Lee Johnson is confident he has pieced together the perfect backroom team at Hibernian after Jamie McAllister and Adam Owen were confirmed as his assistants.
The new Easter Road manager’s coaching staff will be completed by club legend David Gray, who has already had two spells as caretaker boss in his first year since retiring as a player.
A goalkeeping coach will also added to the roster ahead of pre-season training kicking off later this month.
McAllister was identified straight away as Johnson’s likely number two after similar stints together at Bristol City and Sunderland.
The pair were briefly team-mates at Hearts and then at Bristol, where they developed an off-field friendship that has developed into a coaching bond.
Owen has enjoyed a spells on the backroom staff of both Celtic and Rangers, as well as under Paul Sturrock at Sheffield Wednesday, alongside David Weir at Sheffield United and around a decade working for the Wales national team.
Most recently, the 41-year-old has been working as a technical advisor to Lech Poznan in Poland.
Johnson said: “The first thing to do, and the reason I didn’t come steaming in like a bull in a china shop, is you want to see what qualities you’ve already got in the building.
“I think it’s really important you don’t just bring your mates in. You’ve obviously got to trust your staff in and around you, but it has to be right for the football club. I think that’s key.
“So, I wanted to take my time a little bit more on this. I wanted the club to interview any potential staff members as well; they have to fit into the culture and the group and be able to get on with people.
“We want a nice environment. We will demand, but it’s got to be warm and people have got to want to come in and have banter and look after each other.
“You need good staff members and good employees to be able to wrap around each other and look after each other when it’s not going quite as well, and flourish and grow when it is going well.
“A good assistant is being whatever a manager is not on the day. If I come in full of enthusiasm they can be nice and chilled and relaxed.
“But if I’m concentrating on a board meeting later on in that afternoon, they have to bring the energy.”
Johnson is thrilled that Gray, scorer of the iconic Scottish Cup-winnning goal of 2016, is to stay on at the club.
He added: “I’m delighted David wants to stay. It’s brilliant that he’s started his coaching career so well and he’s had that experience now of being in the caretaker role.
“When they’ve had that and felt it - players letting them down, players performing for them, the pressure of having to pick the team - quickly they understand what a manager goes through.
“I think David will be exactly the same now. He has been through the process now, he’s gone from player to coach quickly, and I’m looking forward to helping him in his coaching career.
“But I’m also looking forward to learning off him, particularly about Hibs as a club and about the players, because of course he’s got that inside knowledge already.
“I think it’s a nice match.”
