MKHIBEE
24-03-2022, 12:31 PM
“We’ve missed him,” Maloney says, reaching up to place a reassuring arm around his broad shoulders.
The two briefly discuss why The Athletic are watching training and sitting in on team meetings. Hanlon feeds the information back to his team-mates and throughout the week it becomes clear that while they’re a group hungry for success, they’re also a polite and friendly bunch. Maloney wouldn’t have it any other way.
If, in his younger years, he hadn’t been so good at football, the manager would have become a sports writer. Hugh McIlvanney, the former Sunday Times reporter who was able to cultivate close relationships with great Scottish managers such as Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and Ferguson, was a hero to him. Maloney asks how other access-all-areas articles have worked in the past and is always keen to learn more, even when time is of the essence.
For a busy man, the way he finds time for so many people throughout the day is impressive.
Not only is he on the training pitch every day, he leads the majority of the session. When he left a safe job as an assistant to Roberto Martinez with the Belgium national team, he wanted to continue coaching as well as managing.
As he sits on a football to take a breather and observe, we joke about whether he’s trying to do too much and if he’s learned the art of delegating yet.
“I’m getting there,” he says, before adding: “I believe that I have to pretty much give this club my life because I don’t ever want to take more than I give.
“A big part of joining the club was down to the way they want to attack and play.
“It will take a bit of time to create the team that I want, but in terms of short-term objectives, we’re doing well but it’s definitely not the time to stand still.”
​Maloney believes moments like this are a mixture of good coaching and individual quality.“We can be very structured up to a certain point but then it’s down to the player to show the talent,” he says. “I certainly don’t want them to be robots.”
That’s not to say the players aren’t fully prepared for what may come at them on a matchday. A drone flies over the all-weather pitch to record the training and Maloney will watch clips back with his analysts.
Every workout is logged and no stone is left unturned when there’s a full week to prepare.
Sessions are planned a day in advance and each coach involved knows the messages they need to deliver, the exact measurements of the areas they will be working in, the “principles” and “sub-principles” and the conditions that will be applied; in a five-vs-five game that wraps up the morning, the attacking team has a maximum of six seconds to score. The pressure is always on.
Christian Doidge (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/christian-doidge-AYIDfNYCSuDuIMOC/), James Scott (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/james-scott-VGXxVNPhOvUuLXya/), Josh O’Connor (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/josh-oconnor-aT31OJhiXQf5j41y/), Rocky Bushiri (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/rocky-bushiri-kisonga/) and Ryan Porteous (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/ryan-porteous-iY8foqTLpNM43Rn1/) are among the players involved in the session.
The way they move the ball with pace and purpose makes you think back to the wonderful goal Hibs scored against Dundee United in December which involved all ten outfield players and included 24 passes.
The two briefly discuss why The Athletic are watching training and sitting in on team meetings. Hanlon feeds the information back to his team-mates and throughout the week it becomes clear that while they’re a group hungry for success, they’re also a polite and friendly bunch. Maloney wouldn’t have it any other way.
If, in his younger years, he hadn’t been so good at football, the manager would have become a sports writer. Hugh McIlvanney, the former Sunday Times reporter who was able to cultivate close relationships with great Scottish managers such as Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and Ferguson, was a hero to him. Maloney asks how other access-all-areas articles have worked in the past and is always keen to learn more, even when time is of the essence.
For a busy man, the way he finds time for so many people throughout the day is impressive.
Not only is he on the training pitch every day, he leads the majority of the session. When he left a safe job as an assistant to Roberto Martinez with the Belgium national team, he wanted to continue coaching as well as managing.
As he sits on a football to take a breather and observe, we joke about whether he’s trying to do too much and if he’s learned the art of delegating yet.
“I’m getting there,” he says, before adding: “I believe that I have to pretty much give this club my life because I don’t ever want to take more than I give.
“A big part of joining the club was down to the way they want to attack and play.
“It will take a bit of time to create the team that I want, but in terms of short-term objectives, we’re doing well but it’s definitely not the time to stand still.”
​Maloney believes moments like this are a mixture of good coaching and individual quality.“We can be very structured up to a certain point but then it’s down to the player to show the talent,” he says. “I certainly don’t want them to be robots.”
That’s not to say the players aren’t fully prepared for what may come at them on a matchday. A drone flies over the all-weather pitch to record the training and Maloney will watch clips back with his analysts.
Every workout is logged and no stone is left unturned when there’s a full week to prepare.
Sessions are planned a day in advance and each coach involved knows the messages they need to deliver, the exact measurements of the areas they will be working in, the “principles” and “sub-principles” and the conditions that will be applied; in a five-vs-five game that wraps up the morning, the attacking team has a maximum of six seconds to score. The pressure is always on.
Christian Doidge (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/christian-doidge-AYIDfNYCSuDuIMOC/), James Scott (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/james-scott-VGXxVNPhOvUuLXya/), Josh O’Connor (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/josh-oconnor-aT31OJhiXQf5j41y/), Rocky Bushiri (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/rocky-bushiri-kisonga/) and Ryan Porteous (https://theathletic.com/player/scottish-premiership/hibernian-fc/ryan-porteous-iY8foqTLpNM43Rn1/) are among the players involved in the session.
The way they move the ball with pace and purpose makes you think back to the wonderful goal Hibs scored against Dundee United in December which involved all ten outfield players and included 24 passes.