Hibs have confirmed the departure of Shaun Maloney alongside his back room staff confirming what many fans felt was inevitable in the long run but shocked at the speed of his dismissal.
Maloney only arrived at Easter Road four months ago and was seen as a bit of a coup for the Hibees having spent most of his coaching career under the guidance of Roberto Martinez with the Belgian national side.
His promised philosophy of high tempo, pressing football however was barely witnessed by fans bored by previous incumbent Jack Ross’ perceived negative playing style. If anything, boredom amongst the ranks intensified during Maloney’s tenure.
Singularly trying to blame the inexperienced coach for the pitiful display’s seen since his arrival however are wide of the mark.
Injuries and suspensions wreaked havoc amongst the first team squad. Hibs have been without Paul McGinn, Paul Hanlon, Ryan Porteous, Matt Macey, Joe Newell, Kevin Nisbet and Christian Doidge for lengthy periods of his short tenure.
Add in long term absentee Kyle Magennis plus two January arrivals in Demitri Mitchell and Harry Clarke and it’s easy to see how Maloney struggled to put a winning team on the park if you include our greatest asset, Martin Boyle, sold towards the end of the window.
We can’t consider Maloney blameless either. Far from it. A reluctance to change shape, strange substitutions, an over reliance on the short passing game and seemingly unable to mould a side into one creating more than a solitary chance or two against most opposition.
Our board also have an enormous question mark hanging over their heads. Ron Gordon has now sacked Ross and Maloney at strange times within the same season. Ross prior to a League Cup Final and Maloney with only 5 league matches remaining.
Who is making the football decisions? Is it Ian Gordon? If so why has someone with no background in football, let alone the Scottish game, being allowed to experiment from within? Likewise our CEO, Ben Kinsella. Allegedly telling those in attendance during the unveiling of new corporate facilities last week that Maloney would be emptied if we failed to win on Saturday. If this is true then he needs to go & now. There should be no discussion between our leadership and supporters regarding playing issues regardless of how bad we’ve been.
Ron has to get the next appointment right. Not many fans would trust his son or Kinsella to get the right man for the job.
