Hibs set to make 'key' appointment to improve academy

Hibs are poised to make a “key appointment” in a bid to improve the club’s player pathway from the academy through to the first team.

Hibernian chief executive Ben Kensell is ready to make a key appointment and is revealed that the club will be active in the January transfer window

Chief executive Ben Kensell has revealed that a “senior, credible and quite experienced candidate” will be tasked with bringing more young players through the ranks who are equipped to bolster the first-team squad.

He has been working on improving the club structure following the departure of sporting director Graeme Mathie at the end of September and is ready to unveil the identity of a key component in the coming days.

“There will be some changes,” he said, explaining that the primary focus for head coach Jack Ross will remain first-team results.

“We believe we have young players who can come through into, potentially, the first-team environment in years to come.

“What we want to do is have a system and structure that allows that to happen and to allow it to be successful.

“We’re probably going to make an appointment there. It’s quite a senior, credible and quite experienced candidate who’s going to come in and improve us in every area.”

In an interview on the hibs.net fans podcast, he added: “There will be an appointment coming up that we will make very transparent. I think that will be an exciting point when people will understand the technical opportunity that brings us to bring in someone with standing that this individual has.”

Promising to be open with the fans, he explained: “I think it is really important that the supporters actually know structures exist at the football club to understand who is responsible for what and that everyone has that accountability.”

Kensell, himself appointed at the end of July, insisted the club structure would not be altered to suit a future incoming manager who may have an alternative philosophy. He said whoever eventually succeeds Ross as head coach will have to fit in with and buy into the club structure that is now being developed.

“That’s the way this club will operate and is operating,” he said. “I think a club identity stands the test of time. Ultimately a club recruits a head coach or manager to a certain style, and an attacking philosophy in this case at Hibs. ”

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