Hibs Recruitment - An Analysis of 5 Transfer Windows For David Gray

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Smurf

Smurf

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May 15, 2003
22 Permanent signings of which 18 are still at the club and 10 loan signings of which 1 is still at the club. So 32 signings in total. Fair to say David Gray has been backed in terms of quantity. Has he been backed in terms of quality? Overall I'd say he has with the permanent signings. Triantis aside the loan signings hasn't been great. Too early to judge the summer activity thus far but I'm no too optimistic. The permanent signings in 2024 and 2025 looked better quality for me.

Summer 2024
P Kieron Bowie ✅️
P Junior Hoilett ✅️
P Jack Iredale ✅️
P Nicky Cadden ✅️
P Marvin Ekpiteta ❌
P Dwight Gayle ✅️
P Warren O’Hora ✅️
P Jordan Smith ✅️

L Kwon Hyeok-kyu ❌
L Mykola Kuharevich ❌
L Josef Bursik ❌
L Nectarios Triantis ✅️

January 2025
P Alasana Manneh ❌

Summer 2025
P Thibault Klidjé ❌
P Miguel Chaiwa ✅️
P Raphael Sallinger ✅️
P Jamie McGrath ✅️
P Grant Hanley ✅️
P Josh Mulligan ✅️

L Zach Mitchell ❌
L Dan Barlaser ✅️

January 2026
P Ante Suto ❌
P Owen Elding ✅️
P Felix Passlack ✅️
L Munashe Garananga ❌
L Dane Scarlett ❌
L Kai Andrews ❌

Summer 2026
P Jason Kerr
P Adam Mayor
P Callum Wright
P Azeem Abdulai
L Nathan Lowe
 
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I thought we were signing a Hibs captain in Kerr -- maybe he'll come good with a bit of time. Lowe has looked the best of this summer's signings thus far, though, and alas he's the one loanee. Mayor has looked competent, Wright I haven't seen, and Abdulai looked shite, tbh.
 
At our level, recruitment is always going to be a bit hit or miss.
Looking at that chart it's kind of what you would expect, basically 50-50 success rate in two years.
I'm concerned at this summers recruitment going by what I have seen so far.
I think it's a mistake to jump to conclusions about individual players based on one or two appearances, but you can get an initial impression.
Azeem Abdulai is getting slaughtered already, but has barely played any football in the last few months....I doubt Hibs would have signed him thinking he was shite and saying "let's just sign him anyway to piss off some Hibs fans". They clearly saw something in him to develop and nurture and I am willing to give him time to adjust to the rigours of top flight scottish football.

And therein lies the problem we have.
If we are continuing to recruit young players from the English lower leagues we are always going to face the same issues.
These players will not have been getting their game regularly for their previous clubs...that's why Hibs have been able to sign them.
They are also within our wage structure, which is another discussion...however it seems pretty clear to me that Hibs budgets have been reduced for the summer recruitment.

Malky McKay as Sporting Director heads up all football related matters at Hibs.
His head of recruitment is Garvan Stewart assisted by David Marshall.
David Gray will tell them they type of player he wants and it's their job to find them.
IMO we lack experience in key areas of the team.
With Rocky out for the season, we needed a big personality strong central defender even on loan for a year...on first glance Jason Kerr does not
look like an adequate substitute for Rocky....but maybe in time he will be.
We also need an experienced playmaker in midfield, and definitely up front.
Instead we have a bunch of out of favour youngsters from the English lower leagues apart from Nathan Lowe who of course is a loan signing.

There is still time to rescue the situation...a full month of the window left.
We need three experienced quality additions, with a few leaving, otherwise I just cannot see Hibs having anything like a successful season.
We have key players out at the moment, a highly regrettable situation right at the start of the season, and we need them back quickly, but for me several ins and outs needed
before close of play if we are going to have the sort of season we all hope for. Have we got the budget to do that ?
If we don't do that, than I am very concerned about the season ahead.
 
I thought Marvin Ekpiteta was actually a pretty good player - sadly didn't get a consistent run. From what i can see he's doing OK at MK Dons.

When we played a system that suited him, Myko was excellent. Unfortunately it was too little and too late.

Folk thought O'Hora was gash when he first signed. I would argue he's now one of our most consistent performers.

When Rocky Bushiri first played for us, people said he was shit. Folk were raging when we "accidentally" signed him. He's had his 'rocky' moments but i love the big fella.

People regularly slagged Jordan Obita last seasion but he was easily one of the best players on the field yesterday.

What I'm saying is that this latest crop of players need a little time before we can truly judge their worth. Nathan Lowe is a young lad in a hurry but he will come good. On thursday he showed some lovely touches - not just in the final third either. One moment he's in our half chesting the ball down and holding off his man then controlling the ball and getting a pass away, the next he's in amongst it in the box. Elding is a cracking wee player - we all know football is a game of fine margins but if his long range shot had gone in yesterday I think the whole post match narrative would have been very different. I genuinely thought Mayor had a good showing in the last two games. He'll get better given time. I thought Kerr was (mostly) excellent on Thursday. Less so yesterday but on balance I think he's an improvmenet on Hanley who is just too slow now.

Where questions need to be asked is who is scouting and green-lighting the Klidje and Manneh type appointments? I said it at the time but Klidje just isn't the type of player we should be signing - certainly not at that price. But for every Klidje we signed a Chaiwa and for every Manneh we have a Mulligan or a McGrath so it's not all bad.

The really big question mark is over coaching - our set pieces are ineffective (a long standing problem that never seems to get addressed). But more serious, we just don't do the simple stuff very well and without sounding like a broken record, our ball retention is terrible - something Motherwell did very well last season and on the evidence of yesterday continue to do so. I said after the first leg in Kosovo that we seemed like a team of strangers and at times yesterday that felt like it was still the case. We also tend to resort to the same thing over and over - get the ball out wide then try and whip in a cross in the hope that someone is on the end of it. Where we were more of a threat yesterday was where we ran with the ball into the box and forced them to defend. I suspect we'd benefit from creating a little bit more chaos.

I thought the subs yesterday were a bit gash. That said, I actually thought the combo of Suto and Lowe worked but weakening us in midfield was inexplicable. I know we had one eye on Thursday but we should have been making substiutions to up the tempo and win the game not slow it down.
 
Bit harsh on Suto I think

I think the expectation on transfers is around 50% success even in the best teams so on permanent deals we’ve done okay

Also probably tells you what a mess we were in when David took over
 
Purple & Green said:
Bit harsh on Suto I think

I think the expectation on transfers is around 50% success even in the best teams so on permanent deals we’ve done okay

Also probably tells you what a mess we were in when David took over
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At the last two
AGMs, McKay talked about 70 to 80 % success rate for transfers. That is the metric he should be judged on.
 
Suto almost scored yesterday again when a half chance was created in the box for him, and it took a good reflex save from the Motherwell goalkeeper to keep it out.
I don't think he has been given a proper chance in this team.
He looks like he knows where the goals are, and if we actually started creating some clear cut chances in the box I think he could be a regular scorer for us.

I also think Klidge needs a run of games.
He came on against Morasheva and immediately provided some much needed energy, had a couple of good runs, and set up Elding for a chance which he should have scored with. Like Suto, he has came on in matches and affected the games with either goals or setting up chances.

So here is my criticism of the manager, he needs to give certain players a run of games in the first team.
They are being paid to play football for Hibs, not sit on the bench.
 
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Greenpower said:
Plenty wrong with Hibs players, that’s why they play for hibs
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They're not going to play for Barcelona are they. I would have thought my post should have been pretty clear. They're all capable of playing well in our league with proper coaching.
 
Few players that are hard to judge as they never seem to get much on a run in the team. Suto looks good when he comes on but just doesn't get a long enough spell, Klidge for the money we've paid should be starting every game if he was good enough. Like Megwa aswell but he just comes and goes under Gray.

This Summer's signings other than Lowe look a pretty poor standard, maybe more to come but so far we dont look to have improved. We haven't replaced key players who have left going back a few years now.

Would a new manager do better with this crop of players im not so sure, there needs to be a reset in the whole club I feel.
 
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Bangkokhibby said:
They're not going to play for Barcelona are they. I would have thought my post should have been pretty clear. They're all capable of playing well in our league with proper coaching.
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You said … there is nothing wrong with any of our players… that’s just simply stupid
 
Bangkokhibby said:
Meaning they could all be coached into a decent unit to compete well in this league by a better manager than Gray. If you don't understand that you're the stupid one.
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And here's a wee tip for you. The laughing emoji isn't a great way to close a disagreement.
 
Whole heartily disagree with the Mykola X
He wasn't a game winner, but he made sure the game winners could do their thing.
Mykola was a good player for Hibs. Vital tools that we still need.

Suto I'm no convinced by either, but he produced last term. Jury's out still.
 
Hammi said:
Whole heartily disagree with the Mykola X
He wasn't a game winner, but he made sure the game winners could do their thing.
Mykola was a good player for Hibs. Vital tools that we still need.

Suto I'm no convinced by either, but he produced last term. Jury's out still.
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I disagree with the Hanley:xyes:. Opinions eh.....

Suto.... I think he's going to be injured for a lot of his contract...
 
Purple & Green said:
Bit harsh on Suto I think

I think the expectation on transfers is around 50% success even in the best teams so on permanent deals we’ve done okay

Also probably tells you what a mess we were in when David took over
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He might come good and has the potential to do so. However, he was a not insignificant investment at a six figure amount to buy him and a decent wage. Our return thus far has been poor.
 
Seems to go downhill every window. Summer 2024 looks decent, summer 2025, mulligan and Chaiwa apart, I’m not sure about. Don’t rate Sallinger and highly as others and Hanley absolutely not a good signing.

January signings? Not for me. Yet to be convinced with Passlack. Elding has potential but someone please help him practice his finishing.

As for this summer? Cheap bargain basement stuff. It looks clear as day that we are either skint or just not willing to pay for quality. That is not a group of players to improve us one bit.
 
Steve20 said:
Seems to go downhill every window. Summer 2024 looks decent, summer 2025, mulligan and Chaiwa apart, I’m not sure about. Don’t rate Sallinger and highly as others and Hanley absolutely not a good signing.

January signings? Not for me. Yet to be convinced with Passlack. Elding has potential but someone please help him practice his finishing.

As for this summer? Cheap bargain basement stuff. It looks clear as day that we are either skint or just not willing to pay for quality. That is not a group of players to improve us one bit.
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Passlack! He's been one our best players, pretty much since he arrived imo.
 
Passlack is probably my favourite player at the moment.

You know within a few games if a signing is going to work out. Klidje from the off wasn’t going to be a success considering the fee and the boy who came on for the last 20 on Sunday was terrible. He wont cut it either. Manor has had a shaky start and isn’t an upgrade on what we’ve had over previous seasons.

Desperately need a change of style or else we’re going to be near the bottom of the table very soon.
 
Steve20 said:
Seems to go downhill every window. Summer 2024 looks decent, summer 2025, mulligan and Chaiwa apart, I’m not sure about. Don’t rate Sallinger and highly as others and Hanley absolutely not a good signing.

January signings? Not for me. Yet to be convinced with Passlack. Elding has potential but someone please help him practice his finishing.

As for this summer? Cheap bargain basement stuff. It looks clear as day that we are either skint or just not willing to pay for quality. That is not a group of players to improve us one bit.
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:openmouth
 
Smurf said:
Summer 2026
P Jason Kerr
P Adam Mayor
P Callum Wright
P Azeem Abdulai
L Nathan Lowe
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Probably too early to judge but from what I've seen in the 4 games I've watched none of these guys look obvious improvements on the guys they are replacing (should everyone be fit). I'll make an exception on Lowe as he isn't an obvious replacement for anyone except maybe Scarlett, in which case yes, he is an improvment. Based on early performances Kerr is no upgrade on Rocky.

I thought we were meant to be moving away from squad fillers, to guys who can come straight into the starting XI and improve us.
 
Aslong as he's not made of glass like a few of our signings then great, if he is then we need a replacement, cant be arsed with us playing players like Mulligan and Chaiwa out of position for months.
 
Noticeably more successful signings in close season rather than mid season window....only your assessments of course 😎
 
Lowe looks absolutely shit and the type of player some boring stats buffoon has recommended. Please sign a mercurial patter merchant player for once ffs
 
dryan said:
Lowe looks absolutely shit and the type of player some boring stats buffoon has recommended. Please sign a mercurial patter merchant player for once ffs
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Early days’, but disagree. I reckon he could be a good player for us.
 
dryan said:
Lowe looks absolutely shit and the type of player some boring stats buffoon has recommended. Please sign a mercurial patter merchant player for once ffs
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Basing his potential on that lack of service against Motherwell??

Hes not the quickest over 20 yards but most bigger units arent. He's def quicker than Dykes would have been and arguably might have done better with his chance in the 2nd half but Im quite looking forward to seeing him battering a few defenders out the way when McGrath for one gives him better crosses to reach.
 
Another great performance from stats merchant Lowe. Absolute shit. He’ll be dropped by october
 
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