Inside former Hibs star's 'devastating' Hearts release and how it moulded him as he makes Serie A as champion

He’s now heading back to Serie A as a champion - and that glorious moment had its journey started in Edinburgh.

Josh Doig broke through the Hibs ranks, making 78 appearances and sealing a seven figure transfer to Hellas Verona. He joined Sassuolo in 2024 and having already achieved promotion back to the Italian top flight after time in Serie B this campaign, the club have now won the title. They drew 1-1 against Cremonese on Sunday.

Doig was previously in the academy at Hearts. Despite impressing, manager at the time Craig Levein wasn’t a huge fan according to Tommy Doig, the left-back’s father, and his release was sanctioned. That turned the family from maroon supporting to green, but it has played a pivotal role in his moves within Italy.

Why Hearts rejected former Hibs star

Doig Sr told Destination Calcio: “They actually came to our house. They were going around the boys’ houses, so we were eighth or ninth to be told. He’d done really well up to this point. But at the time, (manager) Craig Levein didn’t want to sign him, didn’t rate him. So they told him as he was sitting on our sofa that he wasn’t getting a contract. It was pretty cruel to watch your son have his dreams crushed.

“It was devastating. It was all he ever wanted. But that’s football. We moved on. I said to Josh, ‘Keep going to training, wait until the end of the season and apply yourself the best you can’. And he did. He was picked to go and train with the first team at Hearts over some of the boys that had been given contracts.

“I’ve quickly lost my love for Hearts, the way they treated him. I’ve never been back to Tynecastle. Once Josh signed for Hibs, it was all Hibs for the family. Even my in-laws, everyone turned to Hibs. It was strange, but it feels normal now.”

Sassuolo reaction to promotion

The Doig’s have been left delighted with how I Neroverdi have treated the Scottish ace. His dad added: “The thing is, behind the scenes, the club are fantastic. I would say, they treat Josh better than Verona did. Josh loves the club, loves the people. He absolutely feels at home. I just care so much and want him to be OK. But he’s strong, he gets on with it. He brushes everything off.”

“It was surreal to watch him play Sampdoria. I’d watched them against Barcelona in the (1992) European Cup final. I was at Wembley. They had (Gianluca) Vialli, (Attilio) Lombardo, all these guys playing. It was amazing. To see my son play and then score against them was a dream come true. I was going to burst. I’m so proud of him, proud of everything he’s done, everything he does. But that was over and above anything I could have dreamed of.”

Head coach Fabio Grosso said of the title win: "Positive day, good job to come here and play a full game otherwise it would have been tough. We were present on the field, kept our distance well, suffered just enough and created something. It was a balanced match, we leave with a positive result and the satisfaction of having closed this championship in the lead, having beaten a record and all this makes us proud of our path.

“In this championship there are many strong teams with complete rosters. We have played many difficult matches in the greatness of this season, we were good at creating a significant gap from the pursuers and this gives us credit for what we have done. Congratulations to Cremonese, an excellent team that is having a great championship, we played a balanced match between two teams that wanted to outdo each other and did not succeed.”