WHAT HAPPENS NEXT...
How are Scotland’s idle players coping with contract uncertainty?
THE moment Steven Whittaker crashed late into Lewis Ferguson, he knew a second yellow card was inevitable. During the long walk to the away dressing room, the Hibernian midfielder had no sense that seven weeks later, he would still be waiting to serve his automatic one-game suspension.
In a world now confronting worst-case scenarios, that lay-off could now prove terminal.
Although he had been enjoying a renaissance in Jack Ross’s team, Whittaker’s immediate future was unresolved going into that 3-1 Premiership loss at Aberdeen.
His contract is due to expire in June, around the time of his 36th birthday, and he was never going to take an extension for granted, far less so now that the coronavirus pandemic has shrouded the future of football in fear and uncertainty.
‘Everything is up in the air at the minute but, listen, I am not the only one,’ admitted the former Scotland international.
‘There are loads of players in the same position every year, but this time it all seems a bit more awkward.’
At the start of this month, Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster confirmed that after negotiating a wage-deferral package, the
first-team squad would also be placed on furlough through the government’s emergency Job Retention Scheme.
These measures will help mitigate against the immediate financial hit from the lockdown but, with football unlikely to return for many months, cash flow will be a huge problem for even the biggest Scottish clubs.
Whittaker is fortunate that a long and successful career should insulate him from the worst of the fall-out.
A 2007 League Cup winner with Hibs before embarking on a gilded career with Rangers and Norwich City, Whittaker admits he is in a privileged position.
Yet even as lockdown allows him to enjoy family time at home with children Hayden and Bonny, he craves a return to professional life.
He continued: ‘I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a good career, so I can definitely be a bit more relaxed about things.
‘I have only ever been in this situation once — when my contract ran out at Norwich — so, in some ways, it’s kind of exciting to see what happens next.
‘First and foremost, I want to keep playing. That run in the team gave me the bit between my teeth, so I want to try and attack next season.
‘In conversation with Jack, he has said that I have been great around the place and that he would probably look to try and keep me at the club. But it’s one thing hearing that. I’ve been around long enough to know that these situations don’t always pan out. There are so many variables in football.’
Whittaker’s career came full circle when he rejoined Hibs on a free in the summer of 2017 as an experienced head recruited to help Neil Lennon’s newly-promoted side adjust to the top flight.
It had been a decade since his £2million break-out transfer to Rangers, where he won three league titles and a further four trophies in addition to a run to the UEFA Cup final in 2008. A move to Norwich and the Premier League followed the financial collapse of Rangers in 2012, by which time he was a Scotland regular, earning 31 caps.
His return to Hibs saw him recapture the versatility of his youth but things ran out of steam in the early part of this season when Lennon’s replacement, Paul Heckingbottom, informed Whittaker that he was no longer in his plans.
Such a message might have been taken as an affront. Instead, the pair went on to develop an unlikely new alliance that has carried Whittaker closer to his future career goal of a shot at management.
‘Under Paul, I wasn’t playing,’ he explained. ‘He told me that my game time was going to be limited, so I knew where I stood.
‘If a manager says he is not going to play you, then fine. All you ever want is a bit of transparency and honesty and then you can adapt.
‘My body is past improvement, it is more about maintenance. Knowing I didn’t need to prepare hard for games each Saturday allowed me to divert more energy into coaching.
‘I was already on my A licence but needed experience, so I started helping Colin Nish with the Under-18s in the evenings.
‘Nish was great. Anything I needed, he was there to help and I got used to being that figure in charge and setting up sessions.
‘And then Paul invited me into the directors’ box when he got his touchline ban. He was on the mic to Robbie Stockdale and I’d be at his side chatting through the game. It was nice of him to think of me in that way. It’s progression, isn’t it? Another avenue to explore.’
Heckingbottom was sacked in November, with Whittaker named as part of an interim management team alongside Eddie May and Grant Murray.
The appointment of Ross incentivised him to pick up the pace in training but the new manager retained, and continues to use, Whittaker’s tactical eye.
‘Jack has given me the opportunity to play but he also seeks my opinion,’ continued Whittaker. ‘And, on the occasions where I have not been stripped, I have been miked up to the bench, on the same channel as Grant, the physio and the analysts.
‘There’s lots of things to look at. We do our analysis during the week — formations and focusing on certain opposition players.
‘My job straight from kick-off is to tick off all those boxes and make sure the opposition is set up the way we expected. And then if I see any weaknesses or spaces that we might exploit, I’ll pass that on too.
‘Second half, I can see if somebody is tiring, where a substitution might
In some ways, it is kind of exciting to see what will happen next
be needed. It’s great to have that kind of input.’
Ultimately he still craves to be out on the pitch and, between the resumption post-winter break and the season suspension, he had emerged as an key player for Ross.
He no longer gallops up and down the right touchline but his reading of the game has made him an asset.
‘When Paul moved on and Jack came in, it gave me a fresh slate,’ he said. ‘The coaching took a back seat as I wanted to do well in training, show Jack I still wanted to play.
‘Although it took a while, Jack started to see me in that midfield role. The winter break was good for me and I got to play against Dundee United in the first game back.
‘From that point, I’ve been playing regularly. I turn 36 in the summer but I still have the drive to, hopefully, go for another season.
‘I need to take it year by year but the body is still feeling okay. While it’s there, I still want to try and achieve more. The coaching will come in time.’
Ideally he’d love to secure another playing deal at Easter Road, not least because the small matter of this season’s Scottish Cup is likely to be addressed just as soon as football is permitted to return.
Whittaker knows all about Hibs’ relationship with the old trophy but missed out by 12 months as the club broke its 114-year hoodoo by beating Rangers in the 2016 final.
Drawn to face Hearts in this season’s semi-finals, Hibs are likely to be thrown straight into the heat of a derby cup tie.
Hibs will lack no incentive, having lost at home to their relegationthreatened rivals last time out. Whittaker also has memories of losing the last Hampden semi between the clubs back in 2006.
‘I’d like to think they will still play the cup to a conclusion — it’s only three extra games,’ he added.
‘The derbies have been following a strange pattern. When I was coming through, the home team was always stronger but the opposite has been true recently.
‘The neutral venue will make the semi-final different. I don’t look back too fondly on what happened in 2006 but the clubs are in very different places now.’
Football will return. As for Whittaker, that tackle really wasn’t so bad as to merit a sine die ban.