Glass keeps faith with Hibernian ideals

It will be the last Edinburgh derby that Glass, Riordan and Caldwell will play together but if Hibernian cannot match the financial rewards that his younger colleagues are looking for, Glass — whose contract ran out in June — can afford to opt for football over cash.

The 29-year-old midfield player earned good salaries in his three years at Newcastle United and then at Watford under Gianluca Vialli. Now, he wants to put something back into a vibrant young Hibernian side, where he will be the most experienced figure next term.

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Tony Mowbray is still hoping that this season’s flair and entertainment will be rewarded by a Uefa Cup place for finishing in fourth place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague, but in the long term the Hibernian manager feels that Glass can help to turn Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson, the soughtafter young midfield players, into even more valuable commodities.

The former Scotland international actually struggled to get into the side earlier in the campaign and then replaced the injured David Murphy at full-back before moving into midfield for the rest of the season. Mowbray insists Glass has proved he fully deserves a fresh contract.

However, with Brown, Guillaume Beuzelin and Michael Stewart — all presently injured — expected to start next term ahead of him in the queue for a midfield berth, Mowbray admits Glass may find it tough to earn a start.

“Stephen’s performance level this season warrants the offer of a new contract,” Mowbray said. “He’s probably aware the competition for places is going to be particularly tough for him and, if we can keep everybody fit, it is going to be a strong area of our team next season, but we are delighted he has agreed to stay with us for another two years and, hopefully, it will be a successful period for him and the club.”

Thomson, Brown, Steven Whittaker, Chris Hogg, Steven Fletcher and Ivan Sproule have all signed new, long-term deals this season and Hibernian are pinning their hopes for the future on the development of their youngsters.

“We have a lot of young players signed up but it’s important to have the right sort of personalities around the dressing-room to add their experience, know-how and knowledge, whether that’s on the pitch or off it,” Mowbray said.

For Caldwell, this will be his Edinburgh derby swansong and he is keen to repair the damage — physical and mental — inflicted on him by Hearts this season. Caldwell was taken off with a punctured lung in the opening derby in August, which Hibernian lost 4-1, and then was captain of the team that lost 4-0 in the recent Tennent’s Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.

Three weeks is too soon for that particular pain to heal. “I don’t think you can ever get that semi-final back,” Caldwell said yesterday. “I said at the time it was a one-off and we’ll probably never get that sort of chance again. Obviously, we wanted to win because it was a great chance to go on and lift the trophy itself. You could make excuses with the number of injuries we had but we don’t want to make excuses.

“We were poor on the day, the team that went out was poor and we took a bit of a battering which was disappointing for all the fans who had gone to Hampden. This derby has come around quite quickly, people are still hurting and it’s a chance for us to get some sort of revenge, so we are all looking forward to it.”

The fifth Edinburgh derby of the season could go a long way to helping Mowbray’s side to achieve their goal of European football next season. For that to happen, though, they must finish fourth and hope Hearts surrender second place to Rangers but then defeat Gretna in the Scottish Cup final.

“I think Hearts have done really well,“ Caldwell said. “They have spent money and spent it wisely, and our fans will be a bit sick if they split the Old Firm and get Champions League football. But in football you have to be selfish and we want to stop Hearts getting second place to help our own chances of playing in the Uefa Cup next season. To do that we have to beat them and hope other results go our way.

“This is probably our last chance to put a bit of doubt in the minds of the Hearts players and a win would also keep our hope of finishing fourth going. Other clubs have had more money to spend and good luck to them. We can only do the best we can with the players we have and the money the club can spend. If we finish fourth and get into Europe again it would be a great season, and even if we don’t, I think the boys have done well.

“The injuries have been the worst I can remember, right from the second game when I punctured a lung and broke ribs against Hearts at Tynecastle, which kept me out for four weeks. Gary Smith, Michael Stewart, Scott Brown, Guillaume Beuzelin, Stephen Glass — you could go right through the squad — have been out.

“Then we lost Garry O’Connor to Lokomotiv Moscow and Chris Killen, who came in to replace him, has also been out injured. You don’t like to make excuses but we’ve had a lot of injuries and that has affected us badly. So to finish high up the league in such circumstances would be an achievement.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk