Lethargy in Leith suggests that Hibs need an exciting managerial appointment to spark injection of optimism that better times lie ahead

One thing Hibs have done well in recent years is turn the inside of the main stand into a place where you can really spend a fun Saturday. Over and above watching the actual football, of course.

There’s an eaterie for the posh nobs on the top floor and, on the first, Tornadoes restaurant and the Albion Bar. Squeeze through them on the way out after a match and they are generally packed, proper little hives of sociability. It’s a really nice set-up.

Walking the floors at 6pm after the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen, though, and the buzz just didn’t seem the same. There were a noticeable number of empty seats. There didn’t seem to be as many people as usual hanging around.

On the TVs stationed around the walls, city rivals Hearts were a goal down to Kilmarnock in the late kick-off. No one really appeared to be paying much attention.

It was like those having one final pint or glass of wine before heading home or hitting the town were more interested in taking their minds off the football for the rest of the day. No matter what.

And this is a problem Hibs have at the moment. It’s not just the hospitality areas that carried that air on Saturday. It was the entire ground.

There were a lot of empty spaces. Several periods in which the atmosphere was not just lacking, but largely non-existent.

There’s no way to take a scientific measure of this kind of thing, but the impression given was that there’s more apathy than anger around the club over the fact that yet another manager has gone in David Gray, the team is in the lower reaches of the league and the squad doesn’t really look strong enough to challenge at the top of the table in the wake of a transfer window that generally brought frustration.

Yes, there were some outbursts over the course of the afternoon. The little ultras section behind the goal, Block Seven, raised some chants during the first half, urging sporting director Malky Mackay to get on his bike. They held up a banner reading ‘Mackay Out Now’ on a couple of occasions.

At half-time, there were also some very audible boos and jeers towards the home team as they trooped off a goal down to an excellent finish from visiting captain Kevin Nisbet.

Other than that, not much really. Talking to folk around the ground, there were no real arguments about Gray being bulleted during the week. The performances hadn’t been up to scratch. It was time. Fair enough.

There just feels like a sense of resignation about it all. No optimism about this serving as the start of a new chapter, no obvious belief or enthusiasm in what comes next. Just people feeling a bit bruised and battered, really.

That’s not good, though, for those at the top of the club. There’s a need to cut costs and balance the books in the wake of years and years of losses largely mopped up by chairman Ian Gordon and his family while figuring out a plan to stay competitive on the park.

Hibs executives Malky Mackay and Dan Barnett watch from the stand as their side toil

Part of that involves bringing in more revenue, which involves getting more bums on seats, more pies and programmes sold, more customers in those lovely hospitality areas, more meals and pints and bottles of wine on the tables. And doing that means bringing the buzz back, making Hibs feel exciting again, getting folk engaged, creating a project they want to witness and be a part of.

It’s why this next impending managerial appointment is so important. It really needs to capture the imagination of the public and it needs to feel like it is part of a joined-up plan, something going somewhere.

Hibs just don’t feel that way right now. Record signing Thibault Klidje, brought in for over £1million a year ago, barely plays, was on the bench again at the weekend and actually spent a period of time on loan to Randers in Denmark. What does it say about the way signings have been working at the club that this situation even exists?

Kieron Bowie watched from the stands before joining up with the Scotland squad. He brought in £6million when signing for Verona last January. The main striker brought in during the last window was a loan deal from Stoke City in Nathan Lowe.

There’s confusion on the outside over how the inner sanctum works. Current CEO Dan Barnett could stroll up Leith Walk and almost no one would know who he is. Chairman Gordon is rarely seen in an interview scenario outwith club TV.

Recruitment chief Garvan Stewart came in from Bournemouth when the club had a tie-up with the Cherries’ owner Bill Foley and his Black Knight group. That’s now finished. Mackay is also coming under increasing pressure.

You hear next to nothing from these guys. The club obviously feel the high heid yins did a good job of spelling out their blueprint for the future at the AGM, but that was in March. Six months ago. A lot has changed since then and there haven’t been many significant updates.

Martin Boyle at least gave fans something to shout about on a day otherwise lacking any buzz

Hibs need some sexiness, basically. They need better messaging from on high. There needs to be greater visibility and transparency. There needs to be more to believe in.

In fairness, the players did offer some suggestion after the break on Saturday that it’s not all as bad as it might seem. They could have gone 2-0 down on half-an-hour when Nisbet miskicked in front of goal and ought to have been punished when Toyosi Olusanya put an effort wide after the restart.

However, they rallied well, got back into it through a Martin Boyle penalty after Jack Milne had stupidly pushed Jason Kerr in the box and might have won it in the end had substitute Ante Suto not put his header from a Lowe free-kick wide 13 minutes from time.

That’s not enough to hang onto, though. The club need to come out during the international break with a new boss, a fresh vibe and a fresh vision.

‘Persevere’ is the motto of Leith and Hibs punters live by it. Persevering only gets you so far, though. To prosper, there needs to be light and belief and a clear feeling better things lie around the corner.

That’s what those running Hibs need to show they can deliver tout-suite. Something to send a bolt of lightning through those punters who just seem to be staring a little mournfully into their glasses of grape and grain right now.