Hibs’ Head Coach Jack Ross believes that the reduction in his squad size this season is an opportunity for some of the club’s younger players.
Hibs have lost Vykintas Slivka, Adam Bogdan, Steven Whittaker, Josh Vela and Oli Shaw along with loan deals such as Marc McNulty, Glenn Middleton, Greg Docherty, Stephane Omeonga and Jason Naismith whilst only bringing in Kevin Nisbet, Alex Gogic and Drey Wright.
Josh Doig has risen to the challenge and started both Hibs’ games so far and Jamie Gullan is waiting in the wings for a drop in form or injury to either of the main strikers.
Last week Florian Kamberi left to join St Gallan in Switzerland for an undisclosed fee but Ross is unlikely to get the money to boost his squad unless others leave.
Earlier last week Ross was linked with Rangers duo Greg Docherty and Ross McCrorie but that may depend on others leaving. Martin Boyle is in the last year of his contract and could well be a target for other sides whilst full-back Tom James is likely to leave if he can get fixed up elsewhere.
Ross said: “There might still be one or two (departures) and that maybe creates room for us to bring one in. That would be helpful but we’re certainly going to have a skinnier squad this season. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that and as we’ve seen already, it opens up that pathway for younger players that maybe gets blocked if you have too many players.”
“In terms of the communication between club senior management and me, it’s open and consistent so I’ve known where we’re at for a long time. We’ve had to adjust accordingly due to events, like every club. Flo leaving, with us recouping a fee and freeing up space in our squad is basically helping us reduce costs for the moment.
“How then the senior management look at what we can do with that moving forward is up to them. At the moment it’s not the case of selling a player to then invest that money.”
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.
