NEW OWNER, Ron Gordon, has defended himself against accusations that he is like ‘The Invisible Man’ and is adamant he is ‘fully engaged’ every day in what is happening at Hibernian.
The Peru-born businessman arrived at Easter Road with a fanfare in July after completing his buy-out of the majority shareholding of Sir Tom Farmer and Rod Petrie, but has kept a low-profile ever since.
In the meantime, the summer optimism of his takeover has quickly given way to disappointment and anger amongst the frustrated support at the state of affairs on the pitch under manager Paul Heckingbottom.
The sacking of Heckingbottom and assistant Robbie Stockdale earlier this week was the first real test of Gordon’s stewardship of the capital outfit and, with work having been going on behind the scenes to formulate a ‘strategic plan’ as part of a review of club affairs, he is eager to stress he is playing a hands-on role at Easter Road.
He said: “I’d start by saying that it’s always good when ‘The Invisible Man’ makes an appearance!
“I’m happy to be here, although it’s been a difficult week. I would echo the feeling around the club, that Paul and Robbie made a real contribution and worked very hard to try and get us to where we want to be.
“But sometimes these things happen in football. It’s been a little bit of a turbulent time but I think the club’s strong and will sail through that as it has in the past and will do so again in the future.
“I’m engaged every day in the things that are going on at the club and I’m certainly tuned into the games. I may not be here all the time but I’m very aware of what’s going on.
PROGRESS
“This is not an investment that was made, on my part, for me not to be involved. I’m very engaged and I think the whole group at Easter Road and HTC [Hibs Training Centre] is very engaged in the kind of progress that we want to make as a club.”
Gordon, who took over the role of chairman from Petrie in the summer, will, however, take a backseat role in the appointment of the successor to Heckingbottom.
He added: “It’ll be as I’ve seen my role from the very beginning. I think we have very strong leadership in Leeann Dempster and Graeme Mathie. I want to let them do what they do best and to be there to support them.
“I think, ultimately, we need to look at what the vision for the club is and they’re part of that in terms of what the football standards and goals we have look like.
“They’re there to lead and run the show. My goal is to support them.”
