Ron Gordon's Plan For Hibernian Football Club

[Speedway]

As I understand it from the various sources, Ron's plan is as follows:

1. Steady away in the short term but top 3/4 league finishes from now on and Europe every year.

2. To achieve this, football budget is pretty good to achieve that as it is, but further funds are available if a chance to sign a player comes along that makes sense but is outwith the current budget.

3. Long term ambition to win the league and the two areas that are critical to that happening (and therefore where the money will be spent in the short term) are in building an indoor arena at EM to attract the best players and doing whatever it takes (he doesn't know what yet) to make the Hibernian Academy the best in Scotland. He sees the attraction of quality senior and junior players the best way to develop the club and it's revenue streams long term.

4. He's bought Hibs because he always wanted a serious hobby and was a serious sports fan and he's sold his media businesses and the other clubs he looked at he either couldn't afford or were bent.

5. He sees Hibs and the SPFL as undervalued and under-capitalised brands that are ripe for development.

6. He'll now take the next few months to observe and learn and see where he can be the most use and where his money should be spent, beyond the initial investment.

Is that about right?

[3pm]

You only asking the 1%?! 😀

[bingo70]

I’m not sure that the long term goal is to win the league, I’m not sure that’s realistic and I think he knows that.

He was asked what could be achieved and his response was that initially we need to cement top 4 on a regular basis, once we are doing that you always need to set goals in sport and the next obvious step is to look above you in the league to catch them.

I know I’m contradicting myself a bit but to me always aiming for the place above isn’t the same as setting yourself a target to skin the league.

[Peevemor]

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As I understand it from the various sources, Ron's plan is as follows:

1. Steady away in the short term but top 3/4 league finishes from now on and Europe every year.

2. To achieve this, football budget is pretty good to achieve that as it is, but further funds are available if a chance to sign a player comes along that makes sense but is outwith the current budget.

3. Long term ambition to win the league and the two areas that are critical to that happening (and therefore where the money will be spent in the short term) are in building an indoor arena at EM to attract the best players and doing whatever it takes (he doesn't know what yet) to make the Hibernian Academy the best in Scotland. He sees the attraction of quality senior and junior players the best way to develop the club and it's revenue streams long term.

4. He's bought Hibs because he always wanted a serious hobby and was a serious sports fan and he's sold his media businesses and the other clubs he looked at he either couldn't afford or were bent.

5. He sees Hibs and the SPFL as undervalued and under-capitalised brands that are ripe for development.

6. He'll now take the next few months to observe and learn and see where he can be the most use and where his money should be spent, beyond the initial investment.

Is that about right?

That's my take on it.

[Speedway]

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I’m not sure that the long term goal is to win the league, I’m not sure that’s realistic and I think he knows that.

He was asked what could be achieved and his response was that initially we need to cement top 4 on a regular basis, once we are doing that you always need to set goals in sport and the next obvious step is to look above you in the league to catch them.

I know I’m contradicting myself a bit but to me always aiming for the place above isn’t the same as setting yourself a target to skin the league.

This is where I got it from Bingo.

After taking control, the US-based multi-millionaire said: “Getting to the top of the Premiership is a big ask but it is totally an ambition.

“It needs to be an ambition and we should never give up on that ambition.

“It would be great for Scottish football if that happened.”

[Captain Trips]

Young players can be attracted by facilities however like it or not the amount of nice facilities or whatever the main attraction will be the players wages on offer. There is though nothing stopping us being one of the best at developing but bringing in any players will be 99% how much they are getting paid.

[Sammy7nil]

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As I understand it from the various sources, Ron's plan is as follows:

1. Steady away in the short term but top 3/4 league finishes from now on and Europe every year.

2. To achieve this, football budget is pretty good to achieve that as it is, but further funds are available if a chance to sign a player comes along that makes sense but is outwith the current budget.

3. Long term ambition to win the league and the two areas that are critical to that happening (and therefore where the money will be spent in the short term) are in building an indoor arena at EM to attract the best players and doing whatever it takes (he doesn't know what yet) to make the Hibernian Academy the best in Scotland. He sees the attraction of quality senior and junior players the best way to develop the club and it's revenue streams long term.

4. He's bought Hibs because he always wanted a serious hobby and was a serious sports fan and he's sold his media businesses and the other clubs he looked at he either couldn't afford or were bent.

5. He sees Hibs and the SPFL as undervalued and under-capitalised brands that are ripe for development.

6. He'll now take the next few months to observe and learn and see where he can be the most use and where his money should be spent, beyond the initial investment.

Is that about right?

I think saying we are targeting winning the league even longterm so early in his stewardship lays him open to criticism. I think he shhould work away and if we achive 3 or 4 or beeter for 2 or 3 years in a row then continue to look upwards and set new targets until then just go about your business quitely.

[mayo hibee]

Given that we will never financially match Celtic I fully agree with his view that youth development is the way forward. Build up the best academy in Scotland through improved facilities, coaching staff, high performance programmes, links to the city's universities, scholarships - whatever it takes to make Hibs the most desirable destination for a young player.

At the same time invest in a massively upgraded scouting system to identify the best players both in Scotland and much further afield.

The key is the opportunity to play first team football at a much earlier stage at Hibs than can be offered at the top European clubs. Not every young footballer wants to be part of the player farms that the likes of Chelsea and Man City have developed, drifting from lower league club to club on loan for half their careers. I know of a young player who this week turned down Man City and is signing for Bristol Rovers instead for this very reason.

Huge opportunity for Hibs to build a better squad this way and generate income at the same time, with the long term goal being to challenge the best teams in the league.

[matty_f]

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As I understand it from the various sources, Ron's plan is as follows:

1. Steady away in the short term but top 3/4 league finishes from now on and Europe every year.

2. To achieve this, football budget is pretty good to achieve that as it is, but further funds are available if a chance to sign a player comes along that makes sense but is outwith the current budget.

3. Long term ambition to win the league and the two areas that are critical to that happening (and therefore where the money will be spent in the short term) are in building an indoor arena at EM to attract the best players and doing whatever it takes (he doesn't know what yet) to make the Hibernian Academy the best in Scotland. He sees the attraction of quality senior and junior players the best way to develop the club and it's revenue streams long term.

4. He's bought Hibs because he always wanted a serious hobby and was a serious sports fan and he's sold his media businesses and the other clubs he looked at he either couldn't afford or were bent.

5. He sees Hibs and the SPFL as undervalued and under-capitalised brands that are ripe for development.

6. He'll now take the next few months to observe and learn and see where he can be the most use and where his money should be spent, beyond the initial investment.

Is that about right?

Sounds about right!

[bingo70]

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This is where I got it from Bingo.

After taking control, the US-based multi-millionaire said: “Getting to the top of the Premiership is a big ask but it is totally an ambition.

“It needs to be an ambition and we should never give up on that ambition.

“It would be great for Scottish football if that happened.”

To me that’s just a case of always striving to improve yourself.

I’m sure Celtic would want to win the champions league every season they enter it, doesn’t mean it’s realistic.

Some people like to set ambitious goals to keep you moving forward, some like to set them so they enjoy the result when it happens, guessing time will tell what it is with Ron.

To me though, to win the league it’d need an unrealistic amount of money spent so it’s not an ambition I’m taking seriously for now anyway.

[Bristolhibby]

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I think saying we are targeting winning the league even longterm so early in his stewardship lays him open to criticism. I think he shhould work away and if we achive 3 or 4 or beeter for 2 or 3 years in a row then continue to look upwards and set new targets until then just go about your business quitely.

Every team has the target of winning the league.

It wouldn’t be a League otherwise. In sport you have to have that ambition.

Like with Leicester the stars need to align, but it should always be the aim.

I like him. Let’s see where this goes.

J

[neil7908]

Interesting read but I worry that the sheer task of winning the league isn't quite captured here, or even the work required for achieving European football every year. We'll need a decent budget increase to achieve the latter and to be honest I'd argue just getting into Europe isn't a great achievement if we keep getting put out in the first or second round.

I'm all for the investment in youth and training ground but to be frank, they don't win you trophies. You need to retain these players once they start showing their quality and have the resources to bring in established players to Hibs if we want to even consider going after the Celtic.

I realise that sounds quite negative but "the chance to sign a player that comes along but is outwith our budget" won't be nearly enough imo.

That list is a great start but we'll need much more investment in the first team to achieve even the initial targets here.

[Davy Mac]

Agree with a lot of points raised in this post but it's a little early to speculate but make no mistake, I'm delighted money is coming from the west rather than the east as I think both in culture, lifestyle and economy are far more in line with our way of living than say middle east/Asian money.

Also, my train of thought at the moment leads me to other possibilities like a new multi purpose built arena, visiting US football teams/baseball etc, perhaps a bit far fetched but not unrealistic as really Scottish football is dying and this may be a game changer.

We as fans are thinking big, but I suspect Ron is thinking bigger, just my take on it at the moment.

[Fergus52]

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Interesting read but I worry that the sheer task of winning the league isn't quite captured here, or even the work required for achieving European football every year. We'll need a decent budget increase to achieve the latter and to be honest I'd argue just getting into Europe isn't a great achievement if we keep getting put out in the first or second round.

I'm all for the investment in youth and training ground but to be frank, they don't win you trophies. You need to retain these players once they start showing their quality and have the resources to bring in established players to Hibs if we want to even consider going after the Celtic.

I realise that sounds quite negative but "the chance to sign a player that comes along but is outwith our budget" won't be nearly enough imo.

That list is a great start but we'll need much more investment in the first team to achieve even the initial targets here.

You don't think the current squad is able to finish top 4 over the next couple of years?

Killie and Aberdeen aren't that good.

[Wakeyhibee]

I think the scouting and youth development is or should be the main focus.

I think it's gonna be a hard task to achieve 3rd/4th and decent runs in Europe regularly on a similar or slightly larger playing budget. The revenue streams we have or investment needed to achieve this aren't there even now.

One thing Hibs and EM hasn't produced to a large extent is a steady stream or young talent that's capable of breaking into the 1st team.

One thing that may help close the gap unfortunately is Rangers taking Celtics yearly CL money occasionally (only qualifying mind), Ok you'd have 2 stronger teams but both closer to the next three bigger teams.

It's gonna be interesting but it's a huge mountain to climb and we're no where near base camp yet.

[The Leith Dutch]

Currently, I could for example see us getting to a point where, while we wouldn't match Celtic financially, we could afford to pay for a team that could beat them to the title over a league season.
They're a decent outfit right now but I could see us having a team to match and better them in results over 38 games even although that Hibs team would likely be composed of less glamorous/valuable players overall.

The financial side is the interesting bit - we'd likely be at our limit financing that team while the current Celtic team is probably a fair chunk below what they could spend if they felt there was a legitimate threat. So the questions are probably would they see that coming and up their game in the summer transfer window or would they be able to turn it round in a January window?

Also, I guess, can they deploy that financial muscle as effectively now given that the real quality players can get huge bucks from lower table EPL teams and others?

If I was putting money down I don't think Hibs can do but the current gulf is significantly easier to bridge than it has been for a while.

[villager]

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As I understand it from the various sources, Ron's plan is as follows:

1. Steady away in the short term but top 3/4 league finishes from now on and Europe every year.

2. To achieve this, football budget is pretty good to achieve that as it is, but further funds are available if a chance to sign a player comes along that makes sense but is outwith the current budget.

3. Long term ambition to win the league and the two areas that are critical to that happening (and therefore where the money will be spent in the short term) are in building an indoor arena at EM to attract the best players and doing whatever it takes (he doesn't know what yet) to make the Hibernian Academy the best in Scotland. He sees the attraction of quality senior and junior players the best way to develop the club and it's revenue streams long term.

4. He's bought Hibs because he always wanted a serious hobby and was a serious sports fan and he's sold his media businesses and the other clubs he looked at he either couldn't afford or were bent.

5. He sees Hibs and the SPFL as undervalued and under-capitalised brands that are ripe for development.

6. He'll now take the next few months to observe and learn and see where he can be the most use and where his money should be spent, beyond the initial investment.

Is that about right?

I'd add one thing to your list. Our CEO has mentioned a couple of times her excitement about the planned expanded European football from 2021 onwards.
I think they they plan to prepare the club and hope to be able to compete sustainably in this area as its the most accessible next level income and growth stream thats realistic for a club our size moving forward.

[Ozyhibby]

To think about winning a league we need to make European participation a regular occurrence. It can’t be done without the money that would bring in.


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[Brummie_Hibs]

To win the league you need to be able to beat the teams around and below you. Failure to do that is generally Hibs' downfall.

Once we are able to do that consistently (which we should do with a modest increase in player budget), then it comes down to the Head-to-head games against the teams above.

Celtic look like they are there for the taking.

[Aldo]

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To think about winning a league we need to make European participation a regular occurrence. It can’t be done without the money that would bring in.


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Agreed but not just European participation Ozy. Regular group stage participation is where good money is made.


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[neil7908]

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You don't think the current squad is able to finish top 4 over the next couple of years?

Killie and Aberdeen aren't that good.

Killie will probably drop away but Aberdeen had a turnover of £15.4m last accounts. Ours was £9.6m.

That's why they've had sustained success. We're already at the level where our targets are 3rd or 4th. But if that is the minimum level every year we need the budget to do that. And I'm not sure that's quite captured in the OP.

[Pretty Boy]

I like the way he's talking. There is no unrealistic promises of winning the Champions League within 5 years or other such nonsense. That is ultimately unsustainable.

He seems to have quite a measured outlook and suggests money will be there if required but only if it's part of a long term strategy to ensure we are competitive regularly rather than as a one off indulgence. The investment in the indoor pitch was inevitable and his EEN interview today seems to confirm that and the plan to invest further in the academy is also an exciting idea. Clubs like Hibs simply have to produce a decent number of our own players.

I was apprehensive but excited about the takeover yesterday but the more I hear the more I lean towards excited. We aren't going to be threatening Man City anytime soon but we are hopefully aiming to becoming the 'best of the rest' on a regular basis. Where we go from there is the potentially exciting part.

[CRAZYHIBBY]

You can have the best facilities in the world but if the team up the road pays more wages then they are going there

[J-C]

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As I understand it from the various sources, Ron's plan is as follows:

1. Steady away in the short term but top 3/4 league finishes from now on and Europe every year.

2. To achieve this, football budget is pretty good to achieve that as it is, but further funds are available if a chance to sign a player comes along that makes sense but is outwith the current budget.

3. Long term ambition to win the league and the two areas that are critical to that happening (and therefore where the money will be spent in the short term) are in building an indoor arena at EM to attract the best players and doing whatever it takes (he doesn't know what yet) to make the Hibernian Academy the best in Scotland. He sees the attraction of quality senior and junior players the best way to develop the club and it's revenue streams long term.

4. He's bought Hibs because he always wanted a serious hobby and was a serious sports fan and he's sold his media businesses and the other clubs he looked at he either couldn't afford or were bent.

5. He sees Hibs and the SPFL as undervalued and under-capitalised brands that are ripe for development.

6. He'll now take the next few months to observe and learn and see where he can be the most use and where his money should be spent, beyond the initial investment.

Is that about right?

Pretty much my take on it too, regular top 4, European football, the odd cup win and with just a little luck push for the league. I see the player budget increasing with an overhaul of the academy and completing the training centre.

[barcahibs]

Like I said on another thread, to me spending a finite amount of 'investment' money on players is crazy, you have no idea really what you'll get for that money and you'll likely fritter it away on a few 'boom' years (with absolutely no guarantee of actual silverware) before going bust. How often has it happened before?

Much rather the money is invested in the club's facilities. Aim to make us the clear 'best of the rest', and then look at if and how we can grow beyond that.

Grow the club and let the player budget grow organically with it.

Give us the best facilities to turn the head of any player who is mulling over deals with hertz or Aberdeen.

Make us tougher to deal with when it comes time to sell players we've brought through - we've made a good start in holding out to celtc over Mcginn, make that the norm. In fact, look to make English clubs pay much more for players - if there's talk of guys being worth £50 million a year after leaving Scotland for £5 million then that tells me that the next time Villa come calling we should be starting our negotiations at £10 million. A bit of money in the bank will help us stand firm in that sort of situation.

Plus the big ones. The areas we really should be spending money on. With a bit of ambition I think we could build a tower over the West Stand tall enough to have a Castle View Restaurant in it, a glass curtain the length of Leith Walk and a piazza/plaza (did they ever decide what to actually call it?) so clean you could eat a pizza off it.

That's ambition.

[Pagan Hibernia]

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To win the league you need to be able to beat the teams around and below you. Failure to do that is generally Hibs' downfall.

Once we are able to do that consistently (which we should do with a modest increase in player budget), then it comes down to the Head-to-head games against the teams above.

Celtic look like they are there for the taking.

I agree. When people say it’s impossible to win the league I think back to the second half of our 2017/18 season and the form we were in. When Lennon stumbled on a system that utilized the talents of McGinn, McGeough and Allan, we won game after game, including against the ugly sisters, and we deserved to win them. We threw away a lot of silly points in the first half of that season that could have seen us a lot closer to Celtic.

Some time Celtic will have a really mediocre league campaign and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that us or someone else could take full advantage.

[jacomo]

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Killie will probably drop away but Aberdeen had a turnover of £15.4m last accounts. Ours was £9.6m.

That's why they've had sustained success. We're already at the level where our targets are 3rd or 4th. But if that is the minimum level every year we need the budget to do that. And I'm not sure that's quite captured in the OP.

I’m not entirely sure we are comparing like with like when looking at Aberdeen’s finances, but the new stadium will be expensive and a huge distraction for them.

Hibs are being typically coy about the numbers, but I think a bit of up front capital investment in Easter Road could improve the match day experience and drive up revenue. This would help us close the gap.

I am intrigued by the new guy’s media background and if he sees pre-season tours to USA, for example, as part of the plan?

It is not too hard for Hibs to become the third force in Scottish football - and then, with a bit of luck, who knows where we can go?

We be fascinating to see it play out.

[The 90+2]

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You only asking the 1%?! 😀

that will woosh the majority, ironically.

[MyJo]

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You can have the best facilities in the world but if the team up the road pays more wages then they are going there

Not at academy level.

The facilities on offer are much more important considerations when trying to attract the best young talent into our academy

[Clarence]

I reckon we will use additional funds on paying to keep talent at the club (until the RIGHT opportunity to sell comes along) rather than stumping up initial costs on bringing players in. I’m fine with this. I’d rather we nurture our youth in a fantastic academy and get the best out of hungry players with unrealised potential than pay mercenaries inflated salaries for 6 months of good performances followed by indifference. Think of it like us keeping the Mowbray team together for another three or four years. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to have expected us to compete for the title in that scenario.