Revealed: How Hibs and Black Knights will use 'player movement' beyond loan deals as part of 'trading model'

The lure of European football and a long-term ‘player trading strategy’ are driving the Black Knight group’s investment in Hibs. But how, exactly, will it all work? And, most importantly, what can Easter Road regulars expect in the way of benefits from the tie-in with billionaire Bournemouth owner Bill Foley’s stable of clubs?

Hibs director and Black Knight president Tim Bezbatchenko, seeking to put flesh on the bones of the deal that allowed Foley to buy a minority stake in the club for £6 million up front, talks about loan deals and other mechanisms to generate player movement between teams under the BK umbrella. He also sketches out a scenario whereby an ambitious player might sign for Hibs on the understanding that exposure to UEFA competition – all part of the plan – will eventually see them move on, possibly to the Premier League …

What it all boils down to, of course, is finding a way to manage the madcap economics of football. Using Bournemouth, Hibs, FC Lorient and Auckland FC, plus possibly one or two others not officially listed as Black Knight clubs just yet, to game the system.

“Let me first start off just saying that running any football club is very difficult,” says Bezbatchenko, the former Toronto FC and Columbus Crew supremo adding: “And running it profitably is even more difficult.

“So when we ask about questions about profitability in football, if you look globally around, if you take away the centralized distribution of income from TV revenue, how many clubs are profitable? It's not very many. So how do you do it in today's modern world, global football?

Using network to identify talent

“You have to have a player trading strategy. And the question is from there is, okay, there's a system of trading players at the back end, but how are you supplying them at a lower cost, maybe earlier in their development? And can you control that supply?

“And I think that's fundamentally what this is about is how can we use the network together to identify players earlier, maybe in a different way, so that you can beat other clubs to the punch, that you can get the player in your pipeline earlier. And then you can move them along, along with the player and his agent and his parents who are always along the decision.

“They have to decide too. They have to believe that it's in their best interest to come into a group that understands what they're trying to achieve.

“And so when we approach a player together with Ian Gordon, myself, Malky Mackay, whomever, are talking to a target, they can say: ‘Hey, not only can you come to Hibs and win trophies and hopefully get into Europe, but you can use that experience of winning trophies, of getting into Europe to develop.’

“And that's what we want. We want players to reach their potential because it benefits the club, benefits the fans, benefits the players.”

Hibs have former Bournemouth data guru Garvan Stewart in situ as head of recruitment at East Mains now. But they’ve yet to make a single signing, permanent or temporary, from any of the clubs falling within Foley’s sphere of influence.

Asked if the main method of player movement in future would involve loans from within the Black Knight group, Bezbatchenko raised a less traditional alternative as a possibility, explaining: “Yeah, it could be a different – a lot of different ways. It could be loan deals. It could be from one of the other clubs that you're loaning to Hibs.

“It could be discussing a player at the ownership level that we're acquiring and then there's a developmental pathway that you discuss with the player saying this: ‘The idea will be for you to be here for a year or two years or three years.’

“I think it's going to be different per player. But I don't think it's – it's no secret how transactions are done.

“There's not only loans. There's outright purchases. There's free players that you're going to get on a free. That's fundamentally the three ways that you're going to acquire a player - or through your academy, which I guess is technically free.”

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