Malky Mackay Hibs arrival blasted as fizzing ultras rage 'he has no place at our club'

The appointment of Malky Mackay as Hibs' new sporting director has been blasted by their ultras group.

The Easter Road club today announced the former Ross County manager, sacked back in November, as the man to oversee their footballing department after a club review. Within the statement, they also confirmed he would "lead" the search for a new manager after Nick Montgomery was sacked this morning.

Mackay, while Cardiff City manager, was accused of misconduct and sending messages with racist, homophobic and misogynistic content and he later admitted to sending messages insensitive to other cultures but not the other accusations. There was opposition when he was later appointed the SFA's performance director and again when hired by the Staggies.

Today's announcement has also been met with outrage and with the Hibees having a larger fan base than County, it may be harder to ignore. Ultras group Block Seven had an anti-racism banner at the weekend's game against Aberdeen and have now hit out at today's appointment.

A statement reads: "Today the club announced the appointment of Malky Mackay as sporting director. This is quite simply a disgrace of an appointment. With a track record of being racist, homophobic and misogynistic, he has no place at our club.

"Just two days ago against Aberdeen, the group displayed anti-racism banners to show that it has no place in not only football, but the world we live in. To appoint this man days later is nothing but an insult to the group for even making the statement in the first place.

"Furthermore, just 10 days ago the club released a statement saying: 'The club condemns any form of racist or discriminatory behaviour towards any player, official, staff member or supporter. It is completely unacceptable, and has no place in the game or wider society. The club will take the strongest possible action against anyone identified in making discriminatory and hateful comments.'

"The man is not welcome at Hibernian Football Club and we will be making that clear."