Heartbroken Stubbs stays tight-lipped over future

THERE will be a third successive season in the second tier for the first-ever time. Accompanied by a truly historic level of hurt.

Even at a club where experiencing new and varied methods of torture are almost a speciality, this was an extraordinarily painful conclusion to an epic league campaign. Yet again, the play-offs have left Hibernian heartbroken.

The varied consequences of Bob McHugh’s dramatic, last-gasp winner for Falkirk will be felt for some time.

Their exact nature will become clear soon enough. But fresh speculation will inevitably surround Alan Stubbs after his primary aim of promotion vanished from sight.

Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers have both placed him under consideration as they seek new managers this summer.

And last night, as he came to terms with a shattering defeat, the former Celtic centre-half declined to discuss his future.

‘It’s not the time to speak about that, it’s not about me,’ insisted Stubbs. ‘Right now, it’s about the players and the club. Since I have come in, we have put things in place that will give it a better chance of progressing forward.

‘If you look at the players we’ve brought in, they are real assets, gifted young players. We will have discussions with them over the coming weeks. I don’t see any of them wanting to leave because of what happened. If anything, it will drive them forward.’

Undoubtedly, though, retaining the likes of John McGinn and Jason Cummings has just become a tougher prospect. The fees they would attract will be harder to resist.

There is a clear financial impact from staying down, even with the mitigation of cash-generating runs to both major cup finals.

‘We have got to two finals because of our budget and that helps with revenue,’ insisted Stubbs (right). ‘If the budget wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have got it.

‘I have really good people behind me with the club’s best interests at heart. It’s not like we’re overspending. We have clever people who deal with it.

‘Most of the players are under contract. It’s not what we wanted, far from it. But this last two years have probably been the toughest to get out of the Championship. That’s no consolation to us.’

Behind to an early strike from Blair Alston, two goals from James Keatings had Hibs ahead at half-time. They looked the more convincing side until Luke Leahy’s spectacular long-range piledriver revived Falkirk. Then, right at the death, McHugh hooked home to seal a third straight year of play-off misery for the visitors.

‘I’m more disappointed for the players and the club as a whole,’ said Stubbs. ‘It’s a really cruel way to lose any game.

‘I thought when we were in front at 2-1 we looked in control. We seemed to have grabbed hold of the game and it looked like it was drifting away from Falkirk.

‘Their lad (Leahy) had a great strike which gave them a lift. We dealt with all their throw-ins and free-kicks for the majority of the night. But we didn’t deal with the most important one.’

Somehow, Stubbs must try to lift his dejected players for their Scottish Cup Final appearance against Rangers a week today.

‘The players will have a couple of days to reflect and get this out of their system,’ he said. ‘We’ll be back in Monday and gradually prepare them as the week goes on — and see if we can sample a high in football.’

It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast in emotion between two teams after any match. While the sound of dance music reverberated from the Falkirk dressing room, Hibs striker Keatings attempted to reflect on the most brutal defeat of his career. ‘We put so much into the game and were by far the better team and then they go up the park and score,’ he lamented. ‘It’s the worst I’ve ever felt in football. We had a lot of the ball, but not killing the game off has came back to bite us. ‘We need to put this to the back of our minds before the Cup Final.’

Hibs are now facing a third year in the Championship.

Houston said: ‘I was speechless at the end. I thought in the first 30 minutes we were good and played really good stuff.

‘We were on the front foot right from the start and got the goal but the penalty (Keatings’ opener) spooked us a bit. A couple of minutes later Keatings scored a magnificent header and all of a sudden we are on the back foot.

‘In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Hibs were very good and probably if they scored then the tie could have been over but, credit to us, we kept at