Derby debutant Josh has feet firmly grounded
Josh Vela is one player who won’t be getting too carried away with the importance of today’s Edinburgh derby.
It’s not that the Hibernian midfielder isn’t looking forward to his first taste of the fixture – he absolutely is.
Rather, it is the fact that spending the first half of 2019 playing without pay for Bolton Wanderers has given him a sharpened sense of priorities.
“I get the vibe that Hibs v Hearts is a pretty big one, yeah. I don’t mind the whole rivalry thing but, to be honest, it is nice just to be able to focus on football,” said the 25-year-old Englishman, ahead of the Easter Road renewal.
“I had five months with no pay – no one wants that on their mind.
“Our baby, a wee boy, Noah, was born end of January, right when we stopped getting paid so it was really tough.
“My partner, Candice, was worried how we were going to pay for the baby. But my dad had always said to keep a bit aside because these situations can happen, so we had the money available to pay the mortgage, the bills and buy stuff for the baby.
“At the same time, we didn’t know how long it would carry on. We would come in to be told you are getting paid but it would keep dragging on and dragging on.
“It does affect your football, too, because players were coming in to training and some didn’t want to do it because we hadn’t been paid.
“We had a Whatsapp group and people would be asking if we should play at the weekend and you would get mixed opinions.
“Some wanted to play for their futures, while others didn’t because they hadn’t been paid. You have to respect both ways of looking at it. In the end, we only refused to play in one game, against Brentford.
“I got my fresh start at Hibs, but I still have loads of mates at Bolton, staff and guys who I came up through the Academy with, so I am pleased for them things have finally worked out there.”