There'll be some blunt conversations going on at Hibs right now with just weeks to go until the transfer window opens.
Lee Johnson has openly admitted he needs to shift players off the books before he can bring in fresh blood. His words won’t have been missed inside the dressing room at HTC either and a few top team stars will know their peg has just got that bit shooglier. It reminds me of a situation I found myself in 18 years ago when Tony Mowbray took over at Easter Road.
Not a lot of people will know this but I had signed 15 YEARS worth of contracts at Hibs by the time I was 23. That included a two-year YTS then a three-year pro deal under Alex McLeish. Big Eck then gave me a five-year deal midway through that and Franck Sauzee gave me another five-year contract when he came in.Yet ironically it was the last of those terms tying me to Easter Road that eventually led to me being punted.
I’ll never forget the day Mowbray pulled me in before we’d even kicked a ball in his first week as boss. He looked at me with a wee glint in his eye and basically said ‘you’ve done well to get that contract Tam’.
I knew what was coming. I was an issue. He wanted to bring fresh faces in. I was on good money and big appearance money and there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room for him to get his own players in.
Mowbray was straight up and said because of my contract he couldn’t play me. I was on the bench a lot but even if we were 1-0 down with five minutes to go he wouldn’t put me on.
Boston United came in for me and I signed on loan just to get back playing. It allowed Mowbray to bring in some of his own players. A few months later we agreed a deal to tear up my contract and I was on my way to Dundee.
It was sad leaving the club where I’d spent the best part of 10 years but I'd never hold it against Mowbray. How could I when he went on to win manager of the year that season?! But it’s what happens every window at football clubs.
It’s a situation Johnson is now staring at as he looks to freshen up his options in January. Unfortunately for the Englishman he’s picked up the remnants of the previous two managers and needs to clear out before he can bring in.
A lot of those players are in the middle of long contracts and it falls to the current regime to work out who needs to go and then either find a buyer or a loan club or just take the hit and pay them up. There’ll be a lot of agents working overtime round about Hibs right now to get their players out if they’ve had it laid on the line to them like I did.
Some of Johnson’s summer signings haven’t worked either. He was on record saying he likes to try before he buys. Well he’s tried loan signings Momodou Bojang and Ellie Youan and now it’s time to say bye-bye to both.
If their loan spells can be cut short in January then for me they should be on their way because they’ve had no impact. That together with the cruel injury to Martin Boyle means the priority for bringing players in next month is likely to be in the wide areas.
A pacey winger ready to hit the ground running would be my preference if there was to be one big signing. Speaking of Boyle it was brilliant to see him front and centre of Australia’s World Cup celebrations in the past couple of weeks.
Everybody has enjoyed watching the Socceroos’ run to the last 16. Boyle played a huge part in getting them to Qatar so it was only right they involved him in some capacity. His picture with Lionel Messi will no doubt be taking pride of place somewhere in the house when he gets home and that’s what it’s all about.
For guys like ex-Hibees Jackson Irvine and Jason Cummings and the other SPFL-based players it’s been an incredible fortnight. It’s something these guys will never forget for the rest of their lives and should hopefully inspire their team mates when they return to Scotland.
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