[ritchiebaby]

Hibs have tempted one of the Australian A-League's top managers to sign a 3-year deal. Nick Montgomery, English by birth, played for Scotland Under-21s way back in 2003 and has proved himself at Central Coast Mariners, winning the A-League Championship this year.

Former Hibs' favourite, Jason Cummings was one of Montgomery's star players and maybe, just maybe, will finish up at Easter Road before long.  During his playing career, Montgomery has played alongside David Marshall, who will hopefully finish his career at Easter Road before long.

Montgomery brings with him Sergio Raimundo (assistant) and Miguel de Oliveira Miranda (goalkeeping coach) from the Mariners. SDG retains his role as first-team coach.

[Lord Snooty]

Whoever he is, he must be an improvement on the last bloke.

[HerefordBull]

Interesting time for Hibs fans and all down Easter Road way. Montgomery did wonders with Central Coast on one of the smallest, if not the smallest budget in the A League. Icing on the cake was winning the Grand Final 6 .1 against Melbourne  with Cummings scoring a hat trick.

He obviously thought now was the time to try and further his career with more opportunities in Europe and especially GB. I'm sure this is what he sees as a stepping stone into , hopefully for him, the English Leagues with his eye on the Premiership.........Sheffield United anyone?

Like all these moves there are risks and none more so than with his family with his 3 young girls having only ever known Australia for schools and friends. I'm sure he will still have a family network over here that will help to settle them but unfortunately his biggest fan, his mother, passed away in the last year.

Watch this space.........

[ritchiebaby]

Some thoughts today from the man himself in Hibs' Inside Training Podcast.

"As a man manager, Neil Warnock was fantastic. He was honest and that’s what I appreciated most. The fact that he’d tell you if you were playing or weren’t playing and explain why; you could disagree or agree, but ultimately, he’d give you that explanation. He was really good at grounding the young boys and giving you that foundation of hard work and honesty." (Snooty will enjoy that comment)

"I always believe that your behaviour as a coach is your biggest strength, and the team should represent your personality. Hard work is a non-negotiable."

"What can I say about Jason? He’d be the first to say he did silly things that went against him, but he’s a super talented player. Hibs fans know all about him. In the day and age we’re in, camera phones were definitely not Jason’s best friend, but we didn’t have that in my day playing. Jason was probably immature at the time, and when I asked people about signing him 50% of people said don’t touch him, the other 50% said if you can get the best out of him you’ve got a special talent. I believed I could get the best out of him by giving him a bit of discipline. The reality is, he’s a great lad, he’s just done some silly things that went against him."

Montgomery is saying all the right things and he's done all the right things in the recent past. I'm hopeful he'll get Hibs into being a strong, cohesive unit with player development at it's core, but don't expect it to happen all at once.

[HerefordBull]

Think your last remark Ritchie is all too true in modern day football. Fans are so fickle and with comments so easily placed on social media etc,  that a few poor results and the lynch mobs will be out and asking for yet another change of manager.

The question is, how long do you give managers? I think if the fans can at least see some type of plan and method then they stick by them but if you see a scatter gun approach to game plans and team selections with no obvious cohesion then they start to lose faith quickly..........as do the players.

One of my biggest gripes with managers is when they play with players out of position just to shoe horn them into the team and then moan when they don't have a good game!