Hibs held their AGM last night with around 250 shareholders attending the event at Easter Road.
The club’s Chief Executive, Leeann Dempster, spelled out the Board’s continued ambition for the Club stating that positive progress had been made over the past three years – with highlights including winning the Scottish Cup and delivering promotion by winning the Scottish Championship.
With season ticket sales running at record highs, she said, there was no room for complacency and insisted that much work was still being done to drive the club forward.
In particular, she added, a lot of work was ongoing to ensure the Hibernian Academy becomes the best performing elite academy in the country – and the early signs were encouraging with talented young players starting to break through.
She said: “Our ambition is to be competing regularly in Europe, winning ties, and to do that we need to be finishing high up in the league and winning trophies.”
She also pointed to commercial progress, with revenues increasing, and to increasing interest in the Club’s community football and in the work of the GameChanger partnership, with the Scottish Government interested and supportive at Ministerial level of the partnership with the Community and NHS Lothian.
“Hopefully you will have seen this club’s leadership of the innovative Edinburgh Cheer campaign, which is appearing in the press on a daily basis.”
Chairman Rod Petrie paid tribute to the part played by everyone connected with the Club in ensuring progress, from principal shareholder Sir Tom Farmer’s actions in ensuring the Club was bank debt-free, The Board in recruiting and tasking Leeann to restructure the Club, the efforts of our players and coaches and staff, to supporters for turning up in big numbers to back the team, to every fan who bought shares.
Questions from the floor included ones on set pieces, the transfer window and loyalty points. Head Coach Neil Lennon revealed that Martin Boyle had agreed a contract extension and will be putting pen to paper soon.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.