BY DARREN JOHNSTONE – Capital City Press
Hibs head coach Alan Stubbs admits he thought Mark Warburton would have understood his first message about Scott Allan after insisting he will not make a third phone call to his Rangers counterpart.
The Leith outfit have made it clear that they will not sell want-away midfielder Allan to their Championship rivals.
And to reinforce that point, Stubbs personally called Warburton twice after each the £175,000 and £225,000 offer from the Ibrox club was turned down.
A third approach of £275,000 was also given short shrift on Wednesday as Hibs prepare to kick of their league campaign away to Dumbarton tomorrow.
Stubbs, however, admits he will not be making contact with Warburton this time round.
He said: “We can sum it up in three things. We’ve had another offer, which is a little bit more than the last one and it’s been rejected.
“Our stance as a football club has not changed and is not going to change. and we’ve had no offers from any other clubs.
“Is it mischievous ahead of the new season? You would have to ask Mark and his board of directors there.
“There have been two phone calls to Mark after the first and second bid. Will I make a third? No.
“I didn’t think I would have to make one, I certainly didn’t think I would have to make two and I certainly won’t be making three.”
Stubbs also suggested that Hibs value Allan, last season’s Championship Player of the Years, at over £1 million.
He added: “Scott Allan is one of the most prestigious talents in Scottish football at this moment in time.
“Why would be accept £850,000 when you’ve got someone who goes to another club for over £1 million?”
Asked if Hibs had been disrespected over the whole saga, Stubbs replied: “I think the publicity has been one-sided, it’s been as if we would give in.
“I see lots of ambassadors for the football club (Rangers) have managed to speak about it.
“We’ve been very clear from day, our stance is that we will not do business with Rangers and that will be the same on September 1.
“Maybe they don’t realise how serious we are and we’ve said it for the sake of it.
“I think some people may think that automatically we should say, ‘okay, you can go’.
“I don’t think people have respected our position as a football club. I think people think what we’re doing is wrong.
“You don’t sell your best players to a rival football club. You don’t let your best people go to a rival business unless your silly.
“I might be missing a point, I don’t know.”
Allan has come off the bench in Hibs’ first two competitive games of the season against Rangers and Montrose in the Petrofac Training Cup and League Cup respectively.
One player that could make his debut in midfield this weekend is John McGinn as the former St Mirren playmaker bids to make his comeback after controversially being speared in a training ground accident involving Steven Thompson in April.
Stubbs added: “How close is he? He’ll be in the squad. He has trained really well all week and he has surprised us with his fitness.
“It would be a big ask but he’s one of them that will adapt and get on with it.”
Stubbs, meanwhile, confirmed that Keith Watson, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Hibs from Dundee United, is now training with Aberdeen.
He said: “We’ve decided not to pursue that. Keith came in to training during the summer and had an injury that kept him out for a bit.
“We’ve moved on and he had an opportunity to go to Aberdeen.”
ends
