Hibs chief executive Lindsay hits out at critics' claims of penny-pinching at Easter Road

A shock Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Second Divison Ayr United, allied to a lowly tenth place in the SPL table, just four points above basement outfit Hamilton, have led to calls for Hibs to "splash the cash" to support manager Colin Calderwood.

But in an exclusive interview with the Evening News today, Lindsay insisted that's exactly what Hibs have been doing for years, backing successive managers to the hilt, both in the transfer market and with an annual increase in money spent on players' wages.

And he declared the board of directors' intention to back Calderwood all the way in providing the cash to bring new players in during the current transfer window the first, as we reveal on our back page today, being Nottingham Forest midfielder Matt Thornhill.

Hibs have been held up as a shining example of how a football club should be run, driving down debt over recent years while investing millions in both their East Mains Training Centre, and the new 6400 capacity East Stand at Easter Road, thanks, to a great degree, by the sale of players such as Garry O'Connor, Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Whittaker and Steven Fletcher.

However, their financial prudence has also been interpreted in some quarters as parsimony, an unwillingness to invest in fresh talent and a perception that Hibs players earn less than elsewhere.

"That's absolutely not the case," insisted Lindsay, "It's just not true to say we have not invested in the squad. We have spent, in the last four years, in the region of 3 million in fees to bring talent to the club.

"I look at other clubs in the League and I'm not sure if anyone outwith Rangers and Celtic will have spent that much. But we have, it's a matter of record, it's there, it's true.

"We have been prepared to recruit players for fees, the likes of Derek Riordan, Anthony Stokes and others, we paid money to bring them to the club and we are prepared to do it again if that's necessary to support the manager."

Likewise, said Lindsay, attractive wages are on offer at Easter Road, pointing out clubs don't attract players of the standard of, say Riordan, without paying a competitive salary.

He said: "In addition to the transfer fees, we have increased the budget that is available for players' wages every year for the last five seasons, again something I think you will find is unique in Scottish football."

Hibs, said Lindsay, had managed to do so at a time when revenues were falling throughout the game and in the wake of the collapse of the Setanta television deal which dealt every club a significant financial blow, the benchmark wages-to-salary ratio at Easter Road having now risen to 68 per cent.

Having painted that backdrop, Lindsay conceded fans didn't simply want to hear a re-run of the club's impressive accounts but an assurance as to the future, accepting that, at the moment, Hibs lay in a perilous position.

He said: "We understand the position we are in, the fight that lies ahead and the strength of feeling amongst the supporters. Everyone in the club is hurting too, we share the disappointment.

"But we have to focus on what is necessary to turn it around, what is required in supporting the manager to allow him to do that."

Calderwood's vision, he revealed, was to reduce the size of the squad he had inherited from his predecessor John Hughes, seeking a more "manageable and effective" group of players.

And he promised Calderwood will get every support in achieving his aim both in the short and long-term, pointing out that Hibs' current plight reflects the dismal run of results achieved over almost 12 months.

He said: "In reality, you can pick a point in time, whether January or February 2010, and the results since have statistically been more or less consistent. It's not been an immediate down-turn or a blip but a consistent level of results for almost 12 months.

"We recognise that, understand it and that's why we are putting so much effort and resources in to this transfer window to support the manager and effect the scale of change that is needed to pull us out of the situation we are in."

To that end, Lindsay accepted supporters were frustrated at, until the arrival today of Thornhill, not having seen any new faces appear at Easter Road.

However, as Calderwood himself has revealed, there have been a number of stumbling blocks with potential targets injured, managers at various clubs changing while many English clubs are unwilling to commit players on loan knowing the system operating in Scotland means they would be unable to call that individual back in unforeseen circumstances until the end of the season.

Confident Thornhill will be joined by others, Lindsay admitted the process of reshaping the squad will inevitably lead to current players following the likes of Sol Bamba in heading for pastures new, although he insisted that didn't necessarily mean every one of those out of contract at the end of the season necessarily leaving.

He said: "I am sure we will see all the effort put in come to fruition over the remaining days of the transfer window.

"January is a difficult time to get things done but we have been working on a number of fronts for a while. It's impossible to say how many players will be coming between now and the transfer deadline but we fully expect to secure more.

"The manager wants the right characters, the right sort of players, not just to bring players to the club for expediency or simply because there is a desire for change.

"He wants to bring players to the club he genuinely believes have the right attributes, the right mentality for what lies ahead for the rest of the season, players he believes will make a difference on the park and, of course, it goes without saying, ability.

"If there is a player who is available he believes will make a difference, but it will take a fee to secure the transfer then we will do it - but that's no different to how we have approached it over the last few years."

Having underlined the board's determination to facilitate the changes Calderwood hopes to make, Lindsay agreed it was important Hibs enjoyed as much stability in the managerial position as they do financially, the former Scotland defender being the club's fifth boss in as many years.

He said: "We crave stability, we believe that's the best platform to produce the performances on the park which we want. I don't want to go into the circumstances of each of the managers that have left, they've all been different, sometimes because they have gone on to different things.

"But every time you appoint a manager you passionately believe he's the right appointment and we've supported each one.

"As in signing a player, there's an element of risk when you appoint a new manager, and there have been times when things have not gone exactly as we would have liked. It's not all been negative, we won the CIS Cup, we've consistently been in the top six over the past six years, we finished fourth last season and qualified for Europe.

"But of course, we all strive to have the stability to allow the manager the time to make a difference, to shape the squad how he would like it to be successful, to be winning and challenging at the right end of Scottish football."