Shaun Maloney: Hibs approached me - and I couldn't turn down such an opportunity

New Hibs manager Shaun Maloney has revealed it was the club who contacted him in their search for a successor to Jack Ross – and he felt unable to turn down the challenge of managing in his own right.
Shaun Maloney was unveiled as new manager of Hibs on MondayShaun Maloney was unveiled as new manager of Hibs on Monday
Shaun Maloney was unveiled as new manager of Hibs on Monday

The 38-year-old was unveiled by the Capital club on Monday but insisted he hadn’t been looking to leave his role as assistant to Belgium national team boss Roberto Martinez.

"Hibs spoke to me at the start of last week and from there it just grew,” Maloney said yesterday. “I had an amazing job and a brilliant manager in Roberto so there was no push from my side. It was just when the opportunity arose to speak.

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"The discussion very early last week with the owner [Ron Gordon] and the CEO [Ben Kensell] – particularly the CEO to start with – was really honest and open about where they want the club to get to and the vision they have. These meetings were so positive and then when I finally met the owner, I just had a really positive feeling about the club.

"I know the size of the club, I know the intensity of the support and when I started to look a little bit deeper it started to feel like a challenge I just couldn’t turn down."

Maloney worked alongside Martinez in the Belgian set-up for more than three years and admitted it had been a wrench to step away from the Belgian set-up.

“It was difficult because I absolutely loved working with Roberto and the staff so I was well aware of what I was giving up. He was aware throughout the process and I updated him as much as I could. He made the whole process very easy and always gave me advice when I sought it and even today and last night he was just the man I know he is – a really good person – and I’ll forever be grateful for that.

“He has been a tremendous head coach to learn from – very, very open and incredibly generous with his time, which I’ve used a lot. I’ve learned an incredible amount in the last three years.”

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