Hibs Club Captain Joe Newell is confident there is belief within the camp to achieve their aims this season.
Hibs enjoyed a positive week-long pre-season training camp across the Irish Sea – which encompassed two matches against Shamrock Rovers and Cliftonville – and are back at work at HTC this week ahead of their next camp in Portugal this weekend.
Newell was involved in both pre-season friendlies, and he sat down with Hibs TV to discuss pre-season so far, Academy players taking their chances to impress and how our first two matches will stand the side in good stead for the tough tests to come in the 2026/27 campaign.
“I’ve loved it,” said Newell at the Carton House Hotel in County Kildare.
“I think I said to a couple of the guys the other day, I’m in the minority with pre-season, as I actually love pre-season.
“I love coming away and seeing new players coming in.
“It’s been brilliant. The place is amazing, as you know. The staff have been really good, as have the pitches. There’s not been one problem, and the food’s been really good.
“It’s probably been one of the better places I’ve been to.
“I’d say this is my 17th pre-season, if you include being a youth player, and I still get nervous before the runs.
“I think you’re nervous about the feeling you’re going to have because it’s hard and it never gets any easier!
“We have had a few young lads stepping up and joining us, which has been really good for them, and they’ve done really well.
“It’s a fresh start for everyone. We’re always really optimistic and it keeps the dream alive again for another season.
“It’s been a really good week. It’s been hard, as you can imagine, but I think we’ve got a lot of good stuff from it, fitness-wise, and then the last couple of days, we’ve started to kind of introduce a few of the Head Coach’s plans in terms of on-the-ball stuff, so hopefully that’s the end of the running!”
Hibs started their pre-season schedule with a 1-0 defeat against reigning League of Ireland Premier Division champions Shamrock Rovers on Tuesday.
That fixture proved a good workout for Head Coach David Gray’s side, while it also proved a trip to remember for the fans as over 1,500 descended on Dublin ahead of the fixture, and that left the captain bursting with pride.
He added: “I’ve got a personal connection with Ballingarry, which is just a sheer coincidence.
“My best mate lives there, so I’ve actually been here a few times, and it’s amazing.
“The Club are obviously making the effort to keep that connection going and commemorate the history.
“Obviously the fans come over for the game on Tuesday, which was brilliant. They look like they had a good day.
“I hope they know we had a triple session the day before, which is important to mention!”
Newell missed 11 months between December 2024 and November 2025 through injury, which forced him to miss out on memorable European nights against FC Midtjylland, Partizan Belgrade and Legia Warsaw, and that’s him feeling fully prepared and hungrier than ever ahead of the new campaign.
“I think that was something going on in my head during the off-season when I was on holiday with my family and stuff.
“I was just buzzing to come back, I couldn’t wait.
“I missed out on a lot [last season], and when you’re coming in after being out for a long time, mid-season, you find it hard to kind of keep up in training and in games, and you can’t really get match fit.
“It’s been a good chance for me to kind of get on a level playing field in terms of fitness and sharpness with everyone else.
“I just love playing football. I love playing football for this Club.
“I’ve missed out on a lot of good nights and a lot of big moments over the last couple of years, so I’m just full of optimism, full of excitement.
“It’s just trying to move the Club forward. I think we’ve had the consistency in the last couple of years, and it’s just always striving for that each year on year, trying to get that little bit better.
“You look at someone like Rocky, who is going to be out for a while now and has missed out on what would have been a magical experience for him [at the World Cup].
“It’s just being around people and making sure they feel a part of it and doing, personally, what I can to make people still feel part of the team.
“You’re needed around the place. You need to lift spirits, speak to people, and help people, and that’s all I try to focus on.
“I think that side, my responsibility, kind of helped me get through my injury because it was obviously about getting fit first and foremost, and getting rid of the pain and the injury itself.
“But knowing that you’ve got another responsibility for the good of the Club probably helped me a lot, actually.”
And as Hibs head into the new campaign, Newell says he is confident there is a belief and focus to go achieve something special in 26/27, starting against either KF Vllaznia or FC Malisheva in the UEFA Conference League Second Qualifying Round later this month.
He said: “I think the goal will never change every year here: European football and a trophy, and like I’ve said, the consistency is starting to get there now.
“With European football and the top six finishes, we are always striving to do as well as we can in the league, and a good cup run, a cup win, is something that we’ve fallen short on.
“I can only imagine how magical it will be, and even looking back at last year, the 10-year anniversary and stuff, and the nights – these boys will be remembered forever. So, they’ll be very special days.
“In my mind, that’s something that I’m desperate for, so that’ll be a big incentive.
“It would top off my career, and it’s something I’ve always wanted.
“I think the first couple of years, it was at Hampden two or three times a season, and you think it’s just standard, and then you blink, and you’ve not been there in a couple of years.
“I think a cup win would just be unbelievable, and you’d have the best night, the best day of your life, probably the best day of your family’s life.
“It’s definitely one of the big goals this season.
“For me, as a kid, obviously growing up down south, playing in those European nights, it’s not something that you thought of.
“Sometimes you’ve never even heard of the teams and stuff, but they’re good-quality opposition.
“They’re all technically good and tactically good. So, it’s a different challenge.
“In Scotland, you’re used to playing against the same teams quite a lot, so it’s a different challenge each year, but they are really good nights.
“For them to come so early on in the season, I think, kind of gives the start of the season a lot more weight to it, essentially.
“You’re kind of not sleepwalking into pre-season. You’ve got to hit the ground running, and everyone has come back really well.
“Everyone’s looked really good, fitness-wise. Training’s been really stepped up this week over here, so it’ll come around fast.
“We’ve got a couple of friendlies, and then we’ll be at it, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
