What Hibs winning Euro race would mean for Black Knight recruitment - with Premier League prospects on radar

He could tune in from home in northern California. Maybe he’ll be in England on Bournemouth business. Then again, Bill Foley might just as easily find himself following ‘his’ Scottish club remotely while flying into France, New Zealand or Las Vegas to check up on another arm of his sporting empire.

The one guarantee? Billionaire businessman Foley WILL be deeply invested in the fortunes of David Gray’s team as the Scottish Premiership hurtles towards that closing weekend on May 17. He’ll also hope to have a vested interest in the Scottish Cup final seven days later …

Because, while a lot of focus surrounding the race for European places tends to veer between tangible financial rewards and less solid concepts such as prestige and pride, Hibs forcing their way into the group stages of the Europa Conference League – maybe even the Europa League, if you’re allowing yourself to dream big – is essential to what Foley and his Black Knight group want to achieve at Easter Road. With that prize secured, everything just falls into place for a player trading model predicated on under-the-radar talents delivering success for Gray AND gaining the experience needed to reach the Premier League promised land.

For the Gordon family still calling all the shots, minority shareholder Foley delivering on his promised “help” in the transfer market may be worth as much as the estimated £5 million pot up for grabs via the right sort of UEFA involvement. With third place in the league still in their own hands, Hibs certainly don’t lack incentive over the final four games of a semi-ridiculous season.

Why Europe makes all the difference to Black Knight model – here’s how it works

Tim Bezbatchenko, the Black Knight Football Club president who sits on the Hibs board alongside Foley, has already outlined a loose framework on how player movement within the stable might work to benefit everyone. Hibs owner Ian Gordon, sporting director Malky Mackay and, of course, manager David Gray will have final say – but, with former Bournemouth analysis guru Garvan Stewart now head of recruitment at East Mains, they are likely to be offered players who might otherwise be out of reach.

“It could be loan deals,” said Bezbatchenko, the former Toronto FC and Columbus Crew executive adding: “It could be from one of the other clubs that you're loaning to Hibs.

“It could be discussing a player at the ownership level that we're acquiring and then there's a developmental pathway that you discuss with the player saying this: ‘The idea will be for you to be here for a year or two years or three years.’ I think it's going to be different per player. But I don't think it's – it's no secret how transactions are done.

“There's not only loans. There's outright purchases. There's free players that you're going to get on a free. That's fundamentally the three ways that you're going to acquire a player - or through your academy, which I guess is technically free.

“What this is about is how can we use the network together to identify players earlier, maybe in a different way, so that you can beat other clubs to the punch, that you can get the player in your pipeline earlier. And then you can move them along, along with the player and his agent and his parents who are always along the decision.

“And so when we approach a player together with Ian Gordon, myself, Malky Mackay, whomever, are talking to a target, they can say: ‘Hey, not only can you come to Hibs and win trophies and hopefully get into Europe, but you can use that experience of winning trophies, of getting into Europe to develop.’”

The importance of European football to this grand plan can not be overstated. Not merely because it acts as a lure when recruiting players.

At the moment, there is a whole swathe of talent unable to gain direct entry to the Premier League because of work permit rules. Playing in European competition is one of the ways those players can build the profile needed to qualify for the richest league in the world.

Securing group stage football in any UEFA competition opens up the possibility, then, of Stewart recommending genuine prospects with the potential play in England’s top flight – and a desire to prove themselves. Two or three of those wouldn’t hurt as Gray looks to build on his first season as gaffer, surely.

How it can happen – the road to Europe for David Gray’s team

Hibs fans have probably studied all the permutations already. But, as a reminder, their best bet of qualification remains securing a third-placed finish in the Scottish Premiership.

Technically, it’s the Scottish Cup winners who will be rewarded with a crack at the Europa League play-offs, with the safety net of guaranteed Conference League football there to break any fall at that final hurdle. But Celtic are short-odds favourites to complete a domestic Treble by beating Aberdeen in the final.

With Brendan Rodgers’ men already on their own route to the Champions League, the path nominally reserved for Cup winners – once automatically inherited by the losing team at Hampden – falls to the side finishing third. Which, at the moment, is Hibs. Stop the count, right?

There are still ways to put together an extended European run from finishing fourth or, depending on the Scottish Cup, fifth. But clinching third and hoping Celtic complete the clean sweep is still the most advantageous path.

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