Summer transfer thread 2025

[MagicSwirlingShip]

Thank you 🙏

[Broken Gnome]

Actions louder than words and all that, but that's a wonderful read.

[Lago]

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Here you go. I've cleaned out the ad crap as much as I can but a few bits might remain.

Exclusive
Malky Mackay on Hibs' £5m shot, training centre plan and Black Knights

Hibernian FC

Exclusive by Stephen McGowan
Sports writer at large
@mcgowan_stephen


Malky Mackay is looking to the future after a strong season across the board for Hibs (Image: NQ Design)
THE ledge of Malky Mackay’s office window is lined with one book after another on the art of management and leadership.

Reaching out to grab one, Hibernian’s sporting director flips straight to a page in ‘Legacy’, James Kerr’s bestselling analysis of the All Blacks.

Made up of the 15 mantras which turned the New Zealand rugby team into the most ruthless winning machine in winning sport, a yellow post-it note marks out a chapter entitled: ‘No D***heads.’

It’s a rule of thumb Mackay has tried to apply to one of Scotland’s biggest football clubs. The key to forging the culture which secured European football for the men, women’s and under-18 teams at the end of a roller-coaster season.

“The final 10 days of the season were an incredible 10 days for the football club,” said Mackay.

“We were balancing the men’s team going for third in the Premiership with the women’s team going for the SWPL title and the under-18 team going for their league as well.

“All of it was balanced on a knife-edge. Were the men’s team going to finish third or fourth or fifth?

“Were the women going to win the tightest title race ever or come second?

“And then the kids had three games in a week and that was always going to determine whether they were going to win the league or not.

“So now we have the three teams in Europe and I think Celtic and Rangers are the only other clubs who’ve achieved that in Scotland.”

The loss of £5 million for automatic qualification to the group stages of the Europa Conference League should have cast a pall over Hibernian’s season.

When Aberdeen unexpectedly beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, they secured a prize expected to fall into the laps of the Easter Road club when they stormed from the bottom of the Premiership to secure a third-place finish. If Mackay has his way it still will.

“That £5m is still there for us,” he says. “The outcome of the Aberdeen Celtic game changed things in terms of which team went straight into the group stages. But that wasn’t something we could affect.

“All we could do was finish as high in the league as we possibly could.

“We did that by finishing third and I’m not certain what more we could do.

“Congratulations to Aberdeen, fair play to them for winning the cup. That’s life.

“All you can do in this business is look after yourself. And we put an awful lot into what we achieved in the end.”

Technical director of the Scottish FA for four years, Mackay now works tirelessly in pursuit of marginal gains at the Hibs Training Centre in Tranent. Plans for a new full-size indoor training dome and a new facility for the title-winning women’s team are well down the tracks after a land swap deal at East Mains.

Trailed at the club’s AGM, the 20-year-old facility has become cramped and an 11-a-side indoor facility – a long-held goal of the late owner Ron Gordon – is planned with the financial assistance of SFA Pitching Up facility funds.

“There is a situation now our men and women’s teams are sharing a building which is 20 years old and it has become too small,” Mackay admits.

“So we have sat down and developed plans for a potential redevelopment. Obviously we have to speak to East Lothian Council and put it all down properly, but we are hoping for a revamp of the area.

“We have the possibility of another building, extra pitches and the potential for an indoor full-size 11-a-side facility as well.

“We are high up altitude wise in Tranent and the wind does create issues here.

“The difference it would make to the academy and community to be able to take players inside to a protected indoor-full size dome can’t be overstated.”

As a club Hibs are in a better place than anyone thought possible when David Gray’s team couldn’t win a game for love or money in the dark days of autumn.

Bottom of the SPFL Premiership after one win in 12 games, the fourth managerial appointment in three years was fighting for his job. Chairman Ian Gordon was invited to

Las Vegas for clear-the-air talks with multi-club investor Bill Foley and his Black Knight Football Club lieutenants Ryan Caswell and Tim Bezbatchenko following complaints that their input into key decisions was being ignored.

“I remember thinking, ‘This has to calm’,” admits Mackay now.

“My role was to make the place a stable ship and ensure that every message coming out of here is normal. What people expect. We had to become the club that we should be.

“There was a perception around the club where that wasn’t necessarily the case.”

An improbable 96th-minute equaliser from Rocky Bushiri in a 3-3 draw with Aberdeen in November proved a sliding-doors moment. After defeats to St Mirren and Dundee, when everything felt dysfunctional and chaotic, Hibernian rallied. They lost just one of the their next 14 games.

“People outside were seeing what was happening on the pitch,” Mackay says.

“I was seeing what was actually happened behind the scenes.

“We had a pretty imbalanced and bloated squad and we lost six games in the last five minutes.

“There were huge individual errors happening, we had four red cards in 12 games and we missed three penalties.

“No excuses but everyone could see that anything that could go wrong was going wrong.”

The current average shelf life of a manager in the Scottish Premiership is 12.75 months. While five clubs will start the new season with a new head coach, Hibernian held their nerve and stuck with the one they had. While few knew how much stress Gray came under during the dark winter days of November, Mackay had been there himself.

“I’ve stood in those shoes. And the pressure in the role is incredible,” he notes. “You are judged every Saturday on 90 minutes and until you stand in those shoes and see the pressure that comes from players, staff, owners, press and the public, you don’t know how that feels.

“Back in the day when I was a young manager you got two or three years to do your job.
“These days you are lucky to get 12 months. The situation is getting worse.”

The relationship with the Black Knights Group is now healthy, the two sides ‘closer than they’ve ever been’.



Black Knights president Bazbatchenko is a regular visitor to Edinburgh. Mackay has travelled to Bournemouth for meetings and Cherries performance director Jay Melette performed an audit of the Hibernian set-up. The Easter Road side will spend four days training with their English Premier League step cousins before playing a pre-season bounce game. The Black Knight representatives were as blown away as everyone else, meanwhile, by heartfelt renditions of ‘Sunshine on Leith’ after the wins over Hearts and Celtic.

“It’s the 150th anniversary of the club’s creation this year,” ponders Mackay. “It all stemmed from the docks and the disadvantaged area of Leith and there is a great history attached to this club.

“The Gordon family have embraced that massively, ploughing something like £24 million into the club since the day they took over in terms of infrastructure and backing managers and training facilities to make sure everything is as good as it can be. They stuck at it through really tough times.

“So when I see the last few weeks of the season and the happiness around the club I think to back to some of the abuse they took during the hard times and think to myself, ‘My god, they could easily have thrown the keys in’.

“That’s why it’s so satisfying to see fans singing ‘Sunshine on Leith’ or coming up to Ian [Gordon] and his mother Kit and thanking them for giving them memories to embrace.
“Over a period of time, Hibs is probably a club which hasn’t won as many things as we could have.

“Because of the size of the fan base, the stadium, the facilities, the capital city aspect, people want us to light the touch-paper and catch fire.

“And I want Hibs to be a badge people are proud of instead of a club where they’re looking in and saying, ‘What’s happening in there now?’”

Hibernian FC
Malky Mackay
Football

Thanks for that 👍

[04Sauzee]

Having read the Herald story earlier I found this bit interesting

'Jay Melette performed an audit of the Hibernian set-up'

Jay Melette would appear to be the head of the medical dept at Bournemouth.

[J-C]

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St Mirren linked with Alex Paulsen. Wonder if Bournemouth would send a player to another team in our league

He has potential but he's still pretty young and never played outside the A League, we've just signed a player with experience to challenge Smith, they'll want him to play games and not sit on the bench.

[ElginHibbie]

The four days training down at theirs be interesting, think they've not long opened a big new fancy facility?

[BoomtownHibees]

Just on this piece:

“ Plans for a new full-size indoor training dome and a new facility for the title-winning women’s team are well down the tracks after a land swap deal at East Mains”

I thought the plans were for a new mens facility with the women continuing to use the current place? Maybe I’ve picked it up wrong

[Bridge hibs]

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Just on this piece:

“ Plans for a new full-size indoor training dome and a new facility for the title-winning women’s team are well down the tracks after a land swap deal at East Mains”

I thought the plans were for a new mens facility with the women continuing to use the current place? Maybe I’ve picked it up wrong

Think the Women will be using the current place but I think their pitch will be surrounded by a “banking” due to the near constant winds at EM

[04Sauzee]

From Anthony Joseph (sky sports)

Aberdeen are in talks to sign Portsmouth striker Kusini Yengi.

It’s understood the Australia international is keen on a move to the Scottish Cup winners, who are guaranteed European league phase football.

The 26yo is available on a free, with his Pompey contract expiring.

[JohnM1875]

Connor Coady to the Huns according to the DR

[McD]

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Here you go. I've cleaned out the ad crap as much as I can but a few bits might remain.

Exclusive
Malky Mackay on Hibs' £5m shot, training centre plan and Black Knights

Hibernian FC

Exclusive by Stephen McGowan
Sports writer at large
@mcgowan_stephen


Malky Mackay is looking to the future after a strong season across the board for Hibs (Image: NQ Design)
THE ledge of Malky Mackay’s office window is lined with one book after another on the art of management and leadership.

Reaching out to grab one, Hibernian’s sporting director flips straight to a page in ‘Legacy’, James Kerr’s bestselling analysis of the All Blacks.

Made up of the 15 mantras which turned the New Zealand rugby team into the most ruthless winning machine in winning sport, a yellow post-it note marks out a chapter entitled: ‘No D***heads.’

It’s a rule of thumb Mackay has tried to apply to one of Scotland’s biggest football clubs. The key to forging the culture which secured European football for the men, women’s and under-18 teams at the end of a roller-coaster season.

“The final 10 days of the season were an incredible 10 days for the football club,” said Mackay.

“We were balancing the men’s team going for third in the Premiership with the women’s team going for the SWPL title and the under-18 team going for their league as well.

“All of it was balanced on a knife-edge. Were the men’s team going to finish third or fourth or fifth?

“Were the women going to win the tightest title race ever or come second?

“And then the kids had three games in a week and that was always going to determine whether they were going to win the league or not.

“So now we have the three teams in Europe and I think Celtic and Rangers are the only other clubs who’ve achieved that in Scotland.”

The loss of £5 million for automatic qualification to the group stages of the Europa Conference League should have cast a pall over Hibernian’s season.

When Aberdeen unexpectedly beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, they secured a prize expected to fall into the laps of the Easter Road club when they stormed from the bottom of the Premiership to secure a third-place finish. If Mackay has his way it still will.

“That £5m is still there for us,” he says. “The outcome of the Aberdeen Celtic game changed things in terms of which team went straight into the group stages. But that wasn’t something we could affect.

“All we could do was finish as high in the league as we possibly could.

“We did that by finishing third and I’m not certain what more we could do.

“Congratulations to Aberdeen, fair play to them for winning the cup. That’s life.

“All you can do in this business is look after yourself. And we put an awful lot into what we achieved in the end.”

Technical director of the Scottish FA for four years, Mackay now works tirelessly in pursuit of marginal gains at the Hibs Training Centre in Tranent. Plans for a new full-size indoor training dome and a new facility for the title-winning women’s team are well down the tracks after a land swap deal at East Mains.

Trailed at the club’s AGM, the 20-year-old facility has become cramped and an 11-a-side indoor facility – a long-held goal of the late owner Ron Gordon – is planned with the financial assistance of SFA Pitching Up facility funds.

“There is a situation now our men and women’s teams are sharing a building which is 20 years old and it has become too small,” Mackay admits.

“So we have sat down and developed plans for a potential redevelopment. Obviously we have to speak to East Lothian Council and put it all down properly, but we are hoping for a revamp of the area.

“We have the possibility of another building, extra pitches and the potential for an indoor full-size 11-a-side facility as well.

“We are high up altitude wise in Tranent and the wind does create issues here.

“The difference it would make to the academy and community to be able to take players inside to a protected indoor-full size dome can’t be overstated.”

As a club Hibs are in a better place than anyone thought possible when David Gray’s team couldn’t win a game for love or money in the dark days of autumn.

Bottom of the SPFL Premiership after one win in 12 games, the fourth managerial appointment in three years was fighting for his job. Chairman Ian Gordon was invited to

Las Vegas for clear-the-air talks with multi-club investor Bill Foley and his Black Knight Football Club lieutenants Ryan Caswell and Tim Bezbatchenko following complaints that their input into key decisions was being ignored.

“I remember thinking, ‘This has to calm’,” admits Mackay now.

“My role was to make the place a stable ship and ensure that every message coming out of here is normal. What people expect. We had to become the club that we should be.

“There was a perception around the club where that wasn’t necessarily the case.”

An improbable 96th-minute equaliser from Rocky Bushiri in a 3-3 draw with Aberdeen in November proved a sliding-doors moment. After defeats to St Mirren and Dundee, when everything felt dysfunctional and chaotic, Hibernian rallied. They lost just one of the their next 14 games.

“People outside were seeing what was happening on the pitch,” Mackay says.

“I was seeing what was actually happened behind the scenes.

“We had a pretty imbalanced and bloated squad and we lost six games in the last five minutes.

“There were huge individual errors happening, we had four red cards in 12 games and we missed three penalties.

“No excuses but everyone could see that anything that could go wrong was going wrong.”

The current average shelf life of a manager in the Scottish Premiership is 12.75 months. While five clubs will start the new season with a new head coach, Hibernian held their nerve and stuck with the one they had. While few knew how much stress Gray came under during the dark winter days of November, Mackay had been there himself.

“I’ve stood in those shoes. And the pressure in the role is incredible,” he notes. “You are judged every Saturday on 90 minutes and until you stand in those shoes and see the pressure that comes from players, staff, owners, press and the public, you don’t know how that feels.

“Back in the day when I was a young manager you got two or three years to do your job.
“These days you are lucky to get 12 months. The situation is getting worse.”

The relationship with the Black Knights Group is now healthy, the two sides ‘closer than they’ve ever been’.



Black Knights president Bazbatchenko is a regular visitor to Edinburgh. Mackay has travelled to Bournemouth for meetings and Cherries performance director Jay Melette performed an audit of the Hibernian set-up. The Easter Road side will spend four days training with their English Premier League step cousins before playing a pre-season bounce game. The Black Knight representatives were as blown away as everyone else, meanwhile, by heartfelt renditions of ‘Sunshine on Leith’ after the wins over Hearts and Celtic.

“It’s the 150th anniversary of the club’s creation this year,” ponders Mackay. “It all stemmed from the docks and the disadvantaged area of Leith and there is a great history attached to this club.

“The Gordon family have embraced that massively, ploughing something like £24 million into the club since the day they took over in terms of infrastructure and backing managers and training facilities to make sure everything is as good as it can be. They stuck at it through really tough times.

“So when I see the last few weeks of the season and the happiness around the club I think to back to some of the abuse they took during the hard times and think to myself, ‘My god, they could easily have thrown the keys in’.

“That’s why it’s so satisfying to see fans singing ‘Sunshine on Leith’ or coming up to Ian [Gordon] and his mother Kit and thanking them for giving them memories to embrace.
“Over a period of time, Hibs is probably a club which hasn’t won as many things as we could have.

“Because of the size of the fan base, the stadium, the facilities, the capital city aspect, people want us to light the touch-paper and catch fire.

“And I want Hibs to be a badge people are proud of instead of a club where they’re looking in and saying, ‘What’s happening in there now?’”

Hibernian FC
Malky Mackay
Football

The same ‘no dickheads’ rule is also applied at Liverpool, since Klopp came in. Seems to have served them well, and based on who we’ve recruited over the last 12 months or so, and how they’ve performed, done us pretty well as well.

[04Sauzee]

🆕 Josh Doig a 'transfer target' for Juventus as former Hibs star could land dream ticket to the Champions League 💶🇮🇹

dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football…

[makaveli1875]

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🆕 Josh Doig a 'transfer target' for Juventus as former Hibs star could land dream ticket to the Champions League 💶🇮🇹

dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football…

That would be some move for him

[04Sauzee]

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That would be some move for him

I'm sure we hear about big moves for Doing every season but this would be an outstanding move for him and I'm guessing would be decent business for Hibs also.

[keep the faith]

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I'm sure we hear about big moves for Doing every season but this would be an outstanding move for him and I'm guessing would be decent business for Hibs also.

Was our sell on clause not just a once and done?

[MagicSwirlingShip]

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I'm sure we hear about big moves for Doing every season but this would be an outstanding move for him and I'm guessing would be decent business for Hibs also.

Was gutted for him when the Marseille move collapsed.

[04Sauzee]

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Was our sell on clause not just a once and done?

If it was I wasn't aware that was the case, that's a bit of a sore one.

[007]

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Was our sell on clause not just a once and done?

It would all depend on the wording and most likely need each subsequent transfer to include a sell on clause so I'd imagine Hellas Verona would need to be getting a percentage from Sassuolo selling to Juventus.

[Ship of Hope]

Be good to know whats happening with Rocky..

[JasonC1875]

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Be good to know whats happening with Rocky..

DR Congo play again tomorrow so I reckon there’ll be a decision either way towards the end of next week.

[04Sauzee]

Quite a few Jambos believe Shankland won't be a Hearts player next season, seems to be a rumour he's signed for West Brom which would be surprising.

[B.H.F.C]

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Quite a few Jambos believe Shankland won't be a Hearts player next season, seems to be a rumour he's signed for West Brom which would be surprising.

I hope he is away. Much as he was pish for a lot of this season I think McInnes would play him where he should play and he’d score goals.

[7Hero]

Xavier Simons has been given permission by Hull City to hold talks with
@HibernianFC
over a permanent deal. 💰✍🏻

[Donegal Hibby]

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Quite a few Jambos believe Shankland won't be a Hearts player next season, seems to be a rumour he's signed for West Brom which would be surprising.

West Brom and Southampton were rumoured to be interested a while ago , see on their forum some think they are getting Findlay from Killie too .

[SHODAN]

Updated the list. Let me know if I've missed anything.

[04Sauzee]

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West Brom and Southampton were rumoured to be interested a while ago , see on their forum some think they are getting Findlay from Killie too .

Wouldn't surprise me about Findlay as McInnes defo likes him. I wonder what that would mean for McCart, or if they would be happy to have them both.

[CentreForward]

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I hope he is away. Much as he was pish for a lot of this season I think McInnes would play him where he should play and he’d score goals.

Agree entirely. He started to score goals again towards the end of the season once Fox played him in the right place. Am sure McInness will try the same so would be very happy to see him leaving.

[Paulie Walnuts]

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Agree entirely. He started to score goals again towards the end of the season once Fox played him in the right place. Am sure McInness will try the same so would be very happy to see him leaving.

Even in a bad season he’s good for somewhere around double figures. Hearts will massively miss him if he goes.

[CentreForward]

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Even in a bad season he’s good for somewhere around double figures. Hearts will massively miss him if he goes.

Agreed and want him away!

[Leith Green]

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Was our sell on clause not just a once and done?

I think the sell on agreements are sometimes based on the selling club agreeing on receiving a percentage of any profit made on the player if he is sold in the future. Hence there being money in it for the club initially selling the player , including if the player makes any further moves. I seem to recall Hibs doing this when we sold Steven Fletcher , think we scored big time with his transfers after leaving Hibs. For this to work , the club who initially buy the player would need to have a sell on clause if they go on to sell the player. That club would then be due a percentage of the proceeds from their sale of player