RON GORDON insists Hibernian’s ambitions should be limitless after he completed a multi-million pound takeover of the Edinburgh club.
The US-based businessman has bought out the majority shareholding of Sir Tom Farmer and Rod Petrie and provided a 'seven-figure investment' into the Easter Road outfit.
The change of ownership, which sees Gordon replace Petrie as chairman, has also wiped out the club’s debt of around £3million, which was owed to Farmer in the form of a mortgage that was not scheduled to be cleared for another six years.
READ MORE: Matthew Lindsay: Why Hibs saviour Sir Tom Farmer is an all-time Easter Road great
Gordon, born in Peru but with Scottish ancestors from the Highland village of Tomintoul, has made his money in America after setting up ZGS Communications, a TV production company serving the Spanish-speaking community. Having founded the firm with $200, Gordon sold it to Comcast/NBC Universal for a reported $75 million in 2017.
The 63-year-old has been a football fan since childhood but admits he has much to learn about the game in Scotland and the running of one of its foremost clubs. Hibs’ new owner does, however, know plenty about the Premiership’s current monopoly and insists his new charges’ sights should be set on at least trying to break Celtic’s dominance.
"I don't think there should be a limit to the ambition here,” he said whilst refusing to confirm or deny whether the £6m or £7m mooted as his investment was even ‘a ballpark’ figure. “That is not to say that we can win the championship, as it is not so easy, but we need to start making progress. It is a process of going to the next level and the next level after that.
READ MORE: 'It had to be the right person': Sir Tom Farmer reveals plan to protect Hibs legacy
“I don't think you can go from A-Z without going through all the letters. We need to do that. I am not saying we are too far away, as the club is already in a great place, but getting to the top of the Scottish Premiership is a big ask.
“It is totally an ambition and it needs to be an ambition. I don't think we should ever give up on that ambition. I don't think it necessarily a good thing that a club like Celtic wins every year. It does not do the game any good. It's great for Celtic and congratulations to them but I think it would be good for the game to have a more competitive league."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel