Welcome to Easter Road in the Scottish capital where i'm excited to have taken on the role as Hibernian manager, my biggest job yet with what i hope will be plenty of success ahead.
The Journey So Far...
If you've missed any of the previous updates, you can read a quick summary on how it's gone so far here. In the last update, I'd just taken the job at Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League, and in this post I will be delving in to how my first foray into Scottish football has gone. I've opted to stick with the same running title of this blog series, despite having now moved across the North Sea. I think it makes more sense than keep changing it - I hope you agree.
Before i get to the update though, some pleasing news came through in my final days at FC Emmen as i completed my Continental Pro coaching licence, the highest accolade attainable. It's taken around 9 years to achieve, having started the save as an unknown manager with Sunday-League experience, and now have a 3.5 star reputation after 4 jobs (including Hibs) in management.
FM Athlete - manager profile in 2018
FM Athlete - manager profile in 2027
As a brief reminder, the goal of this save is to manage one of the big clubs in England, something i believe i'm on track to achieve one day.
State of Play
Anyway, back to the update from Hibernian. Unlike most new starts, i'm not following on from a failing manager that got the sack. Derek Innes has moved on to bigger and better things as he takes on the role as Scotland Manager, which leaves me with a different challenge.
Hibernian 2027/28
We have a fairly decent side and are performing well across all competitions. After 16 games, Hibernian currently lie in 4th place in the league, 12 points behind league leaders Rangers and 3 points off 2nd placed Aberdeen.
A quick look at the history books has Celtic down as having won the last 16 league titles consecutively. With them in 3rd at the moment, this could be the year we see their crown topple as i can't see them closing the gap on Rangers. For us, that means a challenge for the other Champions League slot in 2nd.
Elsewhere we're 2nd in Europa League Group C and are through to the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup, having already been knocked out of the Betfred Cup in the Quarter Finals.
Hibernian 2027/28 - Competitions Overview
In terms of league form, we've failed to beat either Rangers or Celtic in the home and away fixture against both clubs, while also losing at home to Edinburgh rivals Hearts and away to Motherwell. Recent results have us with just one win in our last 5 league games so looks like we're in a bit of a dip.
I take up my new job on the same day as out final Europa League group game against 3rd placed Ludogorets, a winner-takes-all match for both sides wishing to progress to the knockout stages. I'll come back to the game later as i settle in to some much needed FM admin first.
Squad Assessment
As i mentioned, the team have been performing well overall so there's no need for any major change or upheaval for the playing staff. I couldn't afford to being my Assistant Manager with me from Emmen but a couple of coaches and one of my scouts have crossed the North Sea with me. My AM leaves a lot to be desired in terms of his attributes, but he'll have to do for now.
In terms of players, we've an impressive forward line and some creative talent in the middle as well. Robby McCrorie is our main man between the posts, while the rest of defence is a little underwhelming. Ben Gibson, formerly of Middlesbrough, is the pick of the players but at 33 yo he's not one for the future.
I'll be implementing my 4-1-4-1 tactic that i developed at Emmen, but with only one player on the books that is capable of playing as a DMC, i'll look to recruit for this role come the January transfer window.
Match Performances
As i mentioned earlier, we line up against Ludogorets in the final Europa League Group C fixture on the same day I start the job. Ludogorets are 2 points behind us so a win for them will see them through to the knockout stages of the competition instead of us.
Hibernian 2027/28 - Europa League Group C table with one game to go
The players already have reasonable familiarity with my 4-1-4-1 tactic, the shape being the main part that they'll need to adjust to, so without further ado we head to the match.
Despite being away, we started the brighter of the two sides and capped our performance off with a first half goal from our left winger Benjamin Fraser. Harrison Wilton got us the second on 54 minutes and although Ludogorets gave us an instant reply with a goal on 56 minutes, we saw the game out and made it through to the knockout stages!
Meanwhile, we had six more games to get through before the New Year and a two week winter break at the start of January. Home wins against Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Aberdeen and St Mirren, along with an away win against Ross County and a 0-0 draw away to rivals Hearts, saw us go unbeaten through the rest of December.
While we picked up 16 points, Rangers managed a meagre 4 (albeit from one less game than us). This left us lying in 2nd behind Rangers, now both on 42 points and separated by their Goal Difference.
We kicked off the New Year with two friendly wins during the Winter Break, before a 4th Round Scottish Cup tie at home to Peterhead. They were no match for us and we comfortably dispatched them 5-0. A 1-1 home draw to title challengers Rangers gave way to 7 consecutive wins in all competitions, including a league win against Celtic, a 5th Round Scottish Cup win against St Johnstone and a win from both legs of the Europa League 1st Knockout Round against Borussia Monchengladbach where we toppled them 7-1 on aggregate.
A draw to St Johnstone in the league and then a 4-0 win against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Quarter Final had us head into the Europa League 2nd Knockout Round in scintillating form. Olympique Marseille were our opponents and despite our good run so far, i knew this would be our toughest test yet. In fact we dominated the match with an impressive display and a 3-1 victory and could head to the second leg with renewed confidence.
In truth, we were no match for them in the reverse fixture and they dominated possession and dictated the play brilliantly, ultimately winning the tie 2-0 and securing their progression to the next round through that away goal in the first leg. We were not to be disheartened though, having progressed further than expected and this coming as our first defeat since i took over, an impressive run of 21 games unbeaten across all competitions. We ended the first stage of the season strongly with another 4 wins and our first league defeat to Aberdeen, followed by a pleasing win in the Scottish Cup Semi Final against Dundee United to set up a Final against Rangers after the league fixtures were over.
After 33 games, we were second on goal difference with both us and Rangers having 68 points. Incredibly we'd closed a 12 point gap to 0 points and had given ourselves a great chance at the title. As the league splits, we will take on the other 5 teams in the top half, with Rangers being served up as our first opponent, an away fixture billed as the deciding game in the race for 1st.
Our good form continued as, despite being away at Ibrox, we secured a 2-1 win, their goal a mere consolation in the 91st minute. Now 3 points ahead, it should have been plain sailing from here as we'd already proved ourselves superior to the other teams. Instead, we chose this moment to completely abandon our winning mentality and succumbed to a draw against Hamilton, followed by consecutive losses to Aberdeen and Celtic.
Meanwhile, Rangers picked up a win and two draws, enough to see them nudge a point ahead of us with 73 to our 72. It was out of our hands, and would go down to the final game of the season where we needed a win against St Johnstone and for Celtic to beat Rangers at the Celtic Stadium.
We did what was asked of us, beating St Johnstone 3-0 and to my shock and delight, so too did Celtic, defeating Rangers 3-1 and handing us the title in the process!
With the league action done and dusted, and the celebrations in full swing, we still had the small matter of the Scottish Cup Final to contest. It seemed fitting that our opponents be Rangers again and thoughts of doing the double were hard to resist. Unfortunately though, it wasn't to be and with revenge on the cards for them, they were clearly keen to make a point, beating us 2-1 in the end, but leaving us with something to aim for next season.
Season Review
It's been an incredible start to my time at Hibernian, securing a league title for the first time since 1952, not to mention being runners up in the Scottish Cup and making it through to the 2nd Knockout Round of the Europa League.
Hibernian 2027/28 - End of Season Review
I was pleased to see the spine of the team represented in the Team of the Year and unsurprisingly, many of the same names involved in the End of Season Awards as well.
Hibernian 2027/28 - Team of the Year
Hibernian 2027/28 - End of Season Awards
We've a good bunch of players here and assuming we can keep them all, i'm only looking at bringing a handful of new faces in next year to give us more strength in depth. I'm also hopeful that the Champions League prize money will help us stay on an upward trajectory as we look to continue to build up the stature of the club. More on how that pans out in the next update.
Thanks for reading the blog, i hope you enjoyed this update. You can follow me on Twitter @fm_athlete and in my FM Slack channel #fm_athlete for more updates throughout the season.