Exclusive:Inside the six-week Hibs reset as Marink Reedijk explains all-in approach and building up to 100
Everything, everywhere, all at once - how new manager is changing team
Multiple phases, numerous options, key coaching points - and countless ways in which it could all go wrong. A simple game at heart, football has its own complexities buried just beneath the surface chaos.
Six weeks into his time as Hibs manager, with a first highlight win under his belt, Marink Reedijk is still putting in 12-hour days out at HTC as the young Dutch coach looks for answers to questions that haven’t even been asked yet. Sufficiently experienced to know that solving one problem inevitably leads to another wrinkle in the game plan, he decided early on to take a holistic approach to his work at East Mains.
‘Mutual understanding’ the aim for Hibs
His resolve stiffened by having endured a tough start in his only previous managerial position in the senior game, aware that there is a world of difference between SK Beveren and Hibernian FC, Reedijk sees his job as working on everything, everywhere. Maybe not all at once, but certainly in an ordered sequence.
“So it's always that we work on everything,” he told The Evening News. “So from the attacking phases and the different positions on the pitch, we call it first phase of build-up, second phase of build-up, third phase of build-up.
“But also high press, low press, box defending. And you have the transition moments and the set plays. So you work on everything.
“And I think the more the players play with each other, the more we are able to train, the more we can show in video, the more they get a mutual understanding of their own strength. Then you can evolve.”
‘Dynamic’ left side hurt Hearts at Hampden
Breaking the game down beyond even the basic five phases of attack, defence, transition from attack to defence, transition from defence to attack and set plays, Reedijk saw things taking shape even as his team were losing their first three games under his guidance. The weekend win over Hearts was, he feels, merely a natural progression from being able to add layers onto the game plan.
“So against Hearts, we did it with more, we introduced a more dynamic left side,” he said, adding: “And I think this worked pretty well.
“And those kinds of things, every time you take a little step and you search for the right balance and you search for the right way of doing things. So every day we work on everything.
“But you cannot ask 100 right way, first you need to do 10 and then 20 and then 30 and then 40 in order to get to the 100. “
Reedijk won just two of his first 10 games with Beveren after stepping into management in 2024. He recovered to finish fourth in the Belgian second tier, losing out in the promotion play-offs, before guiding the East Flanders side to a stunning Challenger Pro League title as undefeated champions last season.
Asked what he’d learned from going through that tough start to life in management, the 35-year-old said: “That it's not only about the results, it's also about what do you see in the performances, which gives you the idea: ‘OK, that game could also have been going in the other direction.’ If that isn't there, then you must really question where it is going wrong. And this needs to be not by one match, but by more matches.
“What I saw from Dundee United onwards, there was only improvement. So I didn't see any reason why not.”
There is, of course, more pressure – certainly more noise – at Hibs than there ever could be with a regional Belgian side with an average attendance of less than 5000. Yet Reedijk insists: “I don't feel it like that. For me, I understand these emotions are there. It's important to have that because of the size of the club. And if it's not there, I'm worried - because it should be like this.
“So I know that if you go from Beveren to a club like Hibs, this will be there. But I can’t get involved in the emotions of that. I just need to look at what do we see and where do we want to go to on the mid-long term as a club. And I know the results are important, but we were also not far away from results.
“So for me, that was also like a handhold to grab on and say: ‘OK, this we can do.’ And the least we can do is bring everything on the pitch. In every match we try to bring everything on the pitch. And that's for me the basis.
“Plus the fact that you see the developments and see the development in the way of playing in all the five phases of the game. I include set pieces in the five phases of the game. And therefore, I had no doubt that it will click eventually.
“But I also know coming in, different schedules, different way of playing on the pitch, different training sessions, different training week, everything is different. So it is not like we're going to have a quick fix. Because it's a lot of changes.
“And at the same time, it's also that you, if you have won one or two matches in these first four matches, you couldn’t say that it was progress or not. Because it's not only the results which count at that moment in time, if it makes sense.”