Nick Montgomery's hidden Hibs improvements as Lewis Stevenson explains big club mentality taking hold

Lewis Stevenson admits Nick Montgomery has made it clear he wants Hibs to be a ‘big club’ - but insists it is a secret how their new boss plans to get them there.

Montgomery has made a promising start to life in charge of the Leith side with the club’s fans excited by his entertaining attacking football. That was the case on Saturday in the goal-less draw with Dundee as they drew a blank, despite having 23 attempts at goal.

But veteran fullback Stevenson admits the former Central Coast Mariners boss is also implementing huge changes behind the scenes when it comes to the squad’s mental strength. Stevenson said: “There’s been tactical changes but it’s not just that, off the pitch there’s been a mentality and attitude shift that the manager has really pushed. I think that will stand us in good stead for times to come. He came and saw a few issues, which he has sorted early doors. We’ve all bought into it, and even for me at 35 it’s good to keep things fresh. I’ve really enjoyed it since he’s come in.

“I don’t want to give too much away, some things we need to keep in-house! But he wants us to act like a big club, things that might not seem big. There were attitude and mentality shifts that did need to be changed, and he spotted that early doors and put it right.

“It’s raising standards, if we want to be a big club we need to act like a big club. It’s little things that go a long way. We had a motivational speaker come in during the week and give a really good speech.

"It was really interesting, he spoke for ages and it was enjoyable. Everyone bought into it and that’s the way we need to go – young and old, we need to have that growth mindset. I’m getting a bit deep here, but we’re trying to evolve all the time.