Pat Fenlon bids to keep Mark Brown at Hibs

Mark BROWN could yet stay at Easter Road after Hibs boss Pat Fenlon told the goalkeeper he wants to keep him, the player’s agent has claimed.

Brown spent much of the season as understudy to Graham Stack but ended it as Fenlon’s No. 1 after Stack suffered a serious thigh injury which brought his campaign to a premature end.

Stack has since been released by Fenlon and while Brown is also out of contract and free to talk to other clubs, his agent Kevin Drinkell believes the Irishman would like to keep the former Rangers, Motherwell, Inverness Caley, Celtic and Kilmarnock star.

Drinkell said: “Mark had a chat with Pat last week and he said he wanted to keep Mark. They had to get together to talk about their plans for next season, and Pat told him he would like him to be there next year.

“He sees Mark as a good ’keeper, a good pro and great in the dressing room. Negotiations will need to take place and we will see if we can bring something together.”

Fenlon, meanwhile, is set to plead his own case to an SFA Judicial Panel Tribunal after being accused of making an offensive gesture towards Hearts fans in the dying seconds of his side’s 5-1 defeat in the final of the Scottish Cup at Hampden.

The Hibs manager, who is facing a touchline ban, had until yesterday to respond to a “notice of complaint” served on him by the governing body’s compliance officer Vincent Lunny and the Easter Road club have written in response to that charge.

Fenlon is now expected to attend the hearing at Hampden on June 14, having claimed immediately after the match that his action, for which referee Craig Thomson sent him to the stand, was not directed at the Hearts supporters who had been taunting him, but out of frustration at the way his team were playing.

Sean Welsh has signed a two-year deal with First Division Partick Thistle after being released by Hibs. The midfielder spent the second half of last season at Firhill on loan, playing 12 matches and scoring twice.