Rangers and Celtic's Premiership rivals sack manager after heavy loss despite pleas for patience

Rangers and Celtic’s Premiership rivals Hibernian have sacked manager Nick Montgomery after Sunday’s 4-0 hammering at the hands of Aberdeen.

The 42-year-old from Leeds took charge of the Edinburgh club in September as he replaced Lee Johnson at the helm. However, he was unable to inspire Hibs to a top half finish and has been without a win for six games while the club has won just one of their last nine matches in all competitions.

He took charge of 37 games at Hibs but won just 12, with 12 draws and 13 defeats. A club statement confirmed: “Hibernian FC can confirm that Nick Montgomery has been relieved of his duties as Head Coach. In addition, Sergio Raimundo and Miguel Miranda have also left the Club with immediate effect.”

The Gordon Family said: “As a Board this was not a decision we made lightly, but felt it a necessary one to move the team forward. Although Nick and his coaching team worked tirelessly, their efforts didn’t deliver the results we had hoped for. We’d like to thank Nick, Sergio, and Miguel for all of their hard work and dedication, and wish them all the best for the future.”

David Gray will take charge of the Premiership side for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign, as they finish the campaign with games against Motherwell and Livingston.

The decision comes despite pleas for patience from Montgomery. He told the Edinburgh Evening News after Sunday’s heavy home defeat: “The discussions I had coming into the club, they knew the challenge we had this season.

“The big picture was the investment coming in from Black Knight moving forward, the opportunity to put your own squad together which every manager wants to do. I keep saying we need four or five players, we need quality in the building. There are players moving on who are out of contract. There is definite change coming and we need a little bit of patience.”

Montgomery will not get his wish to build his own squad, with Hibs now on the hunt for another permanent manager ahead of the 2024-25 season.