I will hang up boots if it helps me stick around at club I love
Veteran McGregor ready to help next generation at Hibs
DARREN McGREGOR is ready to call time early on his career as a Hibs player – to prolong his time with his boyhood club.
The emotional defender admits Sunday’s 4-0 win over St Johnstone might have been his last game in senior football, despite having a year left to run on his contract at Easter Road.
McGregor’s first start since December was his 432nd topteam appearance in his career.
But the former Rangers and St Mirren stopper is ready to sit down with Easter Road chiefs as he contemplates hanging up his boots now and turning his hand to helping develop the next generation of Hibees.
The 36-year-old – a rock as Hibs lifted the 2016 Scottish Cup and followed it up by winning the Championship title a year later – insists he can’t imagine playing for any other club.
He said: “I have a year left but I’m not naive – I’m 37 in August. It is getting harder. I don’t want to block the pathway for younger guys coming up.
“I will need to have a conversation with the powers that be whether I can transition into something else.
“If I wasn’t playing for Hibs I would struggle to see myself playing for anyone else.
“If there was an opportunity to transition here into coaching I would love to look into that.
“I have been here a long time and loved every minute of it and I would do anything for this club. Whatever capacity they see me in then I would be keen to take it.
“If someone said to me when I had a proper job at 24 that I would still be playing now after winning the Scottish Cup with Hibs at 30, I wouldn’t have believed them.
“I have had a different career path to a lot of boys. At 18 I was still playing for Leith Athletic then went to Cowdenbeath, Arniston Rangers, back to Cowdenbeath, then St Mirren, Rangers and now Hibs.
“I have learned a lot. But from a personal point of view and what I have been through and how hard I have worked and the adversity I have faced while squeezing every bit of ability, I have had a decent career. I would love to pass that on to younger guys and try to help develop them to be the next Hibs players.”
McGregor hadn’t featured for two months since snapping an ankle ligament against Motherwell in March. But he was handed the captaincy by caretaker boss David Gray for the season finale, which could now turn out to be the last hurrah on his 18-year pro career. McGregor said: “It was emotional even thinking about it on Saturday night. “Dave had spoken to me and said he was going to give me the captaincy, which I’ll be forever grateful for. “A lot of people didn’t know this but I’d snapped one of the main ligaments in my ankle in March against Motherwell. “It should have been a 10 to 12-week rehab but I got back in six just with this mindset of potentially getting one more game, as you never know what’s round the corner.
“Leading the kids out there with the armband, I was almost on the verge of tears.
“I had to control myself as it was so overwhelming. It’s just been a privilege to play with this club.
“If that is my last game, I will treasure it along with a couple of other things that I managed to achieve here.”
McGregor admits seeing former team-mate Gray make the transition from player to coach at the age of
just 34 has inspired him to follow a similar route. He said: “He’s definitely given me inspiration. He’s done a tremendous job.
“I’ve got no doubt in my mind that in the future he’ll definitely become a Hibs manager.
“I think any manager coming in, David could be a definite asset in terms of his rapport with the guys, what he’s achieved here and his work ethic, which is second to none.”