BY DARREN JOHNSTONE – Capital City Press
Hibs head coach Alan Stubbs admits he will consider handing fans favourite Derek Riordan a contract if he ‘blows the house down’.
The Easter Road side have offered the 32-year-old training facilities while the striker continues his search for a new club following his departure at East Fife during the summer.
Either side of a disappointing spell at Celtic, Riordan, the third highest goal scorer in Scottish Premier League history, notched 103 goals in two stints with his boyhood heroes.
Riordan has since turned out for Chinese outfit Shaanxi Chanba, Bristol Rovers, Alloa and latterly East Fife.
Stubbs, however, has not ruled out bringing the prolific forward back to the club.
He said: “Derek is in training with us.
“As a manager I would never refuse an ex-player training facilities. That is the way it was put to me.
“If Derek comes in and blows the house down and is fantastic then I will have a real decision to make.
“This is not a risk or a gamble and I am just providing Derek with an opportunity to train.
“The fans loved him when he was here and it is not just done because of that.
“At the moment he is here using the clubs facilities to get used to training day-in, day-out again rather than part-time stuff. I was happy to help him out to be honest.”
Stubbs, meanwhile, insists he is not concerned about trying to keep strikers Jason Cummings, Dominique Malonga, James Keatings, Farid El Alagui, Islam Feruz, Henri Anier and Jamie Insall all happy.
He added: “There is competition for places now and there are players looking over their shoulders, especially in the striking department
“Every club that wants to be successful wants to have that.
“When strikers are in the team scoring, they are happy. When they are not scoring, they are not happy.
When they are not in the team, they are not happy.
“They are probably the most miserable bunch of the lot.
“I am very comfortable with having a real choice of strikers and I like the fact that I am looking to my bench and I have lots of options to change the game.”
ends
