JOHN HUGHES insists the sacking of Shaun Maloney was also a ‘sad, sad day’ for Hibernian and football management.

Hughes has been impressed with Maloney and the former Celtic attacker’s football philosophy since he took the reins at Easter Road in December.

But, acknowledging poor results, he has lamented the Hibs board’s decision to allow the 39-year-old just four months in charge before relieving him of his duties.

The former Belgium assistant was in charge for just 19 games before losing his job and Hughes admits he is ‘absolutely gutted’ for Maloney and his backroom team.

But the current Dunfermline boss, who was himself sacked by Hibs after just 16 months, is adamant the decision to axe the Scotland cap does not show his old club or the managerial merry-go-round in a good light.

He said: “I’m absolutely gutted, I really am. Not just for Shaun Maloney and his staff but for Hibs as well.

“I’m a fully paid up member of the managers’ union and you don’t want to see that.

“I think Shaun’s an impressive, impressive guy and sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t.

“But it’s not just Shaun, it’s Hibs as well. I just feel sorry for everyone there, because you never want to see that happen to your manager. You always want success.

“You cannot do anything in four months. He’s had one transfer window.

“I was always impressed with Shaun and the way he conducted himself, and the way he saw football and how it should be played.

“It’s alright saying that, it’s doing all your work and getting the time to try to implement it.

“But, nine times out of 10, football is a results business and if you’re not getting the results you don’t get that time.

“Unfortunately for Shaun that’s been the case.

“I really feel it’s a sad, sad day for the club and for football managers.”

Meanwhile, former Hibs striker Kevin Harper, who recently took on a scouting role with the club, insists Maloney deserved more time to turn things around and put his own stamp on the team.

But, despite seeing positives in Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to rivals Hearts, the former Albion Rovers boss admits he can see why owner Ron Gordon has made a snap judgement so early in Maloney’s reign.

He said: “It was a bit of a shock, if I'm honest. I didn't expect that to happen. I thought he would probably get to the end of the season then reassess it from there.

“But the owner [Gordon] has decided that after a tough weekend and tough week that Shaun, as he said [in his statement] the ‘experiment', didn't work. He's got every right to make that decision.

“When you look at it, four months in a job is a real, real short period of time and he probably deserved a little bit more time.

"But I understand where the owner is coming from. We've been beaten off our local rivals and not made the top-six. He's only won one game since the turn of the year.

“So, when you put all those factors into place, I think the owner has decided he can't take that any more and he wants to have a clean break. But it's a real, real short time."

Harper told Sky Sports: “I was at the game on Saturday and I felt in the second-half they did very, very well and there were a lot of positives. It takes time to change and put your methods across.

“But you also have to remember that football is about winning games, and if you don't win games then the pressure from the fans and from upstairs comes on top, and it probably didn't help getting beat by our city rivals in the cup and to put us in the bottom six.

“They [Gordon and CEO Ben Kensell] make decisions they feel are best for the club.

“In the statement Ron put out, he said it was an experiment and the experiment didn’t work. By that statement he’s taking responsibility.

“But he is the owner of the club and he has the right to make those decisions and make those choices.”