Ron Gordon on the lessons Hibs must learn from summer transfer 'scramble'

Cognisant of the business completed early in the summer trading period, the US-based businessman, who has been contemplating a shake-up of the club’s football department as they try to build on last season’s third place finish in the Premiership and a cup semi final and final, said that better groundwork was needed in the future to ensure last-gasp deals did not run away from them as they had in the final minutes of deadline day.

The Leith club were left red-faced and frustrated when a bid to bring Jamie McGrath from St Mirren got bogged down in paperwork and could not be completed in time. While they were too slow in exploring their interest in the likes of Barrie McKay, who signed for capital rivals Hearts instead.

Admitting it was a difficult learning curve, Gordon wants it to be a hastily-absorbed education.

Ron Gordon has been overseeing a stadium refresh at Easter Road which includes the letters HFC being installed in the stands.

“I wouldn’t call them mistakes. It is just that everything that came to the fore came to the fore very late. It was difficult for us to get it all done. There were so many moving parts and many transactions.

“Unfortunately we left a lot of these things a little too late. It is surprising to me just how many things happen at the last minute because you have three months to get these things done but nobody wants to move ‘til the end and then it’s a scramble.

“I think we have to learn from that. We can prepare a bit better, we can be on the front foot in terms of what we want to do but, overall, I still think we had a good window.

“I am very excited about Chris Mueller coming in and that was an early signing and a lot of work went into that. Jake Doyle-Hayes has been a significant contributor and Dan Mackay is good too and young Dylan Tait is a good prospect.”

Hibs chairman Ron Gordon at Easter Road for the latest stage of the stadium refresh which includes the introduction of an HFC pattern on the seats in the East Stand. Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group

Advancing the plan to bring down the average age of the squad, while still tapping into the experience and leadership of the elder statesman, Gordon, who has been driving improvement works at the stadium to enhance the match day experience for fans, said talks were now ongoing regarding a shake-up of the football department.

With sporting director Graeme Mathie told he can officially move on as soon as a settlement package can be agreed, the club are exploring the right model for pressing forward.

“We are still looking at that. We set some task forces up about eight months ago to look at the football department. That includes all the first team and support structure, the development team, although we are probably going to make that more of an U-23 team, and then we have the U-18s and the academy. We are also looking to bring women’s football into the football department, although I don’t exactly know the timing, but the club is committed to that.

“I’m very happy with the support structure, the nutrition, the health and sports medicine, so, we have a good core. It is just a question right now of what we want to do with some of these other elements; the academy, the development team etc, and how we manage all that.”

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