Jack Ross insists Ron Gordon's Hibs vision won't put him under further pressure

Hibs head coach Jack Ross says having his player budget doubled won’t put him under any more pressure, insisting he shares owner Ron Gordon’s ambitions for the Easter Road club.

The American-based multi-millionaire outlined his vision for the future to Ross and his players before unveiling it at his first shareholders meeting, his plans for the next five years including raising the club’s turnover by 50 per cent in three years and 100 per cent by 2025.

Acknowledging that pumping money into the playing side doesn’t guarantee success, Gordon nevertheless stated that Hibs’ objectives included being in the top four of every competition - league and cups - and hopefully Europe on a consistent basis.

However, while pointing out that football is very much a transient occupation for both managers and players, Ross was adamant the prospect of seeing his budget soar within the next three years won’t faze him.

He said: “I felt the same pressure at Alloa as I did at St Mirren and Sunderland and now. The pressure is all created in my head. The pressure I put on myself to do the job well and win matches is never going to change.

“If I go to Camelon Juniors next it will be the same because that’s just the way I am. It is a good and a bad thing. Bad in that you don’t tend to relax very much, but good because you stay quite stable in terms of your work and your planning and how you go about your business.

“I don’t particularly enjoy mediocrity. Even the way my own management career has gone, I went to Alloa when we were fighting to stay in the league and then in the second season we were fighting to win promotion,

“At St Mirren we were fighting to stay in the league, then fighting to win the league and then at Sunderland fighting for promotion. It’s just the way it has worked out, I have always had this very obvious target within my jobs.

“When I came here the first thing was to get us away from the position we were in but then, after that, I had to ask what the target is and we have to set something. I find it difficult not to set something in my own head that I can then share with other people at the club and that players can understand and buy into.

“It is not always easy to do and there are no guarantees that doing everything right or having the best resources will see you do it. But I do think it is good that there is an ambition to drive the club forward.”

Revealing he believes Gordon has a personality which is “quite infectious”, Ross felt his players benefited from hearing from him at first hand.

He said: “I think the club has done really well in recent times to compete the way it has done. I know there have been some frustrating times over the last decade as well but, if you strip it back and look at there the club has got to regularly in cup competitions and record points totals and finishing high up in the league, there have been good times.

“But, as Ron has alluded to, it has probably happened a bit less than people would have imagined because it is a big club. You automatically assume that means bumping budgets and so on.

“I think in order for us to consistently challenge where I want us to, and I have spoken about that, I think it helps to have that increased support. It would be nice, but I don’t focus on it too much because it becomes a reality and you have it there, then it’s not worth troubling yourself with it too much.”