Hibs hopeful of bumper crowd for Uefa Youth League match as Steve Kean compares coaching kids to managing at Old Trafford

Steve Kean hopes the Easter Road crowd can repeat their influence of the last round and catch Nantes cold when they take on Hibs in the Uefa Youth League on Wednesday evening.

The club’s academy director oversaw the youngsters defeating Molde in the last round after a 2-2 aggregate draw meant they required penalty kicks in order to advance.

The young home side were helped out by a vocal backing behind the goal at Easter Road from the Block Seven supporters group, who sang and banged their drum throughout the contest.

Discussions have been held to ensure the group will be in attendance again tonight as Hibs take on the French outfit in the first leg of their Domestic Champions Path second round tie.

Hibs academy director Steve Kean will see his boys take on Nantes in the next round of the Uefa Youth League. Picture: SNS

Kean reckons they’ll make the same impact as in the Molde tie, while he also expects the crowd to leap up from the 3,100 who attended earlier this month.

“Hopefully we can catch Nantes on the back foot the same way Molde got a bit of a shock when they walked out into the stadium and then when they walked out again after the warm-ups and saw the number of people there and the atmosphere,” he said.

“Block Seven will be there behind the goal and that will create another atmosphere. And there will maybe be even more fans there. Everyone I've talked to who wasn't there has said they were gutted to miss it. So maybe we can push it out even further and get over 4,000 there.”

For someone who once managed Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League, taking a youth team for these sorts of games is a much more humble environment. However, Kean insists he gets the same level of excitement in planning for such a fixture.

“I don't think it matters whether you're taking a team to Old Trafford or taking one abroad for a game at youth level, I think your job is to, first of all, improve the players individually,” he said. “It's the same at senior level. It's about knowing who you've got on the pitch, looking at the opposition and then setting out an achievable gameplan that the lads can execute. The fact that it's a youth game it's still really, really exciting for myself and the staff.”

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