Marked for Andrew Wright
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Oct 2035
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.
Market22 Oct 2035
Andrew Wright 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 Oct 2035
Oliver Calland 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.
Match20 Oct 2035
1‑2 to Zabbar St. Patrick, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Will Flint falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Oct 2035
“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.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Aug 2035
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.
Market20 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hibernians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Oliver Calland and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Tadeáš Stoppen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout20 Aug 2035
Hervé Garcia 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
“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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
A loan enquiry to Hamrun Spartans: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout20 Aug 2035
Jack Woodcock 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hibernians have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad13 Aug 2035
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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Kevin Halabaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market13 Aug 2035
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Hibernians have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
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.
The dugout13 Aug 2035
Hervé Garcia 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.
Market13 Aug 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with George Barker’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market13 Aug 2035
The clock does Jack Woodcock’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Hibernians could ask drops and the wages Jack Woodcock can ask rise.
Squad13 Aug 2035
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market16 Jul 2035
Tyron Macomba 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Kevin Halabaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market16 Jul 2035
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Hibernians have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market16 Jul 2035
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Hibernians will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout16 Jul 2035
Nhlanhla Gasa 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.
The dugout16 Jul 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Jul 2035
“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.
Match2 Jul 2035
43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad2 Jul 2035
20 days out for Adrian Dimech 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.
Market2 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Oliver Calland 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.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Words at Hibernians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Halabaku 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.
Squad2 Jul 2035
“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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2035
Hibernians sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Market2 Jul 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hibernians, another week without a signature from Jake Vassallo.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jun 2035
A fracture rules Adrian Dimech out for 34 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.
Market18 Jun 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hibernians people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad18 Jun 2035
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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Hibernians
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tadeáš Stoppen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jun 2035
“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.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to André Nkong, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
Nhlanhla Gasa 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 Nhlanhla Gasa is on it.
Market18 Jun 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexander Satariano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market18 Jun 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Mar 2035
Hibernians are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 43 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market12 Mar 2035
Jan Coufal 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Oliver Calland 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
A row about effort at Hibernians
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Halabaku was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Mar 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market12 Mar 2035
The Ryan Mombo talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hibernians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Hibernians would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Dominic Mallia 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 Dominic Mallia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.