Hibs manager: Search for experienced replacement begins with owner Ron Gordon set to explain Shaun Maloney sacking

Hibs owner Ron Gordon is due to address the media on Wednesday as the search for a more experienced successor to Shaun Maloney gets under way.

Given the speed with which the decision was made to part company with Maloney, at an emergency board meeting late on Monday, no list of potential replacements has been drawn up and the Edinburgh Evening News understands the club hierarchy, including Gordon and chief executive Ben Kensell, will take their time in identifying and appointing a successor.

It is also understood that Hibs will look to bring in an experienced manager after the gamble taken on Maloney – a rookie –failed to pay off.

The 39-year-old was relieved of his duties as Easter Road boss after just 120 days and 19 games in charge, with the team languishing in the bottom six and eliminated from the Scottish Cup following consecutive defeats by rivals Hearts.

Ron Gordon will address the media on Wednesday following the decision to relieve Shaun Maloney of his duties

Assistant manager Gary Caldwell, first-team coach Valerio Zuddas, and Head of Technical Support Brian Doogan also departed along with Maloney.

David Gray and loans manager Eddie May will once again take interim charge of the team until the end of the season, with their first game at the helm coming on Saturday when Hibs travel to face St Mirren.

In a statement, Gordon said: “Our hope in appointing Shaun Maloney as a young, highly-regarded coach was that he would help us take the club forward, but ultimately it didn't work out.”

Gordon and Kensell are under pressure to get the right appointment. With season ticket sales understood to be middling and attendances dwindling, Hibs have to make the right moves on and off the park this summer.

Maloney had only won three of his 15 league matches in charge and the team’s alarming form, plus only scoring five goals in their past ten league matches, convinced the Hibs hierarchy that the former Celtic and Scotland forward was not the man to lead them forward into next season.

Gordon, the club owner who is based in the United States, will answer questions from the media via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon.

Although a club shortlist has yet to be drawn up, the bookmakers have included interim boss Gray, Ross County’s Malky Mackay and former Hibs midfielders Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson on their list. Livingston manager David Martindale is also listed along with former England defender Jonathan Woodgate.

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