Hibs sporting director: I'll take criticism of player recruitment on the chin

Graeme Mathie is happy to take criticism of Hibs’ summer recruitment “on the chin” but insisted he still believes in the players brought to Easter Road.

Mathie was head of recruitment as head coach Paul Heckingbottom conducted a major overhaul of his squad with ten new faces arriving.

However, the Yorkshireman was sacked and replaced by Jack Ross after winning just one Premiership match this season, a record which has left the club languishing near the foot of the table.

But Mathie, now sporting director, revealed the makeover had also addressed a number of factors such as balancing the age profile of the squad and giving the club a greater control over contracts.

He said: “You don’t operate in performance sport if you want to be immune to criticism.

“I’ve done a big piece of work to look at the recruitment we’ve done over the last five-and-a-half years. We’ve looked at the signings that have turned out positively and maybe those that haven’t to see if we can identify key factors to allow us to be better next time.

“The unfortunate thing in this game is that you get an appraisal sometimes three times a week. If a performance is positive and the result is positive, life’s good, recruitment’s great, the coaching is brilliant. If it goes the other way, it’s the opposite. That’s the game we’re in. You’re judged every week. Some of the criticism over the summer, we take it on the chin. We believe the players are good players.

“We wanted to do a number of things with the recruitment, balance the age profile within the squad, have better control of contracts to try and have fewer loans and short-term deals.”