YOU BLUE IT
PAUL KANE has warned Florian Kamberi he has no chance of being welcomed back to Hibs with open arms.
On the 30th anniversary of the announcement of Wallace Mercer’s attempted takeover of the Easter Road club, Kane has delved even deeper into the history books.
The former midfielder reckons the Hibs faithful have an issue with their players leaving for Ibrox that stretches back to 1968, when Colin Stein signed in a £100,000 deal with the Light Blues.
Since then Easter Road favourites such as Craig Paterson, Andy Goram, Ian Murray, Kevin Thomson and Steven Whittaker have moved west along the M8.
Murray, Thomson and Whittaker later returned for second spells at their boyhood clubs, but without the rancour being levelled at former Grasshoppers frontman Kamberi.
He scored 20 goals in 65 appearances for Hibs but his comments on moving to Ibrox on a loan deal in January went down like a lead balloon with the Leith faithful.
Kamberi said: “Ever since I came to Scotland it has been a dream for me to move to Rangers. I am a very, very happy man. Ibrox is the best atmosphere I have ever played in.
“My second game for Hibs was against Rangers at Ibrox and after the game I told my agent immediately my dream would be to play in this stadium in front of these fans as they are the best fans in the world. The support is massive.”
Kane remains an icon to the Hibs fan and still has his finger on the pulse of the supporters – and it’s throbbing big time at the prospect of Kamberi returning to his parent club for training next week.
He said: “You’ve only got to look back at the history books to know there is something about Hibs players moving to Rangers that the fans just don’t like.
“It goes all the way back to players like Colin Stein and includes Craig Paterson, Andy Goram and in recent
Kane warns Kamberi he has burned his boats at Hibs with ‘dream move’ droolings when he joined Rangers GARY RALSTON g.ralston@dailyrecord.co.uk
years Ian Murray, Kevin Thomson and Steven Whittaker.
“Hibs fans later welcomed back Ian, Steven and Kevin but that’s because they never came out with bold statements when joining Rangers that could be viewed as disrespectful to the club.
“Kamberi committed the cardinal sin of saying Rangers was the place he really wanted to be and he’d be better off seeking his future away from Hibs on the back of that comment.
“I don’t think the fans will ever take him back into their hearts now and tell him all is forgiven. Crucially the same probably also applies to the club – if they really wanted to keep him on I don’t believe he’d currently be linked with four or five different clubs.
“On his game he’s a good player but it’s getting him on his game that’s the problem.
“He can play all right, there’s something about him, but he has got to do it more often. He simply isn’t consistent enough.”
Kamberi, 25, still has a year remaining on his contract which was made permanent when Neil Lennon signed him in a £100,000 deal from Swiss side Grasshoppers in the summer of 2018 following a successful loan stint.
Rangers are among a list of clubs from the English Championship, Poland, Germany and Turkey mulling over a move for Kamberi, who impressed at Ibrox in the last two months of the truncated season.
Kane added: “It seems Kamberi spoke out when he joined Rangers because he believed he would be away for good and not returning.
“But the feeling I’m getting is the Hibs fans are not for taking him back – and neither is the club.”
Kane admitted Hibs fans have other things on their minds for the moment anyway as they reflect back on the attempted takeover 30 years ago that almost killed their club.
They suffered a fraught six weeks before Mercer finally pulled the plug on his £6.2million bid for a controlling interest when fans rallied and the Hearts owner couldn’t persuade enough shareholders to sell.
Kane, a first-team player at the time, said: “It was like the current pandemic – we didn’t know how to react as it had never happened before.
“After Spurs, Hibs were the second club in British football to float on the stock market and Mercer seized his opportunity.
“Even diehard Jambos could see what it was – an attempt to kill a rival club – but Mercer reckoned without the passion and support of Hibs fans, as well as those from other clubs and the wider community.
“The raw emotion of Hibs fans as they united behind the plan was something to behold and Hibs have grown and grown since those days, with the Scottish Cup victory of 2016 an obvious highlight.
“But I’ve also got to credit people like John Robertson as well. Wee Robbo went on stage in front of the Hibs fans at the Usher Hall to protest the takeover – and got one almighty row from Mercer for doing so!”