Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster has hit out against claims the club's transfer policy has resulted in the sacking of Paul Heckingbottom.
The Yorkshireman was sacked after a 5-2 semi-final defeat by Celtic at Hampden topped a poor run of Premiership form.
He made an excellent start to life in Edinburgh and managed to orchestrate a revival that saw the club claim an unlikely top six finish.
But his nine summer signings, many from England's lower reaches, have made little impact and Hibs sit a solitary point from bottom.
The narrative has taken hold that the manager, undoubtedly a talented coach, underestimated our game and signed a raft of stars unable to cope with top level demands.
Dempster bristles at such suggestions and has backed the players to show their worth in the season ahead.
She said: "I don't think anything went wrong with it to be honest.
"We have a strong group of players here. We need to make some tweaks around the edges.
"We have had good recruitment at this cub over a number of years and I think some of the players have had some unnecessary criticism so I'm going to stand behind the players.
"It's important to say that we know there are some gaps, we maybe need to add a bit of depth but I don't think anything went wrong.
"I know people have opinions but if you want to live your life in hindsight then we'd be Champions League winners at the moment so we don't do that here. We make choices and decisions at the time. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't."
