Garry O'Connor reckons new Hibs golden generation is looming as he claims Lee Johnson 'missed a trick'

Garry O'Connor believes a new golden generation of Hibs starlets are about to take Easter Road by storm after being overlooked by Lee Johnson.

The former Scotland striker was part of a Hibee conveyer belt of talent that saw Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker and Derek Riordan flourish under Tony Mowbray before he left in a £1.6m move to Lokomotiv Moscow in 2006. And he reckons there’s huge potential ready to be unleashed next season - including his own son Josh - which could go on to make the club big money. O’Connor accused former boss Johnson of failing to follow Hibs’ values by refusing to take a chance on the youngsters

But he reckons Nick Montgomery has already shown he won’t make the same mistake. Rory Whittaker became the club’s youngest ever top team player when Montgomery blooded him in only his second game in charge at the age of 16 years and 44 days. Josh Landers, also 16, followed soon after and there’s a number of the side that reached the UEFA Youth League quarter finals last season gaining valuable experience on loan down the divisions.

Kenayo Megwa is at Airdrie with O’Connor junior and Murray Aiken while Kyle McClelland and Oscar MacIntyre are getting minutes with Queen of the South. And, asked if those youngsters could emulate his own generation, O’Connor told the Down the Slope podcast: “One hundred per cent.

"Lee Johnson missed a trick. He wouldn’t play young players. He wanted to buy players. He lost the values of Hibs because Hibs always had players coming through the ranks. You’ve always got one or two worth a million or one-and-a-half million like Josh Doig. But if you look at that squad now who do you think’s worth money? Nobody.

“But look at Josh, Murray Aiken, Kenayo...they were