Ian Gordon gets honest over Hibs transfer and boss mistakes as he reveals Easter Road takeover attempts

Ian Gordon during a Hibernian press conference | SNS Group

Ian Gordon has revealed takeover bids at Hibs prior to Black Knight investment into the club - as he opens up on a number of Easter Road talking points.

The 34-year-old was previously head of recruitment at Easter Road and now finds himself helping to run the Premiership club after the passing of his dad and former owner Ron Gordon last year. The ownership was passed to Ian and his family.

He has insisted that the Gordon family remain committed to Hibs and will fund what they hope is a resurgence following a bottom six finish in the league last season. One major talking point of late has been billionaire Bill Foley’s investment into the club.

The Bournemouth owner accused those at Hibs’ summit of ignoring his Black Knight Football Club’s after a £6million investment and claimed after a League Cup defeat to Kelty Hearts that they would start following his advice. Foley bought a 25% stake in Hibs to add them to his consortium which also includes Premier League Bournemouth, A-League Auckland and French side Lorient who were relegated from Ligue 1 last season. The group take two seats on the board.

Before choosing to sell a 25% stake in the club, Gordon has told Sky Sports takeover bids were turned down. He said: "It's something my dad and my family had always discussed - at some point, we would look to bring in a partner that can help improve us financially, but also bring best practices and a network that we work with.

"It was always something that was in the plans and obviously after the passing of my father, there were many approaches by many different groups and individuals. We always felt that through those discussions, Black Knight presented a great opportunity for us.

"There were different levels of options, people had approached about taking over the club and that was something that we never entertained - but from a minority shareholding standpoint, there were a few options that we considered. As a family, we want to lead this club. We feel as caretakers for this club we can continue to drive it forward like we have planned. We're happy with where we are with Black Knight and we feel that there's going to be many benefits for years to come."

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On Black Knight involvement amid the hiring of David Gray as head coach and Malky Mackay as sporting director, Gordon added: "I think it's been well reported that throughout the appointing of our sporting director and manager Black Knight was very involved in that process, but when it came down to it the family and the board felt it was the best choice to make the appointments that we did."

Gordon was responsible for the signing of players at Hibs October 2021 until May 2023. He admits he wasn’t right for the head of recruitment role and should have asked for help quicker, with around 30 of the 80 players Hibs have signed since 2019 coming under his watch. He said: "When we came in with my father and I, we tried to have a different way of thinking, a different way of recruitment, a different structure than what was in place.

“I think we got that wrong. And now, through those lessons, it's got us to a point where having someone like Malky [Mackay] with his Scottish experience and someone with David [Gray] who knows the club inside and out and his Scottish experience was the direction we needed to get back to.

"I think we wanted to try to shift the direction in terms of the recruitment, the type of players. But I think as the years have gone on and the more you learn about Scottish football, it's very unique. So we need to have a Scottish experience core that then can be filled in with certain types of players.

"I think at the time, from a process standpoint, we felt with us being new to the league and to the club, that it was the appropriate time. I think on reflection, that was a mistake, and it's something we've learned massively from.

"I think the lack of transparency, I think that was a mistake on our part. I think we needed to communicate that better and be more specific as to what my role was. In hindsight, I think we would have done things differently. But through those mistakes, a lot of lessons have been learned, and we feel that we're now in a good position due to that.

"Going back to the staff that we have in place now with Malky leading that up, we feel the department is very strong and it has great resources to improve. I think we saw some of that in the summer's window with the type of players we brought in."

Since the Gordon family took charge in Leith five years ago, Hibs have sacked five managers. The sacking of Jack Ross is one Gordon admits was ‘knee-jerk’, after he lost his job a week before getting to lead them out in the Scottish League Cup final in 2021, having guided the club up to third-place finish for the first time in 16 years, and the Scottish Cup final.

Gordon admitted: "I think as my dad said, that was a mistake and I view it the same way. I think at that time it was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction and lessons have been learned from then and along the way since then.

"It is hard to build something when you're constantly changing. That has been a massive problem for us. I think it's easy to look back and wish we did things differently. I know it's tough for fans to realise that, but there have been massive lessons learned throughout that time. I think we could always wise up a bit earlier. I'm not hiding from the fact we haven't got it correct along the way but we do feel through the ups and downs over the last few years that we're in a good position now with the structure in place."