Big interview: Paul Heckingbottom on his new Hibs kids and philosophies

Paul Heckingbottom keeps tabs on his Hibs player during training. The new boss will make his bow today against Hamilton

And while he only met them for the first time on Thursday morning, the former Barnsley and Leeds United manager admitted he and his assistant Robbie Stockdale are excited by what they’ve seen.

After eight months out of the game, Heckingbottom said: “It’s strange, the first training session is out of the way and it’s as if you’ve never been away. It’s been a hectic few days, getting everything sorted and coming up. But once you’re on the grass that’s it, I enjoyed it.”

This may be Yorkshireman Heckingbottom’s first experience of Scottish football but, he insisted, he doesn’t see that as a problem, pointing out that he’ll soon pick up plenty from the staff already at the club.

As he looked forward to this afternoon’s match against Hamilton, he said: “You soon pick it up, get information on the opposition. The game is the same.

“Winning promotion down south can bring as much a challenge as changing countries. The leagues change every year. I’ll lean on the staff up here for information on opponents in the short term.”

As you’d expect, Heckingbottom has done his due diligence on Hibs, believing he and the club will be a good fit. He said: “I’ve watched a lot of the games and that’s to get a bit of a background on the players and what they have been asked to do. I know what we want to do and if you’re clear on that you take it with you, go ahead and do it and see how the players fit in.

“A lot of players will be tested and asked to do different things as everyone has different ideas and it’s just how we help them get there. We hope the majority will take what we have to say on board and we can give them a good opportunity to win games, but some will fall by the wayside.

“The squad is good, we’re excited. We know the form hasn’t been great, but I see a lot of quality, pace, energy and athleticism. There’s youthfulness and with it comes naivety, which is apparent. It’s a case of playing to our strengths and hiding weaknesses between now and the end of the season.”

Hibs midfielder Stevie Mallan, who played under Heckingbottom at Barnsley, believes the Englishman’s strengths lie in his man-to-man relationships and eye to detail but, insisted the head coach, his key principles will be shared  only with the players and his staff.

He said: “What I love about the job is the Saturdays, I love the games. I love the players. You become attached to the players. I knew how that would be anyway.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time before and if you want to improve people, you have to know the people, and if you know people, you start caring for them.

“It sounds daft, but you feel for them like they’re your own kids. You end up reprimanding them for the same thing you tell your kids off for. The same behaviours, 100 per cent. Praising them for the same things, feeling proud of them, disappointed with them.

“That’s how it is and it’s a big part of how I do the job. I wouldn’t be as effective if I was distant. I may change, you might ask me if I’m still doing it in ten, 20 years’ time and I might have more coaches round me to fill those roles, but not now.”

Heckingbottom’s own playing career was a lengthy one, starting as a bright-eyed hopeful at Manchester United and ending at Gateshead via a string of other clubs, a history which for him is a strength and one he’ll use to relate to players.

He said: “I started off at Man U, you can’t get a bigger club than that. What I took from that was the humility, hard work, the drive of the top players. It helped me massively in my career.

“I went to Sunderland and then on loan to Scarborough, League Two, and that was it. I felt like a footballer and then I started playing like one. I got a couple of good moves, some good clubs. I wanted to keep playing even when I knew I was going to be a coach. I went to the bitter end.”