Hibernian: Bill Foley says club not listening to Black Knight group

Bill Foley believes Hibernian will improve if they take more advice from his Black Knight consortium, saying those in charge at Easter Road “have not been listening to our input”.

The American owner of Bournemouth spent £6m to take a 25% stake in the Edinburgh club.

The Gordon family, also from the USA, are majority shareholders with a little more than 60%.

Foley’s Black Knight group also back French club Lorient, who were relegated from Ligue 1 last season, and Auckland FC in New Zealand.

Hibs finished eighth in last season’s Premiership, sacking head coach Nick Montgomery and replacing him with David Gray.

The former captain opened with two group-stage wins in the League Cup, but suffered an embarrassing loss to Kelty Hearts on Saturday.

“I am absolutely looking out for them,” Foley told BBC Sport when asked about the reaction to the weekend defeat.

“If the other ownership group at Hibernian listens to us, they will do better.

“So far, they really haven’t been listening to our input. I believe they will listen to our input now.

“We have a very good relationship with Lorient. They are listening and are hiring the right people to develop that club.

“Our goal is to have similar coaching, similar playing styles and similar players that can progress through our system. It is not just going to be Bournemouth and a bunch of other teams.

“It will be a whole system that allows players to progress from team to team to team. That will be our competitive edge and we will be able to develop a really good team.”