Calderwood wants to lead Hibs to 'Utopia' but is quick to stress his number one priority is winning

• Colin Calderwood, unveiled as new Hibs manager yesterday, has been a regular visitor to Easter Road in a scouting capacity in recent years, and did not hesitate to leave a job he loved at Newcastle alongside Chris Hughton, to be a manager again Main picture: Jane Barlow

While the squad which participated in the European Championship finals of 1996 and the World Cup finals two years later did not earn many plaudits for artistic impression, history has shown their unbdouted worth as Scotland have since suffered an ever lengthening exile from international tournaments.

So when the new Hibs manager spoke yesterday of style being secondary to substance when it comes setting out his teams, it should really have come as no surprise.

Calderwood will bring pragmatism to a club whose supporters have a reputation for demanding a certain level of panache from the sides they pay to watch. But as John Hughes' successor freely admitted following his untrailed appointment at Easter Road last night, the manner in which he pursues success might not earn universal approval.

"You need to win, that's the bottom line," said Calderwood when quizzed on his own footballing philosophy.

"I think an easier way is to ask players that I've managed or coached. That's the relationship that's got me all my managerial jobs so far, it has been that relationship and coaching ideas that has put me forward. Certainly from the Northampton one, the Tottenham players I'd played with had a big influence in getting me that job.

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"The style of football might not seem appealing to other people but they know it's the right way. You need the ball to play with it and I certainly want to do that.

"Preferably, there has to be a pass. Not too many teams go direct time after time but it's the same old nonsense managers will spout. Everyone wants to play the pretty game but you've got to win."

Not that Calderwood completely eschews romantic ambition. Despite arriving in an SPL which current sees Rangers and Celtic already out of sight of the trailing pack after both winning their first eight games of the season, the 45-year-old is eyeing the day when he can lead Hibs into battle against the Old Firm on an equal footing.

"Its utopia at the minute, isn't it?," he added. "But while that might seem a distance away, there are steps you can take.Football is levelling out financially all over the world, so the aim has to be to get closer to the Old Firm and then challenge them.

"Can we progress? Can we find a consistency that gets us above the teams around us? I think that is the first step.

"At some point a club develops, a Porto developed in Portugal and became European Champions, so you have to have that ultimate dream that you can go forward. But a lot of things will have to slip into place and the one thing is the development of the players and the club.

"The infrastructure looks tremendously sound, how the relationship with the players develops is something I really want to get into, afford them their opportunity to shine."

Despite having spent all of his career until now in England, both as a player and a coach, Calderwood does not come into the Hibs job completely ignorant of either the Easter Road squad or Scottish football as a whole. By a happy accident, he spent most of his scouting missions north of the border in recent years at his new place of employment.

"It's probably one of the teams I've seen most, that's luck really," he said. "I ended up accessing games on Sundays from Newcastle and also when I was at Nottingham Forest we were up scouting. I have probably been at this ground more than any other in Scotland.

"I think this club is steeped in history and the amount of times I have been here to play and watch games, it has felt like a football club. And, similar to Newcastle, it feels like a football city.

"A lot of people might not agree with that and some have said that to me. But when I turn up at games here I see a genuine knowledge and a genuine passion for football.

"I don't think anything that has gone on in the past matters now. It's about what happens in the future and the kind of relationship I can strike with the players.

"I'm obviously new to all of them, but as I say, I know them to a degree with watching games on the telly and doing a bit of scouting as well.

"But there is a freshness about meeting people who you don't really know. There is no-one even really who I can contact up here who would have any influence on me so I'm going at it with a completely blank sheet of paper.

"I know what the club is. I know how terrific the stadium is. I know the youth team has done particularly well over the last three or four years and that there is another good group coming through.

"I now have an opportunity to help these boys become the stars of the future. I want them to be coming into a successful team and a successful club with a bit of continuity.I want to be here for a period of time that will allow me to help them develop into the stars of the future."

Calderwood admitted it was something of a wrench to leave a post in the English Premier League but deep down had never been satisfied in the role of assistant manager.

"Chris Hughton at Newcastle was very aware if a club showed an interest and I felt it was the right place I might walk away. We had a very open relationship and we have been friends for a long time and that friendship will never waver.

"The spell as a number two at Newcastle did help me but it was always in my head to be a manager in my own right again. I'm getting the chance to do it in a top league with the chance of European football.

"I'm coming into a league which is new to me. It's completely fresh. I could have had an opportunity to go and manage with a club in the Championship or League One but I found a club that wanted me and the club found a person who definitely wants to be here.

"To leave the Premiership behind was obviously a big decision. It's the top level league - one of the most watched leagues all over the world. There is a lot of glamour down there too but you have to go about your own business.

"My business is coaching and managing. In terms of moving myself forward as an individual I think this is the right move."