Hibs misfits who went on to achieve success elsewhere

Clayton Donaldson celebrates his hat-trick against Kilmarnock in a 4-1 win at Easter Road in September 2007. Pic: Kenny Smith

Players are often written off by fans if they fail to impress at their club – but plenty have gone on to prove the doubters wrong.

Just ask Chelsea, a club who let two future Ballon d'Or nominees leave having deemed Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne surplus to requirements.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, it just doesn't work out and it takes a change of environment, or a few more years of development, for a player to reach his potential.

Hibs have had a number of players over the years who would fall into this category having been misfits at Easter Road only to prove themselves elsewhere, in some cases at a higher level.

Here are six examples of guys who failed to win over the Leith faithful but who succeeded at other clubs:

Clayton Donaldson

The striker arrived at Hibs in the summer of 2007, signing a three-year deal on the back of a 24-goal campaign with York City in the English Conference.

However, he started only 13 games for the Easter Road side, scoring six goals, with half of that tally coming in one match when Hibs fans got a glimpse of his potential with an early season hat-trick in a 4-1 win against Kilmarnock.

Signed by John Collins, the manager's departure did the Jamiacan international no favours as he failed to win over his successor Mixu Paatelainen.

After one season, he was sold to Crewe for £150,000, where he scored 49 times in three seasons to earn a move to League One side Brentford. He proved a huge hit in three years at The Bees, scoring the goals that earned the club promotion before making the move to Birmingham City.

Now turning 30, the striker was showing Hibs what they missed out on by becoming one of the most prolific front men in the Championship, scoring 34 times across three seasons at St. Andrew's.

In 2017 he joined Chris Wilder at Sheffield United where he managed five goals in 33 appearances, before another less fruitful season in the Championship followed with Bolton.

Last season, the 36-year-old dropped back into League Two with Bradford, but having gone from SPL reject to proven goalscorer in England's second tier, it's fair to say that Hibs may have shown him the door too quickly.

James Collins

Pat Fenlon paid Swindon Town £200,000 for the signature of the Republic of Ireland U21 striker in the summer of 2013, but his record at Easter Road suggested that the move to the Scottish top flight was too big a jump for Collins at the time.

His meagre return from 40 matches in a Hibs shirt was just six goals, although he did score the winner against Hearts in the New Year derby at Easter Road. Hibs cut their losses just one season into a three-year contract, allowing Collins to leave on a free transfer to Shrewsbury Town.

He made a better impression back in England's League Two, where his 17-goal return helped his new side win promotion. The goals continued to flow during a brief spell at Northampton, before a season at Crawley added another 22 goals to his career tally.

It has been at his current side Luton, who he joined in 2017, where Collins has really come into his own, helping the club win back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship, and being named League One Player of the Year after scoring 25 goals in the 2018-19 season.

And in the current coronavirus-impacted campaign Collins has proven himself in the Championship, scoring 14 times as Luton look to avoid relegation.

To cap it off, he made his full international debut for Ireland in September last year, coming off the bench to score the third goal in a 3–1 win against Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium. He was perhaps just too raw and too early in his career to make an impact at Easter Road, but how many Hibs fans would welcome him back now?

Ricardo Vaz Te

The Portuguese forward was already a recognised name having previously turned out for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League when Colin Calderwood brought him to Easter Road in February 2011.

Injury problems meant the then 24-year-old was looking to revive his career after a short-lived stint in Greece. However, his lack of match fitness and sharpness showed as his Hibs spell yielded just one goal in 10 games and it seemed no great loss when his contract was not renewed at the end of the season.

The club was left to rue that decision though when, just a year later, Vaz Te was back playing in the English top flight having made a £500,000 move.

After leaving Hibs he ended up at Barnsley for half a season, where his performances and prolific scoring record earned a January transfer to Championship rivals West Ham.

He continued to find the net regularly and scored the goal that took the Hammers back to the Premier League with an 87th minute winner sealing a 2-1 victory over Blackpool in the play-off final at Wembley, prompting Sam Allardyce to hail him as his "best-ever signing".

The striker spent a further two and a half years at Upton Park, scoring five times in 36 appearances in the English top flight. He has since enjoyed successful spells in Turkey and China and, now aged 33, is back in his homeland with Primeira Liga club Portimonense.

Hibs fans didn't see the best of Vaz Te, but with a full pre-season behind him, he could have become an Easter Road icon.

Filipe Morais

A product of the Chelsea youth academy, Morais arrived at Easter Road in 2007 from Millwall, having spent part of the previous season on loan at St Johnstone.

During his 18 months at Hibs, the Portuguese midfielder made 36 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice, and being sent off twice. With his temperament in question, he left the club in January 2009 under a cloud after being found guilty of assaulting an Edinburgh doorman and being fined for turning up late to a match.

He stayed in Scotland with Inverness Caledonian Thistle before returning to St Johnstone the following season.

Morais has since gone on to forge a successful career in England with spells at Oldham, Stevenage, Bradford and Bolton, helping the latter win promotion to the Championship with a second place finish in League One in 2016-17.

The following season, Morais made 33 appearances in the Championship and was a key player as the club narrowly avoided relegation. A wide man who often flattered to deceive at Easter Road is considered a firm fan favourite at the Trotters.

It was during his previous spell with Bradford where Morais achieved one of his career highlights, scoring on his return to Stamford Bridge to help the League One side knock Jose Mourinho's Chelsea out of the FA Cup, coming back from two goals down to claim a shock 4-2 victory.

Morais was most recently with Crawley Town, although spent last season on loan back with Oldham. Another player who Hibs fans might look back on as one they didn't see the best of.

Torben Joneleit

The third John Collins signing to appear on this list, the German defender arrived on what was initially to be a year-long loan from Monaco in June 2007.

At the time of his arrival, Collins hailed Joneleit as "exceptionally talented defender", pointing to the fact that his former club had recently signed him on a three-year contract.

However, his inability to break into the first team at Easter Road suggested otherwise and the 20-year-old was returned to Monaco in January with just one start and two sub appearances to his name following the arrival of Mixu Paatelainen.

It may then come as a surprise to the Hibs faithful to discover that, just a few years later, Joneleit was starting games in the Champions League for Genk. He featured 62 times for the club and was an important part of the side that won the Belgian title in 2010-11.

His career was then cut short by a serious knee injury which forced him into early retirement at the age of just 26.

Shelton Martis

Signed by Tony Mowbray in the summer of 2006 and then ditched by John Collins, the defender went on to create a unique piece of English Premier League history.

Martis would only spend one season at Easter Road despite arriving from Darlington on a three-year deal. He was part of the League Cup winning side of 2007, playing in all five rounds of the competition, although his contribution to the 5-1 win over Kilmarnock in the Hampden final was limited to a 90th minute sub appearance.

A fall-out with Collins saw Martis sold for £50,000 to West Brom, reuniting with Mowbray who had left for the Hawthorns just a few months after signing the defender for Hibs.

He only featured in a handful of games as the Baggies won promotion to the Premier League, spending time on loan at Scunthorpe and Doncaster, before going on to make seven appearances in the English top flight, becoming the first player from Curaçao to do so.

Following West Brom's relegation to the Championship, Martis was sold to Doncaster Rovers for an undisclosed fee, where he played consistently over a three-year period, the last of which came in League One following relegation. He then had a spell in Thailand before finishing his playing career in the fourth division in the Netherlands.