A 'game-changing' deal that changed little at Hibs

Hibs faced Bournemouth in a pre-season friendly in July

When Bill Foley's £6m investment in Hibernian got the thumbs up from shareholders in early 2024, then chief executive Ben Kensell described the deal as "game changing" for the Easter Road club.

Now Foley and Hibs have gone their separate ways, with the Gordon family buying back those shares, and the truth is very little changed at all.

Fans will always get excited when an American billionaire rolls up, although some were wary of becoming a feeder club for Bournemouth, who sit at the top of Foley's footballing pyramid.

Along with Foley's money, two directors arrived from his Black Knight group and Garvan Stewart made the switch from Bournemouth to become head of recruitment.

But there was to be no stream of talent coming from Premier League, or any other club in Foley's stable. Barely a trickle.

Emiliano Marcondes saw out the last six months of his Cherries contract on loan with Hibs, a deal that was arranged while Foley awaited Scottish FA approval to take on his minority share.

Nathan Moriah-Welsh followed the same path at the same time, for a small transfer fee, and has since left for Mansfield Town, while injury scuppered a loan for defender Owen Bevan.

And that was it for movement between the clubs, bar Hibs' training ground visit to England's south coast and pre-season friendly in July of this year.

There was a minor spat in the summer of 2024 when Foley told BBC Sport the "other ownership group" was "not listening" to Black Knight input, suggesting "they will do better" if they did.

It was widely reported Foley did not approve of the decision to make Malky Mackay sporting director or the appointment of a rookie head coach in David Gray.

However, clear-the-air talks followed and all appeared well as Hibs recovered from a dreadful start to finish third in the Scottish Premiership last season.

Before his 25% Hibs stake was ratified, Foley had revealed his plan to take a Scottish team to "number three [behind Celtic and Rangers] with not a gigantic investment".

The 80-year-old, who did not once attend a game in Edinburgh, spoke then of being "supportive" but was never likely to be a silent partner and perhaps grew impatient with his lack of influence. Hibs chairman Ian Gordon cited "philosophical differences in our visions" when announcing the "amicable" split.

The feeder club notion was dismissed repeatedly by those at Easter Road and at the Black Knight group and, with no obvious feeding going on either way, what was the arrangement ever going to achieve?

Hibs announced eye-watering losses of over £7m in February and now the Gordon family will be paying a similar sum to Foley. That outlay could delay or derail some of their plans.

But the overriding feeling is that, while the club may have picked up some valuable best-practice advice over the past 20 months, Hibs are pretty much back where they started.

Grayy took Hibs to number three last term and that's what supporters care about. The Foley episode will soon be forgotten.