Lee Johnson admits he wouldn't rule out Hibs becoming part of a multi-club structure in their hunt for success - but never at the expense of their identity.
The Easter Road boss says he’ll continue to plug into his links with powerhouse that is the City Football Group to strengthen the options at his disposal in Leith. But beyond that he reckons there’s scope for Hibs to establish proper links with clubs outside Scotland - in a similar way to Brighton and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium.
Johnson has close ties to the Manchester-based City Group conglomerate - particularly with Brian Marwood, the group’s Managing Director of Global Football - and used it to sign Mykola Kukharevych on loan from French side Troyes last year. He met with City Group chiefs in April to discuss potential deals ahead of the summer window opening this month.
It’s a contact he believes can be hugely beneficial for the Hibs - but never would he allow a situation to develop where the club’s character began to be diluted. The former Bristol City and Sunderland boss said: “The City Group don't do anyone any favours, per se. There's a lot of trust that goes into this stuff.
"The club has obviously got to be right but the manager is also picking the team and that becomes an important factor in their decision. It's happening everywhere; this multi-team structure that a lot of these groups and clubs and American investors are going for at the moment.
“I wouldn't even rule out Hibs doing it at some point in the future. What you have to do is make sure your own house is absolutely in order and running clean and lean and really well.
“It gives younger players a vehicle to be able to step up a level. You look at Brighton who have done extremely well with their Belgian team (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise) and Manchester United did it originally with Royal Antwerp.
“The City Group is full of top-quality practitioners who get a lot more right than wrong. I'm just grateful that we're in their good books. But we are Hibs. We're never going to lose our identity, that's never going to change. It's just supplementing what we've already got and if you can scratch someone's back and they scratch yours then it works for everybody.
“We increase the value of their player or get them into Manchester City's first team or whatever that looks like. We probably pay 30 per cent of the actual wage that the player's on so that helps us stretch our budget. It's actually moved to seven loans next year, clubs can bring in seven loan players. Somebody will maximise that but there's a risk in terms of that identity piece.
"We won't do that, but it is a factor in trying to find the right balance between quality and resource. Loan players come through the door and we show them the history of the club and this is a club slapbang in the middle of the city and you feel immersed in it.”
Johnson accepts Hibs need to produce better results on the pitch to match their budget. And he reckons the success of David Martindale and Livingston is a case in point.
He said: “We need to make our budget play on the pitch 30 per cent stronger. Look at how well Livingston have done. I don't know what their budget is but it's one of the lowest.
"One man making the decisions, one man driving the football club, and absolutely playing probably to double the levels of the budget. They've done a fantastic job. Could you say the same about Hibs this year? Maybe not, based on the fact Livingston were six points off us.
"I think sometimes those factors are really important, but you do need the budget to play well as in injuries, and if you have a large percentile of your chunk cut off because they're unavailable it's no good."
