Marked for Douglas
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Silas Alfred
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silas Alfred will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hibernians the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Douglas wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hibernians know it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Ryder Matos linked with a move away
The name of Ryder Matos keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hibernians say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes Mikel Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hibernians. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
29 starts now, an average of 6.51, and the team sheet at Vittoriosa Stars has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hibernians may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Hibernians
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro Lacunza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Duane Bonnici, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Mailson Lima knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hibernians, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Feb 2027
Silas Alfred has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hibernians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro Lacunza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 63 days on the sidelines for Ayanda Bophela, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikel Kaloshi, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Pedrão is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market22 Feb 2027
Hibernians have made Ryder Matos available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Douglas knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Douglas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
28 days out for Bjorn Kristensen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Feb 2027
Douglas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hibernians can pretend not to have heard.
Match15 Feb 2027
Full time on the season at Hibernians
Position 7 on 30 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.88, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Douglas wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hibernians know it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ryder Matos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A last season at home is what Mailson Lima is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Feb 2027
3‑4 to Zabbar St. Patrick, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match13 Feb 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hibernians and Zabbar St. Patrick in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Bjorn Kristensen out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Feb 2027
387 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Hibernians know exactly what they have.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market8 Feb 2027
Djoliba come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hibernians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Silas Alfred, 21, steals the show — 7.60
Marked 7.60 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Douglas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match6 Feb 2027
2‑3 to Floriana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sirens waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
16 seasons and 387 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Hibernians close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match30 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Hibernians did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hibernians can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Douglas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
49 days out for Bjorn Kristensen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match23 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Hibernians
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Cardinali is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mikel Kaloshi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Ryder Matos left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ryder Matos will call it something else in private.
Squad25 Jan 2027
8 new faces, and Hibernians are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Bjorn Kristensen out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match13 Jan 2027
A 4‑3 win over Marsaxlokk, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market18 Jan 2027
Douglas puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match13 Jan 2027
Jurgen Degabriele wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Jurgen Degabriele found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Marsaxlokk went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.53, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Valletta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Miullen. The answer from Hibernians has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sliema Wanderers keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match16 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hibernians have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Douglas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Bjorn Kristensen out for 66 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 2027
Miullen puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hibernians, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Melita waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match9 Jan 2027
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Miullen decided nobody was going anywhere. Marsaxlokk had no time left to answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Douglas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Isaiah Chukunyere is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hibernians know it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mouad El Fanis
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match9 Jan 2027
Marsaxlokk made Hibernians work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Douglas: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hibernians have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Mosta for Miullen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hibernians can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Leandro Lacunza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Melita have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Silas Alfred. The answer from Hibernians has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Hibernians asked and Floriana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Leandro Lacunza has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Hibernians.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
80 days out for Bjorn Kristensen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ryder Matos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miullen. 1‑0 against Hamrun Spartans, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A masterclass from Miullen
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 102% of everything Hibernians earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Hibernians are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Duane Bonnici
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The dugout
Douglas asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Bjorn Kristensen out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hibernians will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Home is on Douglas's mind
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hibernians are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Douglas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikel Kaloshi, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Silas Alfred has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hibernians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
95 days out for Bjorn Kristensen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑3 against Valletta, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Douglas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mouad El Fanis, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Julian Deguara to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Douglas
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Joseph Mbong gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Joseph Mbong is on it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Miullen could have had three
14 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
102 days out for Bjorn Kristensen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hibernians will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ryder Matos, 33, rolls back the years — 8.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match5 Dec 2026
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mailson Lima and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joseph Mbong commits to Hibernians for another 4 years.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miullen. 2‑1 against Tarxien Rainbows, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
One of those days for Miullen
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Silas Alfred makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Hibernians's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hibernians has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Hibernians can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mailson Lima in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hibernians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match30 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Hibernians
Position 7, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 95% of the Hibernians income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Julian Deguara after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Hibernians's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hibernians has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets9 Nov 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ryder Matos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
One of those days for Miullen
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Hibernians
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Douglas
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
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The dugout
Douglas asks for a word with the manager
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Squad
Douglas still has not settled
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Market
The Mailson Lima story refuses to die
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets2 Nov 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Hibernians's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hibernians has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Douglas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Douglas needs a bigger stage
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Hibernians know which stage they are at.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 95% of everything Hibernians earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hibernians, and 8 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Oct 2026
Hibernians are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 12 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mailson Lima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Hibernians will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Hibernians
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dexter Xuereb was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Douglas signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Douglas commits to Hibernians for another 1 years.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Julian Deguara chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Mouad El Fanis asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jurgen Degabriele, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for Maracanã, 2‑0 the final word against GAS in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Market3 Aug 2026
Douglas leaves for nothing
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Douglas leaves Maracanã the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.