McDermott exits as Hibernian Director of Football after a year

Former Reading and Leeds United manager Brian McDermott is leaving his role as Director of Football at Hibernian.

The news follows the arrival of Malky Mackay as the club’s new Sporting Director at the start of this month. Mackay, who was Ross County manager until last November, has a remit of “driving the club forward both strategically and operationally.”

McDermott, 63, joined Hibs in May 2023 in his first Director of Football role. However, the club recently conducted a review of operations following failure to finish in the top six of the Scottish Premiership and have now announced that McDermott will be leaving at the end of this month following the expiration of his contract.

His exit comes a month after Nick Montgomery was sacked as Head Coach, having only been in the permanent role for eight months.

Writing on LinkedIn, McDermott said: “There are so many good things happening at Hibernian. It is fair to say the outcome we wanted last season did not happen.

“There have been obvious consequences from that outcome. What I will see it was never from lack of effort and desire. Sometimes in life and football things do not work out. The only thing to be done , is get up and go again.

“The supporters of the club followed the team loyally throughout the season. I hope in the future the club gets the results their support deserves.”

Mackay told the club website: "Brian is someone I’ve known for a long time and is a really good man. Brian and I had a good discussion and came to this conclusion."

Mackay, 52, has started by appointing David Gray as Head Coach. Gray was a player for Hibs before becoming First Team Coach and has also been caretaker boss on four occasions.

Mackay's remit is to lead and oversee the entire football operation, which encompasses all departments, from recruitment through to the Academy. The former Watford, Cardiff City, Wigan, Scotland and Ross County boss was Scottish FA Performance Director from 2016 to 2020, overseeing the governing body's player development strategy and creating a high-performance framework.

He has also installed former Scotland goalkeeper David Marshall as Technical Performance Manager. Marshall, 39, has just retired from playing after making 86 appearances for Hibs.

He said: "It's a great opportunity for me to work across various different performance departments and to learn from Malky who has years of experience in the game.”