Six years ago today, the rebirth of Hibs started as Leeann Dempster wielded axe

Managerial departure was needed for quell negativity
Terry Butcher suffered when Hibernian were relegatedTerry Butcher suffered when Hibernian were relegated
Terry Butcher suffered when Hibernian were relegated

In early June, 2014, just days into the job, Hibs’ newly-installed chief executive Leeann Dempster had turned up at Easter Road for meetings with disgruntled fans’ groups. Those meetings were conducted against a backdrop of over a thousand protesters and key speakers outside the West Stand, demanding change.

Two weeks earlier, Hibs had crashed through the relegation trap door after a disastrous end to the season.

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The negativity and unrest culminated in showdown talks with manager Terry Butcher a few days after that fans’ rally and, on this day, six years ago, he was relieved of his position as Dempster took her first major decision en route to turning around the Leith club’s fortunes.

At the time she said: "Now we need to move forward and act to bring in a new manager with the aim of getting us promoted back to where Hibernian belongs, in the top league of Scottish football, from a uniquely competitive Championship.”

It took three years and two managers to achieve that ambition, as first Hearts and then Rangers took the elevator up to the next level but there were treats along the way, with victories over Premiership rivals suggesting that the recruitment throughout the rebuild had been fairly sound and that new manager Alan Stubbs and his men had the mettle to mix it with the top tier even if they were still looking for a way past the doormen.

In Stubbs, Hibs had appointed a manager very different from Butcher. He took the players with him, cajoled and worked with them, relying on coaching, shrewd recruitment and a more personal style of man-management than the old-school methods deployed by Butcher and his assistant Maurice Malpas.

There were forays in the final of cup competitions and while there were disappointments in play-offs and in the 2016 League Cup final, the crowds that had gathered on countless occasions to demand the removal of Stubbs’ predecessors, and had issued their rallying call to Dempster in her first week in the job, were dwarfed by the crowds who lined the streets of Leith in 2016, hailing the freshly-knighted Sir David Gray and the end of the 114-year old Scottish Cup hex.

That summer saw another reshuffle but this time no-one was run out of town. Stubbs’ departure had rattled the Hibernian fans as they emerged from their summer of celebrations but, adhering to the mantra of moving forward and up, Dempster was homing in on promotion.

She brought in Neil Lennon to deliver. And, he did. Used to delivering on demands, as a player and manager, his winning mentality and the inspirational qualities, ruffled a few feathers but cemented a victorious team spirit and finally engineering the escape from the game’s second tier and on into Europe, with a strong first term back in the Premiership, he built from the foundations laid by Dempster when she opted for decisive and definitive action on June 10, 2014, quashing the negativity and kick-starting a brighter era at Hibs in the process.

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