Allan Delfierre

[dastardly8]

Another one in Belgian right back from standard Liege but says development squad again

[madhatter]

Good - our development squad needs a few older players close to first team level. We've neglected development squad for too long.

[Since452]

Can we play our development team tonight?

[Jones28]

I'm impressed with what is clearly building for the future.

Still nervous about the first team though, I'd hoped for some immediate starting quality as well.

[MikeyS]

Can we play our development team tonight?

🤣🤣👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[SlickShoes]

For those that say we have no plan in place, just looking at the way we have gone about or signings makes that seem plainly wrong. We quite clearly have a strategy in place to try and find good younger players that can come into our first team as well as develop young players with potential to hopefully make the step up a bit later.

[BT58]

Perhaps bringing in these youngsters and putting them in the development team gives them time to settle in. Get them playing without any pressure, and when the first team needs them then hopefully the transition to the first team they ease in. I'm like a few on here, who are frustrated that some of the new signings are not going straight into the first team. But maybe its a case of building for the future.
B

[SHODAN]

We're building a massive development team now. Is this the future?

Wouldn't surprise me if we really push for a colt team now.

[Northernhibee]

Perhaps bringing in these youngsters and putting them in the development team gives them time to settle in. Get them playing without any pressure, and when the first team needs them then hopefully the transition to the first team they ease in. I'm like a few on here, who are frustrated that some of the new signings are not going straight into the first team. But maybe its a case of building for the future.
B

We've had a fair few youngsters look brilliant at reserves level and on loan to lower leagues and not be able to make the big step up to the first team - Stanton, Handling, Harris, Gullan, Crane, Stirling, Murray and quite a few more. I wonder if this is to be an intermediate level between lower leagues and the top flight that keeps them at the club but has them closer to a first team place than otherwise.

If done right it's the best of both worlds of a loan out for experience and keeping them at the club in the youth system.

[Unseen work]

Looks very promising playing for standard liege at that age.

[SHODAN]

Looks very promising playing for standard liege at that age.

I'd rather he was playing for Expert Liege.

[hibby rae]

Just a guess but I think the only reason he'll be going into the dev squad is to get him used to the different style of game, instead of having him learn at the deep end in a first team game, and he was probs won't be far from the main squad. Maloney has a lot of experience working with promising young players and obviously wants them to be comfortable as possible in their development, much like with Melkerson where Maloney said he would need a little time to settle in as he's a young guy experiencing a lot of changes in a short period.

[MWHIBBIES]

Just a guess but I think the only reason he'll be going into the dev squad is to get him used to the different style of game, instead of having him learn at the deep end in a first team game, and he was probs won't be far from the main squad. Maloney has a lot of experience working with promising young players and obviously wants them to be comfortable as possible in their development, much like with Melkerson where Maloney said he would need a little time to settle in as he's a young guy experiencing a lot of changes in a short period.

The thing is, unless results are right with the first team, Maloney won't be here to bring them on. The most important thing at any club is 3 points on the Saturday. If you're achieving that, everything else will fall into place.


Norway to Scotland is not a huge change. If Melkerson is worth 400k, he has to be contributing ASAP. To have James ****ing Scott involved instead of him is a joke tbh.

[jacomo]

For those that say we have no plan in place, just looking at the way we have gone about or signings makes that seem plainly wrong. We quite clearly have a strategy in place to try and find good younger players that can come into our first team as well as develop young players with potential to hopefully make the step up a bit later.


No issue with that but we ignore the here and now at our peril.

[hibby rae]

The thing is, unless results are right with the first team, Maloney won't be here to bring them on. The most important thing at any club is 3 points on the Saturday. If you're achieving that, everything else will fall into place.


Norway to Scotland is not a huge change. If Melkerson is worth 400k, he has to be contributing ASAP. To have James ****ing Scott involved instead of him is a joke tbh.

First time moving away from his friends and family is a huge change I'd say. I knew people at uni that struggled with it. Add to that the pressure and expectation, rightly or wrongly, that will have been placed on his shoulders due to the price tag. We'll see him sooner rather than later, I have no issue with making sure the guy is ok and good to go rather than just chucking him straight in and seeing if he sinks or swim. If it went badly then, then it might be lost.

[Northernhibee]

Nice to have a player signed from a team referenced in a Half Man Half Biscuit song too.

We should only sign players from Dukla Prague and Standard Liege.

[The_Exile]

Looks like we're building for next year at the expense of any immediate impact. Considering the season we've had up to now I can't say I blame anyone behind the scenes for going down this route really.

[Sergio sledge]

The thing is, unless results are right with the first team, Maloney won't be here to bring them on. The most important thing at any club is 3 points on the Saturday. If you're achieving that, everything else will fall into place.


Norway to Scotland is not a huge change. If Melkerson is worth 400k, he has to be contributing ASAP. To have James ****ing Scott involved instead of him is a joke tbh.

I'm not sure why it's so difficult for people to grasp that the guy hadn't played or trained for 5 weeks before signing for us after the Norwegian season finished. Chucking him in straight away with no pre-season would have been madness.

He needed a pre-season programme to get him up to speed and some bounce games. He had a wee injury to overcome after one of the bounce games but is back training and should be involved from now.

Scott was one of the few options we had during that period so had to be used and was given a chance to try to contribute.

There was nothing about that that was a "joke", all necessary and sensible.

[nonshinyfinish]

Nice to have a player signed from a team referenced in a Half Man Half Biscuit song too.

We should only sign players from Dukla Prague and Standard Liege.

What about Ipswich Town reserves? Borussia Monchengladbach?

Zulte Waregem? Twente Enschede? Malmo? (Ok, those three aren't explicitly named as the football teams.)

Can sign all the players we want from Mars though…

[CapitalGreen]

The thing is, unless results are right with the first team, Maloney won't be here to bring them on. The most important thing at any club is 3 points on the Saturday. If you're achieving that, everything else will fall into place.


Norway to Scotland is not a huge change. If Melkerson is worth 400k, he has to be contributing ASAP. To have James ****ing Scott involved instead of him is a joke tbh.

The part in bold isn’t really true though is it. At the end of season 2017/18 we were winning most weeks which meant our best players were getting a lot of attention from bigger clubs and we were not able to hold onto all of them. We didn’t have any players in the squad able to take their place which ultimately meant we had to go out to the transfer market to try and replace them. Our midfielders McGinn, McGeouch, Allan and Barker were replaced by Milligan, Mallan, Hyndman and Agyepong. A lot of our issues from the last year can be traced back to not having a joined up plan in place for when these players inevitably left.

[GloryGlory]

The part in bold isn’t really true though is it. At the end of season 2017/18 we were winning most weeks which meant our best players were getting a lot of attention from bigger clubs and we were not able to hold onto all of them. We didn’t have any players in the squad able to take their place which ultimately meant we had to go out to the transfer market to try and replace them. Our midfielders McGinn, McGeouch, Allan and Barker were replaced by Milligan, Mallan, Hyndman and Agyepong. A lot of our issues from the last year can be traced back to not having a joined up plan in place for when these players inevitably left.

Nail. Head. Hit.

There's been too much of a gap in quality and experience between our older youth teams and the first team for a number of years. We are a club who lack continuity when we inevitably lose our better players to big money transfers or pre contracts from elsewhere. We need to have players at the club ready to push for a first team place when that happens, rather than scrabbling about for quick fix replacements after the event.

[Keepthefaith]

The part in bold isn’t really true though is it. At the end of season 2017/18 we were winning most weeks which meant our best players were getting a lot of attention from bigger clubs and we were not able to hold onto all of them. We didn’t have any players in the squad able to take their place which ultimately meant we had to go out to the transfer market to try and replace them. Our midfielders McGinn, McGeouch, Allan and Barker were replaced by Milligan, Mallan, Hyndman and Agyepong. A lot of our issues from the last year can be traced back to not having a joined up plan in place for when these players inevitably left.

If only all our fans could take a moment and read this post it might, just might take away some of the hysteria.

Folk saying the club has no plans, no ambition, no professionalism need to reflect on exactly this. Well said!

[Golden Bear]

Looks like we're building for next year at the expense of any immediate impact. Considering the season we've had up to now I can't say I blame anyone behind the scenes for going down this route really.

Exactly, but it will do nothing to appease the Jack Ross fan club.

[Hibbyradge]

The part in bold isn’t really true though is it. At the end of season 2017/18 we were winning most weeks which meant our best players were getting a lot of attention from bigger clubs and we were not able to hold onto all of them. We didn’t have any players in the squad able to take their place which ultimately meant we had to go out to the transfer market to try and replace them. Our midfielders McGinn, McGeouch, Allan and Barker were replaced by Milligan, Mallan, Hyndman and Agyepong. A lot of our issues from the last year can be traced back to not having a joined up plan in place for when these players inevitably left.

I agree with this.

I think they're trying to get to the stage where, when a senior player is sold, we have virtually seemless progression from the Development squad.

In that case, the main focus of our future transfer activity will be on replacing them, not the senior ones, although that will always be necessary to some extent.

Everything for that to happen is in place now. We have a manager who enjoys, and is good at coaching younger players, and an experienced development squad coach.

It's a great plan and would be fantastic for the club, and the owner, if we get it right.

[onfire]

Nice to have a player signed from a team referenced in a Half Man Half Biscuit song too.

We should only sign players from Dukla Prague and Standard Liege.

😂😂👍🏿

[degenerated]

Nice to have a player signed from a team referenced in a Half Man Half Biscuit song too.

We should only sign players from Dukla Prague and Standard Liege.And play on a Friday night when the gates are low :greengrin

As an aside, new album The Voltarol Years on pre-order for July release [emoji6]

[Skol]

I agree with this.

I think they're trying to get to the stage where, when a senior player is sold, we have virtually seemless progression from the Development squad.

In that case, the main focus of our future transfer activity will be on replacing them, not the senior ones, although that will always be necessary to some extent.

Everything for that to happen is in place now. We have a manager who enjoys, and is good at coaching younger players, and an experienced development squad coach.

It's a great plan and would be fantastic for the club, and the owner, if we get it right.

We need to have the right senior players in place as well though !

[Hibbyradge]

We need to have the right senior players in place as well though !

Yes, that's why I said there's always going to be a need to recruit senior players, but hopefully the dev squad will produce a good number for us.

[Vault Boy]

Same agent as Rocky.


Got a good feeling about this one, welcome.

[brog]

For those that say we have no plan in place, just looking at the way we have gone about or signings makes that seem plainly wrong. We quite clearly have a strategy in place to try and find good younger players that can come into our first team as well as develop young players with potential to hopefully make the step up a bit later.

I'm glad I'm not alone. I must admit to being somewhat bemused last night when comment after comment criticised the club for not having a plan. It looks to me as if we are putting in place the first real long term plan for Hibs in my lifetime. (TBF, Tom Hart had a similar vision which, for various reasons, never came to fruition). I still break out in a sweat when I think of short term signings such as Danny Haynes, Junior Agogo and Kuqi!!. We have a good enough team to take 4th place this season and gradually introduce the young blood.

[Northernhibee]

And play on a Friday night when the gates are low :greengrin

As an aside, new album The Voltarol Years on pre-order for July release [emoji6]

If I were a linesman, I would execute defenders who applauded my offsides...

[Mick O'Rourke]

I'm glad I'm not alone. I must admit to being somewhat bemused last night when comment after comment criticised the club for not having a plan. It looks to me as if we are putting in place the first real long term plan for Hibs in my lifetime. (TBF, Tom Hart had a similar vision which, for various reasons, never came to fruition). I still break out in a sweat when I think of short term signings such as Danny Haynes, Junior Agogo and Kuqi!!. We have a good enough team to take 4th place this season and gradually introduce the young blood.


Aye Brian,I was the same last night. Dire straits.(no musical puns please!)
Some of the comments were funny,though.
Counting the couple that we knew before the year were arriving,that is 11 players coming in to the club.
And it does appear to be well planned and organised.
This all didn't just happen in a few days in January.

Last gasp signing report :greengrin

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hibs/hibs-announce-11th-new-signing-as-belgian-defender-allan-delferriere-joins-from-standard-liege-3550101

Also its something that would have been nigh impossible back in the day when Hibs scrambled around the City looking for some green space to train on.
From Gypsy Brae to the Jack Kane !!

Future looks bright !

On Tom Hart
I think Bob Shankly would have loved this type of support from upstairs.
But thats another debate !

[Green Reaper]

Can we play our development team tonight?

Unfortunately, I think we have to stick to the schedule and play Hertz

[Mick O'Rourke]

Unfortunately, I think we have to stick to the schedule and play Hertz

Probably best.
Might be a bit hasty for this squad to take on the development team right now.