Brian McDermott: Hibernian appoint former Leeds manager as director of football

Brian McDermott has been appointed as Hibernian's new director of football.

The 62-year-old, who previously managed Reading and Leeds United, will begin his new role at Easter Road immediately.

Hibs, under head coach Lee Johnson, are fifth in the Scottish Premiership and host St Mirren on Saturday.

"It's an exciting project," McDermott said. "It's a fantastic city. I've scouted in this country many, many times. I know how it works."

Hibs say former Arsenal, Celtic and Reading scout McDermott "will work closely" with Johnson and "have a strong focus across the recruitment of players and football operations such as scouting, analysis, sports science, and medicine".

Chief executive Ben Kensell said the process had taken some time in part because of chairman Ron Gordon's passing earlier this year and revealed Gordon's son, Ian, will move from his role as head of recruitment and take up an executive position following McDermott's arrival.

McDermott explained how he became Reading manager "by default" after nine years as head scout.

"I wasn't looking to become the manager," he said. "I loved finding players, we found so many really good players. I did the same at Arsenal.

"I was at Reading scouting from 2000 to 2009 and we didn't have the biggest budget but we found players and we put players in the right slot and we found experienced players that could make a difference."

And Johnson added: "I feel it's going to be a really important partnership. Brian's got extensive experience. It's just a good fit."