Hibs 'backing new reserve league' following positive talks with SPFL and SFA

There hasn’t been a second-string competition in Scottish football since the 2019/20 SPFL Reserve League was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Several clubs had already pulled out, preferring to focus on arranging their own programme of matches.

Hibs were one of five teams to go down this route along with Aberdeen, Celtic, Rangers, and St Johnstone, despite competing in the SPFL Development League which ran in various formats until 2018.

But despite Hibs pursuing their own games programme for the last couple of seasons, Kean has suggested that the Easter Road side would support, and participate in, a revived reserve league while continuing to organise non-competition matches with clubs from England for their development team from next season.

"We've been in talks with the SPFL and SFA – there is a possibility that there will be a new reserve league format that we would support and be interested in,” he said.

"We would supplement that with playing games against teams from England that would really push our players in a different direction. Sometimes when we play teams here, everybody knows everybody else; the players know all the other players in the other team.

"We're in talks with Brentford, Blackburn Rovers, and Huddersfield Town to name a few and if we can play games against their under-23 sides then that would be a big step to pushing our youngsters and making it a much more dynamic season for our development team.”