LEE JOHNSON’S first two months in the Hibernian hot-seat haven’t exactly made for smooth sailing. The new era at Easter Road started promisingly enough on the park with a 5-0 demolition of Clyde in the Edinburgh club’s opening fixture in the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup but things have degenerated since – both on and off the pitch.
Hibs followed up that win over the Bully Wee with a shock defeat away to third-tier Falkirk, leaving their hopes of progression to the knockout phases of the tournament dangling by a thread. A 4-1 victory away to Bonnyrigg Rose hinted that things might be back on track before the whole exercise flew off the rails in ludicrous fashion.
The 1-1 draw at home to Morton was a poor performance, and that the Hibees were ultimately defeated on penalties by Championship opposition will have surely stung. But it was an administrative error saw the whole match descend into farce.
Centre-back Rocky Bushiri – who only a matter of weeks earlier signed a permanent deal at Easter Road after Hibs accidentally triggered a clause in the defender’s loan deal by playing him in a dead rubber – picked up two bookings in the games against Bonnyrigg and Falkirk, and so was suspended for the Morton game. Hibs, apparently unaware, played him anyway, resulting in a 3-0 walkover defeat being awarded to their opponents.
It isn’t the first behind-the-scenes gaffe in Leith that has garnered attention over the summer and current trends would indicate it won’t be the last either. Bushiri’s accidental acquisition – the club announced he had left Edinburgh in May, thanking him for his service before unveiling the defender as a new signing a matter of days later – came within weeks of full-back Paul McGinn triggering a contract extension in the capital then signing for Motherwell shortly afterwards.
Mistakes have been made, sure, but there has also been an element of misfortune as Hibs gear up for the new campaign. Aiden McGeady, the team’s most eye-catching signing of the close season, is injured and could miss up to the first three months of the league season, although left winger Demetri Mitchell and long-serving centre-back Paul Hanlon are both returning from their respective setbacks.
Johnson will need to find solutions sooner rather than later and the 41-year-old Englishman will be hoping that the League Cup campaign is little more than a blip as his team get up to speed. Hibs owner Ron Gordon demonstrated his ruthlessness twice last season – first by relieving former head coach Jack Ross from his duties with the club lying in mid-table and within days of reaching the League Cup final, then by sacking Ross’ successor Shaun Maloney barely four months into his tenure at Easter Road – and it is hard to shake the feeling that the American is a little trigger-happy on occasion.
It's notable that the majority of Hibs’ transfer incomings this summer have come from further afield than the norm. Players have been snapped up from England and Scotland, as is common, but further recruits have been brought in from the likes of Australia, Croatia, Portugal, Switzerland and The Gambia. Much of the club’s success will rest on how quickly they can acclimatise to the demands of the Premiership.
Hibs’ eighth-placed finish last term means that the bar has been set relatively low for a club of their size and missing out on a place in the top half once again would be deeply unsatisfactory to both supporters and club executives alike. Motherwell’s Europa Conference League exit at the hands of Sligo Rovers underlined the assertion that last season’s Premiership wasn’t particularly high-quality and there is a sense that higher up the table, there is a vacuum that a capable Hibs side could occupy in theory.
That is the task that awaits Johnson and a club of Hibernian’s resources should have the means to achieve it. It’s hard, too, not to look over at the likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United and yes, Hearts – the three main challengers to Scotland’s ‘best of the rest’ crown behind the Old Firm – and deduce that they have strengthened during the close season. If Hibs limp along once more this season and miss out on a place in the top six, they run the risk of being left behind.
It is a big season, too, for a number of players on an individual basis. David Marshall will be hoping for something of an Indian summer in the capital after the former Scotland No.1 joined from Derby County and big things are expected of 36-year-old McGeady when he returns to fitness. Christian Doidge, seemingly maligned under Maloney, has battled back into first-team contention during pre-season and his fellow centre-forward Kevin Nisbet faces something of a make-or-break campaign in the capital too.
The squad is littered with up-and-coming prospects and there are a few in particular that are worth keeping a close eye on. New arrivals Marijan Cabraja and Jair Tavares – as well as Ewan Henderson and Elias Melkerson, who both arrived in January – look like interesting acquisitions and are likely to play an important role in coming months.
Manager Lee Johnson
Captain David Marshall
Key player Ryan Porteous. The central defender tends to divide opinion but pretty much everyone can agree that he is approaching a crossroads in his career. At 23, the centre-half’s lapses in concentration and discipline are becoming harder to justify and if his career is to truly kick on, a degree of consistency must be applied to his game. The subject of an approach from Milwall last year and someone who is regularly on the periphery on Steve Clarke’s Scotland set-up, Porteous can impress and frustrate in equal measure.
In Marijan Cabraja (Dinamo Zagreb), Ewan Henderson (Celtic), Aiden McGeady (Sunderland), David Marshall (Queens Park Rangers), Jair Tavares (Benfica), Nohan Kenneh (Leeds United), Rocky Bushiri (Norwich City), Lewis Miller (Macarthur), Elie Youan (St Gallen), Momodou Bojang (Rainbow).
Out Josh Doig (Hellas Verona), Matt Macey (Luton Town), Paul McGinn (Motherwell), Jamie Murphy (St Johnstone), Drey Wright (St Johnstone), David Mitchell (Partick Thistle), Sean Mackie (Falkirk), Alex Gogic (released), Scott Allan (released).
Last season A poor run of form heading into the winter cost Ross his job and things didn’t improve much on Maloney’s watch. The team looked lethargic during build-up phases of play and lacked any sense of urgency, and ultimately missed out on a place in the top six as the Hibees settled for eighth place. A run to the final of the Premier Sports Cup provided some relief but it was a disappointing campaign for the Leith club.
Odds 150/1.
