don’t know how that works but that was what was in place.’
Change has been swift and, apparently, for the better. Under Petrie, the club was effectively run as a one-man operation but Dempster has delegated effectively.
There have been mis-steps along the way, in particular the handling of highly-regarded head of academy coaching James McDonaugh, who was lost to Falkirk after effectively being offered a pay cut.
Overall, though, the effects have been positive and, while the former Everton coach’s initial signings have focused on his own contacts, he has set about implementing a proper scouting system which will serve the club in future transfer windows.
‘We can’t be scouting players on the back of a Wikipedia page and one individual’s opinion,’ said Stubbs. ‘We need to have background checks, we need to know the player’s medical history.
‘We need to see them at least six to eight times and there was none of that in place whatsoever. At times it was as if it was done off the cuff.
‘We can’t be spending money without due diligence.
‘We can’t buy players who have a medical history where they may only be able to play 10 or 15 games a season. That’s just wrong.’
Stubbs had hoped to tap into the Everton youth academy to beef up his lean squad but, although he has managed to secure winger Matthew Kennedy on loan, his hopes of adding another couple from his former squad have faded after a chat with Roberto Martinez.
‘You never say never but some of the young lads we would have liked to have taken are going to be involved in the Europa League,’ admitted Stubbs. ‘That is great for them but it’s probably stopped them going out on loan until January.
‘We are going to get to the crazy end of the window now.
‘If players do become available and they will make us stronger, then by all means I will definitely be interested. We may have to do a bit of wheeling and dealing where one or two go out.’
In the meantime, talk of a takeover won’t go away.
Hibernian Forever, the fans group fronted by former player Paul Kane, remain on the scene while former Celtic advisor David Low went public after a consortium involving himself and former Hibs chairman Malcolm MacPherson had a £3.5million offer for Farmer’s stake turned down.
Stubbs insists there’s no point in getting worked up about the possibilities of a change in ownership that may not happen.
‘I honestly can’t affect it, it doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t interest me,’ he said. ‘If someone wants to come in and get rid of me, fine, I’ll shake their hand and walk away.
‘The only thing I can do is keep winning games and that will make my position stronger.’
In the meantime, he will maintain a cordial relationship with Petrie but there are none of the detailed daily talk-ins the chairman used to hold with Butcher, Pat Fenlon and a series of incumbents before them.
‘I say hello to Rod,’ he stated. ‘We’ve passed each other in the corridor and stuff like that but, for decisions on football matters, I go to Leeann and George.’
I’m not blowing smoke up my own backside but an incredible amount has been done to try to get us here