Marink Reedijk's tenure at Hibernian has endured a bruising start after consecutive defeats left the Leith side rooted to the bottom of the Scottish Premiership table. Greeted by a chorus of full-time boos at Easter Road following Saturday's 2-1 loss to Falkirk, the Dutchman admitted to carrying a "strange" and "sick feeling" in his stomach. With the campaign already a quarter of the way through, Hibs have claimed zero points from Reedijk's opening two fixtures, having also suffered a defeat away to Dundee United the previous weekend.
The weekend reversal represented Hibs' seventh consecutive home league defeat, extending their wait for a Premiership victory in front of their own supporters past the six-month mark. Despite dictating 70% possession and topping the statistics for final-third entries (68 to 48), touches in the opponent's box (29 to 16), and expected goals (1.35 to 0.76), Hibs managed just three shots on target from 17 attempts compared to Falkirk's five from 10. Reedijk insisted his squad "worked their guts out" and did not deserve to sit bottom, but conceded they must cut out recurring individual errors and become far more clinical.
The 35-year-old manager, who guided Beveren into the Belgian top flight unbeaten last season, has inherited a side with only one point from their last 18 available and no wins in six league outings. Assessing the crisis on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound, former Hearts attacker Ryan Stevenson described Hibernian as "a mess" and noted that Kilmarnock's latest victory had pushed Hibs into last place. Former Easter Road midfielder Michael Stewart added that Reedijk is still actively searching for an effective system, the right personnel, and productive partnerships amid an escalating shortage of supporter patience.
Reedijk faces an immediate and steep uphill battle to inspire a cultural turnaround while steering the club out of relegation territory. Hibernian's daunting upcoming run includes a clash with reigning champions Celtic and a high-stakes national cup semi-final against city rivals Hearts at Hampden the day after Halloween, leaving the new boss with precious little time to steady the ship.