Can Black Knight guru gift Hibs another Marcondes-style signing? Gray hoping for upgrade in transfer targets

Hibs boss David Gray hopes the appointment of Black Knights recruitment guru Garvan Stewart will give the club access to another Emi Marcondes, as the Bournemouth tie-in grants the Easter Road side access to players normally out of their price range. And he believes the appointment of Stewart will strengthen Hibs far beyond the looming January transfer window.

Minority investor – and billionaire Bournemouth owner - Bill Foley has spoken openly about providing Hibs with “help” in the transfer market as he looks to bring all of the clubs under the Black Knight umbrella closer together in methodology and practice. The appointment of former Cherries head of recruitment analysis Stewart, who started work on Monday, is intended to overhaul a dysfunctional department disrupted by frequent changes in the manager’s office over recent seasons.

Asked whether Hibs fans should expect the club to be shopping at a higher end of the market next month, Gray pointed the example of Bournemouth No. 10 Marcondes’ arrival at a similar stage last season as he said: “Well, I'd hope. Listen, that's always the target; the target is to try and bring the best possible players to the football club.

“I think you've seen a couple of times last year with like Emi Marcondes coming in and guys like that, players who sometimes maybe wouldn't have been on Hibs radar previously, as you've already touched on there. We’ve got access to a wealth of experience and knowledge and resources at other clubs that we can maybe use to our advantage.

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“But it always comes back to the same thing, which is about how do we make Hibs better. Are the players being brought to the table better than the ones that we've got? Is it even a possibility to bring them in?

“Whatever it might be, the type of characters, all the processes that always go there, the process will still be there. It'll just hopefully be even better.

“This will just be the first window for Garvan. And I'm sure moving forward the relationship will get stronger and everything should be positive.”

Gray’s personal contact with the new man has been limited so far, the gaffer explaining: “I know it's all fresh now and everything has been moving in that direction now. But we’ve had three games in the last week and everything that's been going on, so nothing really since the initial contact.

“It’s obviously a process now that will start to move forward, especially getting closer towards January with the window opening and the ability to look at the squad for ins and outs. He's obviously going to be a massive part of that so I'm looking forward to seeing how that moves forward.

“Yeah, Garvan comes here with a good reputation, 100 per cent. The club always want to try and move forward. And if anything can be done to improve the club, to push it on to the next level, recruitment's one of the biggest parts of any club.

“You are judged on the players you bring in and how successful they can be, whether that's to bring them in to make the squad better or to move them on. Players are the most important people at a football club and it’s our responsibility to bring the right ones in.

“The more access you've got, and the more facilities you've got to be able to try and spread the net wider, or to be able to attract players to the football club, can only be a positive. But it still remains the exact same process, which is, you want to bring the right type and the right characters to try and make you better.

“It's not just a case of because you move in a certain direction that you just bring anybody to the football club, of course not. It is still always going to be a process, and we need to make sure that we get the right people in.

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“The minute the window closes, you're always looking at where you think you could strengthen, or what might come up, or you need to be proactive as much as you possibly can. That's something that is constantly going on and the hard work's constantly there.

“It's not probably something that I'm involved in every single day, for obvious reasons, because of my full focus is on the performance side of it at the moment. But those departments are always looking and working to try and strengthen it if the right thing becomes available.

“That could be outs as well, as much as in. We need to be proactive as much as you can.”