# 2019–20 Hibernian F.C. season

The 2019–20 season was Hibernian's third consecutive season in the top tier of Scottish football, the Scottish Premiership, having been promoted from the Scottish Championship at the end of the 2016–17 season. Hibs finished seventh in the league, which was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They lost to Celtic in the semi-finals of the League Cup and Hearts in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Sir Tom Farmer sold his majority ownership of Hibs in July 2019 to American businessman Ronald Gordon, who became chairman of the club.

## Results and fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Scottish Premiership

Despite winning their opening match, Hibs got off to a poor start to the league season. After they lost the first Edinburgh derby of the season, Hibs fan Irvine Welsh claimed that they were "favourites" for relegation.
Hibs eventually finished in seventh place. They had been in sixth place when the league season was suspended on 13 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but were awarded seventh place due to St Johnstone having a slightly higher points average.

### Scottish League Cup

Hibs entered the 2019–20 Scottish League Cup at the group stage, and a 2–0 win at Elgin City in their final match clinched a place in the last 16. Elgin player Kane Hester was booked during the match; he was later charged with conspiring to con betting company Bet365 by placing bets that he would receive a yellow card, but was found not proven.
Hibs were drawn at home to Championship club Greenock Morton in the last 16. Hibs needed extra time to defeat Morton and reach the quarter-finals, where they were drawn away to Kilmarnock. By winning a penalty shootout Hibs progressed to the semi-finals, where they were paired with holders Celtic.
Hibs lost 5–2 to Celtic in the semi-final. Two days later, and with the team sitting in 10th place in the league, head coach Paul Heckingbottom was sacked by Hibs.

#### Knockout phase
### Scottish Cup

Hibs were drawn away to Championship leaders Dundee United in the fourth round. They won that tie after a replay and were then drawn with Lowland League (fifth tier) side BSC Glasgow. A 4–1 win put Hibs into the quarter-final, where they were given a home draw against Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Inverness were the only club from outside the Premiership to have reached the quarter-final.
A 5–2 win against Inverness gave Hibs a place in the semi-final, which produced an Edinburgh derby with Hearts. That match was originally scheduled for 11 April, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. On 21 July, the Scottish Football Association announced that the semi-finals would be played on the weekend of 31 October / 1 November 2020. Hibs lost 2–1 after extra time in the semi-final, with Kevin Nisbet missing a penalty moments before Hearts scored their winning goal (also from a penalty).

## Player statistics

    As of 7 March 2020
| No. | Pos | Player | Premiership | Premiership | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||||
| 1 | GK | Ofir Marciano | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| 28 | GK | Chris Maxwell | 12 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||||
| 2 | DF | David Gray | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Steven Whittaker | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Paul Hanlon | 30 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 41 | 2 |
| 6 | DF | Paul McGinn | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | Lewis Stevenson | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | Tom James | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| 18 | DF | Adam Jackson | 14 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 4 |
| 21 | DF | Jason Naismith | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| 24 | DF | Darren McGregor | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | Josh Doig | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | Ryan Porteous | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 43 | DF | Sean Mackie | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||||
| 6 | MF | Josh Vela | 9 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Daryl Horgan | 28 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 3 |
| 8 | MF | Vykintas Slivka | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Martin Boyle | 20 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 29 | 6 |
| 11 | MF | Joe Newell | 19 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 1 |
| 14 | MF | Stevie Mallan | 20 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 3 |
| 15 | MF | Greg Docherty | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
| 19 | MF | Glenn Middleton | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Melker Hallberg | 20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 2 |
| 23 | MF | Scott Allan | 30 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 40 | 10 |
| 33 | MF | Fraser Murray | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
| 40 | MF | Stéphane Oméonga | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| 45 | MF | Josh Campbell | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Forwards |||||||||||
| 9 | FW | Christian Doidge | 28 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 39 | 19 |
| 13 | FW | Marc McNulty | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 4 |
| 22 | FW | Florian Kamberi | 20 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 8 |
| 32 | FW | Oli Shaw | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 47 | FW | Jamie Gullan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Signed in 2020–21 |||||||||||
| 7 | MF | Kyle Magennis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | Alex Gogic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | Kevin Nisbet | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | Jamie Murphy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
* Source:

### Notes

* ^ Due to the postponement of the 2019–20 Scottish Cup, players signed in the following season were eligible to participate from the semi-final stage.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Includes one starting appearance in the delayed Scottish Cup semi-final, recorded under the 2020–21 season by some resources.
* 1 2 3 Includes one substitute appearance in the delayed Scottish Cup semi-final, recorded under the 2020–21 season by some resources.
* ↑ Includes one goal in the delayed Scottish Cup semi-final, recorded under the 2020–21 season by some resources.

## Club statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG |
| 5 | Livingston | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 41 | 39 | +2 | 39 | 1.30 |
| 6 | St Johnstone | 29 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 28 | 46 | −18 | 36 | 1.24 |
| 7 | Hibernian | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 42 | 49 | −7 | 37 | 1.23 |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 31 | 41 | −10 | 33 | 1.10 |
| 9 | St Mirren | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 24 | 41 | −17 | 29 | 0.97 |
* ↑ All play-off matches were cancelled, as clubs voted to curtail the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

### Division summary

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A |
| Result | W | L | D | L | L | L | D | D | D | D | D | W | W | W | D | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | D | D | L | W | W | D | L | L |
| Position | 5 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |

### League Cup group table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | HIB | ALO | ARB | ELG | STI |
| 1 | Hibernian | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 11 | Qualification for the Second Round | — | 2–0 | 3–0 | — | — |
| 2 | Alloa Athletic | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 7 | | — | — | — | 3–3p | 2–1 |
| 3 | Arbroath | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 6 | | — | 2–3 | — | 2–1 | — |
| 4 | Elgin City | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 5 | | 0–2 | — | — | — | 3–0 |
| 5 | Stirling Albion | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | −9 | 1 | | 1–1p | — | 1–6 | — | — |

### Management statistics

| Name | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win% |
| Paul Heckingbottom | 1 July 2019 | 4 November 2019 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 027.78 |
| Eddie May (caretaker) | 4 November 2019 | 15 November 2019 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Jack Ross | 15 November 2019 | 31 October 2020 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 043.48 |

## Transfers

Including the expiry of loans, 12 first team players left Hibs after the 2018–19 season ended. Scott Allan had already been signed on a pre-contract agreement. After Josh Vela was signed in mid-July, manager Paul Heckingbottom said that his recruitment was complete "unless something unforeseen happens". After winger Martin Boyle suffered a knee injury, Glenn Middleton was signed on loan from Rangers.