Hibs news latest: Club favourite devastated after play off exit and former player makes SPFL transfer move

Hibs are in action again this weekend as they continue their third place charge.

A trio of games against both sides of the Old Firm, with a clash with St Mirren sandwiched in between, will decide whether or not Hibs are on the podium this Premiership season. It would cap a wonderful comeback from the lower reaches of the league in the early stages of head coach David Gray’s first season and possibly seal league phase football on the continent.

There’s plenty of stories with Hibs connections unfolding across the land though. Here’s the pick of them heading into the game against Celtic on Saturday.

Ayr United heartbreak

Club favourites Scott Brown and Steven Whittaker were hoping to meet Hibs in the Premiership next year as they took Ayr United into the play-offs. But a 2-0 defeat at home to Partick Thistle has put the Honest Men out at the quarter-final stage 2-1 on aggreate and they will now be in the second tier again next season. Boss and former Hibs midfielder Brown has been left dismayed.

He said: “Devastated. The lads are devastated as well. The only thing that was in the game was they wanted to score a goal, we didn’t. The second goal is not great, it’s 5 vs 2 in the box. They switch off. You can shout and scream from the side but 5 vs 2... they didn’t want to win the game. We looked the fitter team, push up further but it’s that bit of naivety. We are a young team but you need to be able to see games out.”

Former Hibs player makes transfer

Transfer season is beckoning and already some early moves are being made. Innes Murray has joined Kelty Hearts after helping Arbroath win the League One title, Hibs favourite Scott Allan also spending this season New Central Park with the Maroon Machine. He was previously in the youth ranks at Hibs and featured at senior level before moving on to have an established career in the SPFL lower leagues.

A club statement made note of his Hibs spell: “Coming through the ranks at Celtic and later at Hibernian, Murray had loan spells at Stenhousemuir, Airdrie, Alloa and Edinburgh City. Murray then signed for The Citizens in 2022 before joining then Championship Arbroath in January 2024.

Manager Thomas O’Ware said: “Delighted to bring him to the club. Innes is a player I’ve been a big fan of for the last few years. Having played against him I know just how good he is. As well as his footballing ability he brings good experience which we need for the young squad. I have no doubt he will have a successful spell at the club.”

Brendan Rodgers praise

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has hailed Hibs ahead of their weekend meeting. He said: “It was obviously very difficult for David and his team and the club right through until November, and it’s sort of been like a reversal of Aberdeen. They had that brilliant start but then the second part of the season has been a little bit more challenging, and for David it was the reverse of that, with a challenging first part.

“But since he changed the system in November when they went to a back five, that structure has really helped the team. The players you could always clearly see believed in him as a coach and as a manger, but they weren’t getting the results at the beginning of the season. But now they had and they went on a fantastic run and in all fairness, when we played them back in the cup game a number of weeks back, they arrived in that moment in a really good place.

“However, we played a really good game that day and we know we’ll to play another really good game because they have targets they want to achieve in these last three games. We also have targets. We’re at home also, and we want to bring our level of game, but it should be a fantastic game of football.”