Michael Stewart has ridiculed former Hibs chief executive Ben Kensell after the club recently posted significant annual losses.
Back in February 2024 after Hibs announced a loss of £3.9m for the year up to June 2023, Kensell predicted that the Easter Road side would be in a much stronger position 12 months on.
He told Sky Sports at the time: “If I’m sat here talking about this in a year’s time, I think you’ll see some very healthy numbers coupled with sporting success.
“Despite the tricky period we’re in at the moment I know what I can see on our balance sheets and it looks a lot better than what is being reported in the accounts.”
One year later, the club are in a much weaker position. Releasing their financial accounts last Friday, Hibs confirmed an annual loss of £7.2m for the year to June 2024.
That’s a deficit increase of £3.3m while operating losses were also up by £2.4m. They also admitted that as a result, the club are reliant on shareholder funding to remain operational.
Hibs say it’s down to a mix of poor recruitment, unbudgeted spending and compensation payments to former managers Lee Johnson and Nick Montgomery.
Kensell was in charge up until January when he suddenly announced his departure as CEO of the Hibees, much to the delight of the supporters who had turned their back on him.
In his exit statement, Kensell said he felt pride at what had been accomplished under his tenure and did everything the club had asked him to do.
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Michael Stewart blasts former Hibs CEO Ben Kensell
However, merciless Premier Sports pundit Michael Stewart is not in the same school of thought and slammed Kensell as an ‘absolute charlatan’ while accusing him of lying.
The former Hearts midfielder also believes Kensell should have been sacked long before he left the club and that Hibs won’t be missing his services.
Stewart told the Scottish Football Social Club podcast: “With regards to the financial release of the numbers, the first thing I’ve got to say is, it’s quite incredible that two or three weeks ago the chief executive walks – and it’s mutual agreement.
“Ben Kensell should have been shown the door a long time ago, an absolute charlatan from start to finish on an absolute astronomical sum of money.
“He sat last year with (reporter) Luke Shanley at Sky (Sports) and spoke about the numbers at that point and said, ‘the numbers I’m looking at on the sheet now for the current year are far superior and give me great confidence in what we’re doing. And if in a year’s time I’m sitting here talking about – we’ll be seeing a far improved set of numbers.’
“That was a lie, an absolute lie! And I think somebody who is in a position like that, when you see numbers coming out like that, that’s damning, absolutely damning. From a Hibs perspective, good riddance.”
Hibs ‘chasing football success’
Back in September, Hibs executive director Ian Gordon spoke to Sky Sports about the club’s finances and owned up to the ‘mistakes’ made in the past.
However, he pledged to cover the losses alongside the rest of the Gordon family and said part of the reason why the club is overspending is because they are ‘chasing success’ on the pitch.
Gordon thinks that once they get things right in a footballing sense, the club will see their finances turn for the better.
He said: “Obviously, there’s an overspend at the moment because we’re chasing football success and with all the turnover over the last couple of years, we’re needing to chase that.
“As a family, that’s something that we’re committed to, to get the footballing side right, because we do believe once that happens, the club will be in a very stable position.”