Hibs need to look to Hearts model and if hiring Shaun Maloney was bad then sacking him was horrendous - Ryan Stevenson

This might not go down well on the other side of Edinburgh but Hibs need to look at Hearts if they’re to dig themselves out of an ever-deepening hole.

That’s the truth of the matter. One half of the capital divide is flourishing and the other is withering and it all comes down to decisions at the very top of both clubs.

I said at the time I never thought Shaun Maloney was the right fit for Easter Road and I was proved right.

But if appointing him was a bad call then sacking him after just 19 games was absolutely horrendous.

Talk about kicking a guy when he’s down after back-to-back derby defeats.

But that’s football - and more to the point that’s too many club owners for you now. Too many are not football people and make emotional decisions rather than football decisions.

Too many aren’t even in the country watching what’s going on when they make these massive calls.

Maloney has been treated shockingly and should have been given the summer to sort things out. Chief executive Ben Kensell had hyped him up as “a manager who has an attacking mentality, who’s progressive, and someone who is hungry for the opportunity to build something at this big club”.

Well he’s not been given a chance. I feel for him, he’s a good person, but I don’t think he will get another job in management now. This one is on the decision makers at Easter Road who need to learn lessons.

And they should start by looking across the city to Tynecastle.

Hibs don’t need a world-beater coach. They need a manager who understands the club, understands the league, who can put a winning team on the pitch with players who have a connection with the fans.

Hearts are flourishing because they went about hiring and then backing Robbie Neilson - someone who knows the