Hibernian’s no-nonsense new manager will give players the mental toughness to succeed, claims Ivan Sproule

IVAN Sproule says Hibs players could be in for a rude awakening. Dismissing any notion of there being a good cop/bad cop management set-up at the club, he said the arrival of Pat Fenlon and his coach, Liam O’Brien, has merely supplemented the hardline style already adopted by interim boss and new assistant manager Billy Brown.

It means that there will no longer be a hiding place for a squad of players who failed to deliver under the old regime.

“I think it is going to be great,” said the Easter Road attacker. “[The new manager] is no nonsense and he is there to manage and coach and he is definitely going to help people but he is definitely going to dig people out a lot as well. If you are not pulling your weight and doing your work then I think he’s the kind of man who will soon let you know. It’s a big bad world out there and I think that’s probably what Hibs were missing and I think that’s what he is going to bring.

“It is a bit of guidance as well. The lads who are there have loads of ability. But it’s how you apply that ability and how you work through the week and prepare for games, as much mentally as it is skill and all the rest. He will work on the mental side of things and toughen us up a little bit.”

The early signs were decent at Fir Park on Friday night, with Hibs leading 1-0 by the time the lights went out on their quest for a win to mark Fenlon’s first official game at the helm.

“I was a fan of Colin Calderwood, I thought his coaching was great,” continued Sproule. “For whatever reasons, as Colin said himself, it didn’t work out and we have to move on. I wouldn’t say we weren’t getting pulled up enough; different managers have different ways of doing things and no two people are the same. Personalities are different and maybe at this moment in time, the bit of steel that the new manager has got is what we need.

“Nah [there’s no good cop/bad cop], there’s three bad ones,” he joked. “The boys know themselves that we all have a job to do. You see the support that turned out tonight for Hibs and heard how vocal they were but they are missing the good times and we have to get them back and this is the manager with a steely determination and he has won cups in the past so he knows what it is like to win things. He took his team into Europe back home [in Ireland] with a lesser budget than he will work with over here so he knows how to get the best out of players and let’s hope that’s what he does with the players at Hibs.”

The initial training sessions have been conducive to improvement, says the pacy winger who has grown fed up of being associated with defeat in recent months.

“The lads are fed up with it and I know it’s easy to say that there’s always a reaction when a new gaffer comes in but nobody likes losing and having to go back to your families at the weekend after a defeat. We have had a few of them, where you train all week and burst yourself but there’s nothing like getting a win. This won’t be fixed in one or two games, it will be a process and the manager will build his own side, so the squad know we have to build on that 45 minutes [at Motherwell] and hopefully we can train hard and build on what we have improved this week.”

Next up is Rangers in Leith on Saturday and a positive result could be a catalyst for ongoing progress, says Sproule, who is desperate for a run of wins to catapult Hibs up the SPL standings. Fenlon, though, has not pinpointed specific aims. “He hasn’t put any targets on it. He has said he doesn’t like to do much talking unless he sees things that are not going right but he’s more a doer than a talker and at this moment in time I think that’s what we need, a doer, not a talker.”

There’s been enough of that already this term with unfulfilled promises and bluster taking precedence over marked progress. Sproule acknowledges that. “The thing here is that the manager has given us all a chance. But I’m sure if we get to January and he sees it’s not working then all of us know he will come and tell us it’s not working and I would expect that. Hibs are a big club and if you want to keep playing for them then you have to put in the big performances.”