Former Celtic and Scotland forward Shaun Maloney named Hibs manager

Shaun Maloney has been appointed as the new manager of Hibernian less than 24 hours after their League Cup final defeat.

The former Celtic and Scotland forward has left his role as Belgium assistant manager to replace Jack Ross, who was sacked following a poor run of league form, on a deal until 2025.

David Gray, who led Hibs into Sunday’s cup final as caretaker boss, will remain at Easter Road as a first-team coach.

Maloney will also be joined by assistant manager Gary Caldwell and a coaching team of Valerio Zuddas, Brian Doogan and Craig Samson.

Hibs chief executive Ben Kensell said: “We wanted to acquire a manager who has an attacking mentality, who’s progressive, and someone who is hungry for the opportunity to build something here at this big club.

“Shaun has been the standout candidate throughout this process as his idea of football is completely aligned with ours and the history of this football club.

“He believes in attacking, possession-based football, and has implemented it at the highest level with Roberto Martínez at Belgium.”

FA Cup hero

Maloney broke through as a teenager at Celtic, making more than 100 appearances before moving to Aston Villa in the English Premier League.

But his stay didn’t last long and he returned to Glasgow for another three years before venturing south again to join Wigan Athletic, for whom he set up the winning goal in the FA Cup final at Wembley in 2013.

The Malaysian-born forward ended his playing career with spells at Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer and Hull City before turning to coaching.

He was capped 47 times for Scotland, among the highlights the only goal of the match in a 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Young players

Kensell said Hibs wanted a new manager who would be able to develop young players coming through the club’s academy.

He said: “He is also a coach that wants to develop the players we have at this football club, as we have assembled a good squad. He’s aligned with our focus on bringing through young talent through our development team and wants to work with young players.

“Shaun’s a young coach and this is a big opportunity for him to show what we can do. We will support him in the upcoming transfer windows to help him achieve our ambitions here.

“We have real belief in Shaun, and he has huge belief in himself. He is determined to bring success here at Hibernian FC.”