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Losses at Hibs 'not sustainable'

Hibernian's chief executive has admitted that the club's losses are not sustainable - £5.8 m in the past year and £18m over four seasons: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cly98887xkgo

The chief executive said that the owning Gordon family could not be expected to continue to underwrite losses.

The challenges faced by an historic club in Scotland's capital city reflect the financial challenges facing Scottish football as a whole.

Another way of bringing extra cash to the club is to find an investment partner. Hibs did this with Bill Foley’s Black Knight group, generating £6m in return for a 25 per cent shareholding of the club in back in February 2024.

However, the partnership with the Bournemouth owner ended “amicably” last year, with the Gordons buying the shares back. It is understood there was a difference in strategies. Since then, there has been speculation that other parties are keen to get involved at Easter Road - including Midtjylland owner Anders Hoch Povlsen.

Barnett confirmed there has been interest from outside the confines of Easter Road, but intimated Hibs are against being a feeder club and wary of getting involved in a multi-club model again - especially with tighter regulations from UEFA surrounding ownership. The demotion of Crystal Palace to the Conference League from the Europa League this season because of businessman John Textor’s involvement in both them at Lyon has served as a lesson to many.

Hibs season ticket holder Angus from Portobello comments: 'Hibs probably have a larger squad than necessary if savings need to be made. The club can't rely on a big fee for selling on a player like Bowie very often, and it would be difficult to increase the income from ticket sales by much. However, Hibs must still be the fifth best funded team in Scotland after Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen, and can't keep making losses on the scale of recent years. Prospects for income from European matches next season are not good, which won't help,'

 


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