Former Hibs star slams what Lee Johnson did and delivers Nick Montgomery prediction

Former Hibs footballer Garry O'Connor believes it may not be long before we see the next golden generation of Easter Road stars now Nick Montgomery is in charge. 

The ex-Scotland striker was part of a Hibs squad that saw the likes of Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker and Derek Riordan flourish under Tony Mowbray with the 40-year-old leaving himself in 2006 to Lokomotiv Moscow for a deal worth £1.6 million. 

O’Connor - whose son Josh is now part of the Easter Road outfit - believes the younger generation were overlooked by former boss Lee Johnson but their time is coming with Monty already showing he is unwilling to make the same mistakes. 

Rory Whittaker became the club’s youngest ever top team player when Montgomery brought him into the action in only his second game in charge at the age of 16 years and 44 days. Josh Landers, also 16, followed soon after and there’s a number of the side that reached the UEFA Youth League quarter finals last season gaining valuable experience on loan down the divisions.

Speaking to the Down the Slope podcast, O’Connor argued the likes of Landers, Whittaker as well as Kenayo Megwa, Murray Aiden and O’Connor Junior could very well emulate his own generation.

When asked if the aforementioned youngsters have what it takes, the striker - who played two stints for Hibs, said: “One hundred per cent. Lee Johnson missed a trick. He wouldn’t play young players. He wanted to buy players. He lost the values of Hibs because Hibs always had players coming through the ranks. You’ve always got one or two worth a million or one-and-a-half million like Josh Doig. But if you look at that squad now, who do you think’s worth money? Nobody.

“But look at Josh, Murray Aiken, Kenayo...they were the first team in Scotland to go to the quarter final of the UEFA Youth League. That was a great group but Johnson never played them. It was a shambles."

O'Connor was also quick to place his faith in the ex-Sheffield United star, with whom O'Connor trained at various Scotland camps.

“What I see now is that Monty is willing to do that. Murray, Kenayo, Oscar and Kyle are getting experience and will come into the fold next season. I think that’s what Monty will do - like Mowbray a mixture of young boys and old heads.”