Steve Kean's Hibs vision, Tommy Burns' influence and tackling Scottish football DNA to create a positive future path for kids at East Mains

Steve Kean doesn’t need to look far to be reminded of the responsibility he shoulders at Hibs.Appointed Academy Director back in November, the Scot has spoken about his desire to make the club’s player pathway the best in the country, well aware of the benefits associated with providing a conveyor belt of young talent.

“This club has always brought through a lot of their own players and what is interesting for me now is that several of those players now have sons coming through the academy. It’s not just Josh O’Connor.

“Fans love to have that connection. They love to see academy players coming through and, especially when is the son of a famous former favourite.”

Garry O’Connor is recognised as one of the youth system’s success stories, having worked his way through to the first team, where he netted 58 goals and helped them into Europe before agreeing a lucrative transfer to Lokomotiv Moscow. That transfer fee helped fund the construction of the club’s East Mains training centre.

There were others who broke into the first team and made their mark before moving on and there is the hope that history can repeat itself, as Steven Whittaker, Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson’s kids continue to progress through the age levels.

“Remember, I have spent a lot of time in England, 10 years coaching in the Championship, 10 years coaching at clubs in the Premier League, and when you have the resources they have you can go and buy a ready-made player, which it is usually easier than waiting for boys coming through but there are times when you have to budget - at the likes of Blackburn when we had to bring the wage bill rate down - and all of a sudden there were opportunities for those who were ready and they were given the chance to come through as loads and loads of them did.

“So much depends on the financial position of the club but because of the different levels of television money in Scotland compared to England there is a real push to be sustainable and progress our own young players, which is great because that is my job.”

A manager at Blackburn, as well at league and international level in Brunei, Kean has also been a technical director, a coach and assistant manager, in England, Spain, Crete and Australia, but this is the first job to bring him home since the former Celtic prospect, swapped Alloa Athletic for a playing career in Portugal back in 1988.

Steve Kean during a Hibernian team training session. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Some wondered if it was a temporary position assuming that a man who had called the shots or been working with first team professionals would tire of kids and lust for a bigger gig.

But Kean does not see his role as an auxilliary one. Given the magnitude of the job and the import it has been bestowed by the club’s owner, Ron Gordon, and its chief executive, Ben Kensell, there is an obvious enthusiasm and drive as he details his plans.

Due to lockdown and cost-cutting measures taken due to Covid when Kean arrived he was presented with a virtually blank canvas but that gave him the opportunity to sketch out his own vision.

“There were still some of the staff there, with the likes Gareth [Evans] and Eddie [May] but keeping it going had been really tough.

Former Blackburn manager and Celtic player Steve Kean is now Academy director at Hibs. (SNS Group Craig Williamson)

“Sometimes when it has been totally stripped back and there’s a lot to do in a strange way that can be better. We got good staff back in place to help it and after that it has been a case of just trying to build out the existing academy and making sure the structure is in place so that we can play friendlies in Scotland and in England. Maybe even internationally.”

Those friendlies will be a major component in player development as the Easter Road club tries to find the best way to bridge the gap between U-18 and first team level.

“That gap is too big so it’s about trying to find the right mix. In England it is easier, with the U-23 but up here, what might be good for us might not be good for someone else.

“It’s probably for the SPFL or SFA to take all the ideas I’m hearing and certainly finding a way to bridge the gap but how you do that I’m not sure.

“The best way for us just now is having a predominantly U-21 team. Our youngest will be 2001s but it will be nice to have the opportunity to play three or 4 overage players, so if the gaffer has players coming back from injury, like Paul Hanlon recently, they can drop down and play 90 minutes and that environment will be good for everyone.”

While the lack of a league format means that solution lacks a competitive edge, it is closer to the model Kean recognises from his own days coming through the ranks as a youngster on the books at Celtic.

“I think there is an expectation when you are a big club. You are expected to grow up quickly and I remember being very young and all of a sudden finding myself in a reserve team with senior pros like Frank McGarvey, Tommy Burns, Davie Provan and Murdo MacLeod, who were coming back from injury or suspension. I was a young boy but in those games you’re not a young boy you’re just another player so you need to grow up quickly.

“I think we give them longer now and we understand that some of them are emotionally quite young even though some of them are in men’s bodies. Young Jacob McIntyre springs to mind, who is not long turned 16 but he is playing under 18 football and getting close to training with the first team. Basically, he is a machine but emotionally we have to still look after players like him. Okay, they’re not babies but they are young, young men.”

At Hibs there are plenty of the old guard willing to help and advise but it is giving them that kind of mentoring in games that is useful in helping youngsters break through to Shaun Maloney’s first team squad.

“Tommy Burns was like that for me. In a reserve game Tommy was brilliant with all the young players. He was one that would always help when you were first coming through, then I went on to work with Tommy when he came to Reading. There are certain senior pros who find that it comes to them more easily and Tommy was definitely like that. He was magnificent and then as a manager, he was a great man-to-man manager as well as a coach.

“But things have evolved. Back then it was probably seen as a weakness if you showed your emotions. Back then you wouldn't even ask questions, it was more commands and you just did as you were told. Today, when we do analysis, we ask boys for immediate feedback and we are trying to use it as a learning tool because science will tell you if they understand it and are confident enough to ask a question or tell you the answer then it is more likely to sink in and hopefully you will not have to go and revisit that again.”

With decades to draw upon, as a player and a coach, in the UK and abroad, 54 year-old Kean was seen as an obvious replacement when Jack Ross was sacked earlier this season but he didn’t even take temporary charge.

“It was never spoken about,” he says. “I think it was always going to be Dave [Gray] and I think that was the right thing to do. I have a massive job to do and I am really happy doing the job I am doing.

“I think it is something that you can get your teeth into and I have been truly backed by Ben and by the chairman.”

It certainly comes with less hassle than his managerial debut at Blackburn a decade ago. Written off as the voice-piece of highly unpopular owners as the club battled relegation, there were sit-ins and political interference, placards and even a plane which circled over Ewood Park trailing a banner which suggested he be ousted.

But all of that means he can empathise with young players who are subjected to social media pile-ons and forms another part of his job as he mould the potential into something tangible he can then pass onto the first team.

“I think the psychology of the game is one of the most important things now and we have to prepare them for what is effectively, at times, cyber bullying. It can be that brutal. We are very big on education and we try to make them resilient and teach them about not only what’s on social media but also about everything about the game that has moved on in terms of their diet and analysis and ask them to reflect on their games. And about being real about that.”

As the Academy Director it is about overseeing it all and finding a way to make the players as well-rounded and adaptable as possible.

Recruiting them has not been difficult, not when they show them the route through to the first team, and explain how high they could be in the pecking order.

Players such as Paul Hanlon, Lewis Stevenson, Ryan Porteous and, more recently, Josh Campbell prove possibilities exist at Easter Road, while previous golden generations highlight the other potential fork in the road.

Having played abroad himself Kean believes there are more of today’s players willing to follow suit, while Brexit has rendered Scotland a more appetising market for English clubs. And, if he can keep the conveyor belt turning then filling the team and the club coffers should be viable.

“I think we will see a lot more of our Scottish lads going to England because of Brexit. That is certainly a trend. I just need to look at the number of scouts at our games. It is easier for them to get Scottish players than others who don’t qualify for points.”

But, keeping players on after U-18 as they try to aid the transition to the first team is not cheap - “It could probably finance another couple of first team players,” admits Kean - so the onus is on him and the rest of the academy coaches to ensure it is money well spent.

They have a first team manager who has shown a willingness to give youth its chance to bloom, fielding one of the youngest squads in Europe in recent times but, his experiences at home and abroad, gives Kean a greater sense of how to achieve that, comparing the temperament and the traits of players as well as the excuses and the reasons for past problems.

For a start, looking to expand the training centre, he says the climate and facilities are not an excuse but a reason for Scotland’s struggles.

“I know quite a lot of Icelandic players and they had something similar. They were in a pretty bleak environment but then they built so many centres, away from the elements, where they could run so many programmes and look at how they have pulled themselves up through the rankings. So that has to be done.

“It is easier in England because the money is so big in the Premier League but only once you have those indoor areas can that ‘excuse’ be taken that off the table when it comes to technical abilities.

“But if you don’t provide those facilities then I think it remains a factor. But it is not the only reason.

“With Scottish players the passion and the competitiveness is there in abundance but sometimes that pushes against the technical side. Scottish boys would rather put the jerseys down and have a 5-aside, than do a technical session that might make them better, but that is in the DNA. It is about showing I’m better than you and enough of this technical stuff I want a game!

“In Europe they want to practice for longer and have a little bit of a game at the end and sometimes they don't even bother if there's no game. I think we do need to add more technical repetition so that when we compete, it’s on more than a physical level but facilities and weather dictate a lot of that.”

Kean does have a big job to do, tackling structures, facilities, and the intrinsic features of Scottish footballing DNA, but he has sunk his teeth into it and appears to be relishing every minute.

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