The inside story on how Hibs are using a legendary motivational speaker ahead of Hearts

Hibs boss Nick Montgomery has been speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News’ John Greechan

Hibs boss Nick Montgomery called in legendary motivational speaker Watt Nicoll to hammer home his key messages to players. And the new head coach says he’ll continue to give his squad all the tools needed to develop a winning mentality.

Former folk singer and TV presenter Nicoll has advised some of the biggest names in sport, delivering sessions to both the Scotland and England international football teams, as well as working with such stellar talents as chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and F1 driver David Coulthard. A well-known face in Scottish football circles, Nicoll was one of the first people Montgomery called when he set about changing the mood of a squad in need of help following the departure of Lee Johnson.

The former Central Coast Mariners boss explained: “For me, it’s a mindset thing. It’s about changing the mentality of the players, because I really genuinely believe that, if you think you can do something, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t.

“I had a sports performance guy called Ezio who worked with the team in Australia. The staff and the players all worked with him to reinforce messages from myself. And I brought in Watt Nicoll, a good friend of mine who I met many years ago on a UEFA coaching course.

“When I got the job here, I knew he just lived down the road. So I contacted him. He’s very well thought of, having worked with some very prestigious names in sport, not just football.

“People tell you that it’s a small part of football. I think mindset is a massive part of it. That’s what separates you from the rest. It takes you from being good to being very good, to being the best.

“If we could get a little improvement in some players, I thought it was worth it, having Watt reinforce my own messages in his own way – because he’s a lot more talented than me when it comes to doing that. I want to give as much to the players as possible. Some will take something from it, others won’t. But if we can put the resources in place for them to know they have that support, those tools to become the best version of themselves, that’s important.”

Montgomery, yet to taste defeat in four games as Hibs head coach, takes his team across the city to play Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday. They already look like a team transformed under his guidance, with last week’s comeback win over St Mirren in the Viaplay Cup quarter-final notable for one remarkable stat; that was the first time in six months that Hibs had won after falling behind in a game.

As encouraging as the results might be, the really impressive thing is how quickly Montgomery has completely transformed the tactics and playing style of his new team – without appearing to miss a beat. Admitting he was thrilled by the response of players to everything he’s demanded of them so far, the former Scotland Under-21s player said: “I was honest with them from day one, completely honest and told them in no uncertain terms that this was what I was going to do.

“If they weren’t going to buy into it, that’s fine – that’s football. The boys have been superb, and they’ve been really receptive to change.

“They want to be a team who score goals and play attacking football, so I didn’t have to sell them too much. In terms of defending, there are non-negotiables. So it’s about finding a balance.

“It’s not just telling them, it’s showing them. That means working on the training ground, showing them analysis individually and in units, to let them know exactly what we want.

“Myself, Sergio (Raimundo) and Miguel (Miranda), as goalkeeping coach, have been pretty strategic about it. The reality is we didn’t have a preseason with the team, so we needed to change quickly.

“I was actually really surprised, in the first game, how much they adapted. They changed a lot after four days of training. I wanted to change our identity so that, when people see Hibs playing, the fans can relate to it – and understand that this is the way we play.

“It’s about having an identity as a team. You adapt to the situation - but the principles will always stay the same. I will always stick to my beliefs in building a hard-working team who like to play attacking football.”