Alan Stubbs: I was too quick to quit Hibs

Alan Stubbs has admitted that he was too quick to leave Hibs after winning the Scottish Cup two years ago.

Stubbs departed the Hibees just days after guiding the Easter Road club to Hampden glory in May 2016, deciding to join English Championship strugglers Rotherham.

His spell in Yorkshire ended in October of that year with the Millers rooted to the foot of the league and Stubbs was out of management for the best part of 18 months until he was appointed as St Mirren boss at the tail end of last week.

The 46-year old can’t wait to be back in the Scottish game, but revealed that he departed Easter Road in too much of a rush and heaped praise on Hibs’ infrastructure in relation to other clubs.

Alan Stubbs

“I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on it,” said Stubbs of his switch to Rotherham from Hibs. “Probably the first six months was the most reflective in terms of looking back – not necessarily what I had done right, but at what would be useful in future.

“There was a quote from Brendan Rodgers recently, who was asked what advice he would give to young managers, and it was ‘Don’t be in a rush’.

“When I look back, that was me. I was in a rush. In any walk of life, if you taste success early you think it will be an upward spiral.

“I didn’t think enough about the move. I jumped in too quickly, didn’t do enough due diligence about it. I’m surprised at myself that I didn’t.

“Sometimes adversity can make you a better and stronger person and I certainly think that this time around I won’t make the same mistakes.

“I can’t make the same mistakes again.

“That is the way management is. Your next career experience after a disappointment has to be positive.

“So there might be a little bit of a change in terms of the way I go about it and the people I have around me.”

Stubbs has had to watch on as a BT Sport pundit as his former club Hibs went from strength to strength. They won the Scottish Championship under Stubbs’ predecessor, Neil Lennon, and finished fourth in the Premiership last term and qualified for the Europa League.

The ex-Everton and Celtic defender revealed he has had job offers since his sacking at Rotherham, but has been biding his time for the right club to come along.

“I‘ve had two interviews and four job offers in 20 months so it’s not as if I have been twiddling my thumbs,” said Stubbs.

“I’ve been wanting to get back into management but, as a result of my last experience, I’ve said no to them. So I am hoping that discipline will stand me in good stead.

“Speaking to the people at St Mirren, they seem good people. They seem like people I can work with and who are going to be very supportive, which is important.

“I’m not saying the people at the last club were bad people. They were just different to what I had worked with before.

“Different to Leeann Dempster and George Craig at Hibs and the people behind the scenes.

“When you don’t have that anymore it makes you appreciate what you’ve had.”