Hibs women's head coach Dean Gibson insists his team officially coming under the club's ownership is another step in the right direction for the game in Scotland.
Preparations for the new SWPL 1 season, that starts against Celtic in August, received a huge boost as players switched to going mostly full-time. Hibs ladies join the likes of Celtic and Rangers in making that move.
It sees elite women's football in Scotland take another step forward after being brought under SPFL ownership.
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Gibson's side comfortably finished fourth last season and he believes now is the right time to make this transition. Last season saw a record crowd of 5,512 attend a 3-0 Edinburgh derby win over Hearts at Easter Road. The coach says things are only getting better.
He added: "People may say it should have happened sooner but I think the club have timed it really well. It's been timed when the game is moving strongly.
"It's not just the clubs committing, the SPFL have now too. It's come at a good time and a much-needed change to the women's programme.
"We now have three Glasgow clubs who are full-time and we are pretty much there. We are 90 per cent there.
"Over 50 per cent of the league now is either semi-pro now or full-time so that is exciting. That is what the league needs and I am sure the clubs will get their reward out of that too.
"It's common sense. If you do something more, you are going to get better.
"The girls will training more so I think not only on the pitch things will improve, it's off the pitch. That side of things is a huge bonus."
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Catching up with league giants, Celtic, Glasgow City and Rangers will be tough for Hibs but Gibson maintains that European football and cup finals must be pursued.
He said: "I think the aims at Hibs will be to be as competitive as we can. Every club has their own definition of that and for us it will come down to investment that each club does.
"It's not too dissimilar to the men's league in that you would expect Celtic and Rangers to fight for the league and then it's a fight for best of the rest. We have to be realistic with our budgets but we want to be in cup finals and challenging for Europe.
"That won't be easy but we are confident."
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