Michael Weir: I want next Hibs manager to have experience and build on success

I know as much as the next man as to who the new manager of Hibs is going to be, but in my opinion he has to be someone who can build on the success we’ve enjoyed over the past few seasons.

Scott Allan. Picture: PA

Plenty of names have been banded about in the past couple of weeks, with the so-called favourite changing on a regular basis. I’m not one to speculate. Until he is unveiled then that’s all it is and, you never know, it could be someone right out of the blue.

Neil Lennon has taken the club up a level, but pushing forward from there is now the challenge for whoever comes in and, for me, that means an experienced man.

We’ve got a good squad of players but they have not produced, they haven’t won games consistently enough and that’s why we find ourselves in the bottom half of the table.

Hibs moved into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals last weekend. Pic: SNS

It may be the new manager will want to change things and I do think there is a bit of rebuilding to do and it will be up to him to decide how he goes about it.

The nucleus of the current team are on fairly lengthy contracts, as will Scott Allan be when he arrives in the summer and as far as I am concerned that’s what is needed, supporters need to know they’ll be seeing players together for a few years as we had, the return being winning the Scottish Cup, then the Championship and on to finishing fourth in the top flight and getting back into Europe.

We’ve got a fair number of players who are only at Easter Road on loan at the moment and while that can help bridge the gap, that does not work for me at a club like Hibs.

We need to be getting good, experienced players who are going to be with us for the next few years, a stable squad.

Whoever comes in, though, will find a club in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, thanks to Saturday’s win over Raith Rovers. There was a bit of pressure on given what’s going on at the club, but on the day everything went pretty smoothly and that result will bring a bit of confidence.