A fourth Hibs manager sacked in a little under two-and-a-half years, starting with the overly hasty departure of Jack Ross just six months after Ron Gordon acquired Sir Tom Farmer’s controlling interest in the club. A sixth dismissal since Neil Lennon’s mysterious leave taking in January of 2019.
Yep. It’s genuinely baffling, isn’t it? Why DO Hibernian – and the Gordon family, in particular - have a reputation for being trigger happy?
The rate this club are going through gaffers, the next man up should probably ask for a large chunk of his contract to be guaranteed, in financial terms, just in case he gets tapped on the shoulder a week into pre-season. Seriously. While there is never a shortage of managerial wannabes for every available job, this constant air of instability around Hibs can NOT make it easier for them to attract candidates of a certain calendar.
Will Bill Foley’s Black Knight group bring their influence to bear now, helping to identify and appoint a manager capable of changing the pattern of short-term thinking and swift changes of tack? That’s a lot to ask of a guy with just a 25 per cent shareholding. But Hibs fans can live in hope, right?
On what is guaranteed to be a busy day of activity out at East Mains, with Scottish Cup-winning captain David Gray limbering up for yet another stint as caretaker boss, we take a look at the past five sackings. And rate the axed gaffers according to whether they were unlucky, unimpressive or unlikely to fetch much sympathy for being given the boot.
5. Lee Johnson – NOT EXACTLY MISSED
This one genuinely felt like it was coming. The Englishman’s departure last September couldn’t have surprised many, given his team’s record up to that point. They’d lost all three league games at the start of the season and, if Hibs fans could shrug aside a 5-0 home thrashing by Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League, they weren’t quite so forgiving about seeing their team turned over by domestic rivals. A 3-2 home loss to Livingston, who have shown exactly how good they are over the course of this campaign, was the final straw. Anyone who was at Easter Road on that August afternoon, listening to the fans turn against the players and manager rooted to the foot of the Scottish Premiership table, would recognise that the tide had turned irrevocably against Johnson. When you lose the crowd, you lose your job. As Montgomery – the latest in a long line – has just discovered. Photo: Ross Parker - SNS Group
6. Nick Montgomery – UNLUCKY BUT INEVITABLE
Eight months isn’t long enough to judge any manager. The fact that Monty inherited an absolute bin fire should always temper judgement of his performance at a club with 44 players under contract and barely a starting XI worthy of the jersey. But his team’s inability to get results, specifically their consistent concession of late goals, was always going to make him vulnerable. And Sunday’s 4-0 home loss to Aberdeen is exactly the kind of result that gets a manager the sack. It looked as if some players had downed tools. Never a good sign. Photo: Ross Parker - SNS Group