Hibs no longer playing 'Championship Manager' as behind the scenes moves backed to banish financial losses
David Gray has received praise after a ‘comfortable’ win against Kilmarnock
Michael Stewart believes Hibs are heading in the right direction despite mixed feelings on progress at Easter Road this season.
Saturday’s 3-0 win over Kilmarnock put Hibs only three points behind fourth-placed Motherwell in the race for the European places. While David Gray’s side have been inconsistent at times, the opportunity for a spot in the Conference League is very much up for grabs. Stewart thinks if they can leapfrog their Lanarkshire rivals by May that this season should be looked at as a successful one for The Hibees and that it shows how far the club have come under Gray that some are frustrated despite a potential European finish.
Speaking on Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social Club show alongside Alan Hutton, Stewart also praised the work of the Easter Road backroom staff, including sporting Malky Mackay for their handling of replacing Kieron Bowie after his transfer to Hellas Verona. Hibs reported financial losses of £5.8m this year but the club have been told their in good hands to overcome this.
Hibs on the ‘right path’ despite frustrating campaign
Stewart said: "If Hibs were to make a run at it and finish fourth I think you've got to view that as a positive season. As much as there will still be an element of disappointment because they clearly have dropped a lot of needless points but I think over the piece this for me speaks volumes of where I feel just in general there can be a flippant and a desire to be too dismissive of managers at times.
“My opinion on David Gray is he's a good manager. I like him, I think he's put together a good squad, I think he's got a good solid structure behind him with Malky Mackay and everyone that's there. I think you can see that even though there's been an inconsistency there, I think you can see that there's a strong foundation that they can build upon.
“If Hibs finish fourth and it's viewed as a disappointing season then I think that speaks volumes to where Hibs are now. They've yo-yoed between top six, bottom six, top six far too often, obviously finishing third last year. If they were able to finish fourth, even if they do finish fifth but they make a good run at this, I think it's a season where you can go it's yet again showing that they're on the right path.
“Okay it's not quite been as good as they would have wanted but I think they're moving in the right direction for me bar obviously the fact that they need to sort out the financial side of things. They had a big loss this year but the club have spoken about that, obviously Kieran Bowie was sold and this is where I'm talking about good business again.
Hibees no longer playing ‘Championship manager’ - Stewart
He continued: “Owen Elding looks like a good player to me. Even just watching the first couple of games where there was little flashes from him I'm thinking to myself I like what I'm seeing there and that shows you that they've got people in positions making those decisions now that actually have got an idea of what they're doing. They're not playing championship manager anymore, they actually know what they're doing."
Elding grabbed the opener against Killie after just 13 seconds, with fellow new boys Felix Passlack and Ante Suto sealing a routine win. Former Rangers defender Hutton believes it was a much-needed, assured performance from Hibs in front of their own fans. He added: "I thought overall it was relatively comfortable for Hibs. I thought they started really, really well and you can just see that with the goal that was in 13 seconds. I just though over the course of the 90 minutes they looked comfortable and Kilmarnock were a little bit disjointed and look they definitely have been better.
“I thought Passlack was good, Obita other side was good as well but there's just been times where I've seen Kilmarnock and they've done really well and they've got that fight and they're playing with energy especially at home and then they have these little blips where they concede a lot of goals and they have this season. That's what's really let them down. Hibs are in a good place at this moment in time. I thought they were good.”