What Hibs fans need to know as a billionaire’s bid goes before the SFA board

Hampden officials have been asked to approve the transaction.

The SFA board meeting today has the potential to bring Hibs one step closer to a potentially massive leap forward. If Bill Foley’s bid to buy a minority stake in the Easter Road club is approved, a major roadblock will be removed.

What do Hibs fans need to know as the office bearers consider the issues raised when Foley’s interest was first reported here six weeks ago? And when will their team benefit from Foley’s financial clout?

This has definite advantages for Hibs.

The benefits of the deal are obvious, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, for Hibs, who just need a “nudge in the right direction” to establish themselves as prime challengers to Scottish football’s Big Two. As he put it: “And, if you are regularly finishing third in the SPFL, which means getting into the Europa League Conference at the very least, you’re going to be making money out of reaching the group stages of a UEFA competition.”

The American billionaire has a plan

This guy never does anything half-heartedly. Foley is a serious player in the world of sports, having led the Las Vegas Knights to Stanley Cup glory and transformed the fortunes of Bournemouth, who are now firmly established in the Premier League.

He has spoken openly about the advantages of investing in a Scottish club and upsetting the established order north of the Border for a relatively small sum compared to the hundreds of millions required to effect change in his major sporting interests. In exchange for the kind of money Bournemouth would pay in agent fees during a busy transfer window, he gets a stake in a team that is almost certain to play in Europe every season.

Hibs will be a part of a larger picture.

Foley recently laid out his recruitment strategy for the A-League franchise, mentioning players being able to “move on, go to Scotland. If they can go to the top of the pyramid, then they go to Bournemouth in the Premier League. If a player wants to move on, I don’t want him to move to Liverpool or Arsenal — I want him to move to us.”

“So you have a player who shows promise but he’s not quite ready for the first team,” Maguire explained, putting flesh on the bones of this model. “You want this player to get match time and he’s not getting that by playing with the under-21s in the EFL Cup. Hibs offer competitive football and decent crowds, so the player can get used to an environment where they’ll be playing in big games.

“It could well be that the players he wants for Bournemouth don’t have a work permit. You bring them to Hibernian, who are qualifying for the Europa League or Conference League. In terms of the governing body endorsement points, that helps – and you now have a player with a pathway through to the Premier League. So there are advantages in the model.

“As long as you’re not seen as just a feeder club. That would rile the fans, especially a club as proud as Hibernian, being seen as a feeder for – no disrespect to Bournemouth – a club who don’t have anything like their heritage.”

There are concerns about ‘dual/triple/quadruple interest’.

The fact that Foley’s Black Knight group owns a majority stake in Bournemouth, a minority stake in French club Lorient, and a licence for a new A-League club based in New Zealand raises obvious concerns. He’s also trying to close a deal in the Netherlands to broaden his portfolio.

Hibs are confident that by limiting Foley to a non-controlling interest, the SFA board – which considers these matters on a case-by-case basis – will see the benefits of approving them. With UEFA already relaxing its rules on multi-club investments, the tide is only going in one direction.

This is NOT a takeover attempt.

Hibs will continue to be run by the Gordon family. Ron Gordon’s wishes were that his son, Ian, and widow Kit retain a majority stake in the club that he bought from Sir Tom Farmer in 2019. That is critical.

The next steps…

The basic principles of this agreement were quickly hammered out. Both parties are eager to move forward. The question everyone wants answered is whether or not the deal will be completed in time for the January transfer window – the most obvious opportunity to provide proof of concept to sceptics.

In other news, Hibs’ interest in Musa Toure has been confirmed as Nick Montgomery scours the Australian market.