The Hibernians Gazette
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Kevin Halabaku runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The knee: Dexter Xuereb out for 23 days
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hibernians lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Hibernians
Mikel Kaloshi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Tarxien Rainbows take the points off Hibernians
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Kurt Shaw gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Jonathan Deguara left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Fabian Dimech signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabian Dimech commits to Hibernians for another 3 years.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Matteo Cardinali
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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Hibernians turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
In brief
- Looking ahead Silas Alfred goes back to face Valletta
- Player ratings Mailson Lima keeps on missing
- Squad Leandro Lacunza speaks, and the room listens