Stubbs is happy to close the window
Squad is now strong enough, says Hibs boss
NO more rabbits. That’s how Alan Stubbs puts it when asked about the possibility of adding further to his squad during the January transfer window.
Considering his team are still i nvolved — and arguably in contention — in three different competitions, he must be pretty sure of both the quality and quantity at his disposal to stick rather than twist.
Are the League Cup semi-finalists, Championship title challengers and perennial Scottish Cup also-rans good enough, then, to win a Treble?
‘I don’t want the headline to be we will win all three,’ said the Hibs manager, whose grounding at Celtic has served him well in anticipating how comments might appear in black and white.
‘We are in it, so we’re competitive. It will be very difficult against Celtic or Ross County in the League Cup and we have to come through a hard game against St Johnstone first — they are not easy to play against.
‘ Hearts at Tynecastle i n the Scottish Cup, it does not get any more difficult than that.
‘But it is a brilliant tie. It is one I can’t wait for. This is a brilliant and exciting three weeks coming up. In fact, it is a brilliant and exciting four months. But, for me, it does not get any better than this next three weeks.
‘I am delighted with my squad, excited by them.
‘There’s probably only Celtic and ourselves who have a realistic chance of winning everything — we are still in the Scottish Cup, still in the League Cup and we can still win promotion.
‘To be fair to Ross County, I don’t think they will win the league. They have a good chance of finishing in the top f our, which would be great.
‘St Johnstone do it every year and Tommy Wright has done a great job keeping them as competitive as possible.
‘That tells you where we are at, too. It is no mean feat to be in all competitions come the end of January, so we have an awful lot to play for. I have said all along that we are a Premiership club playing in the Championship — but we have to get out of it.
‘Until we do that, then people can turn round and beg to differ. But we certainly do have a Premiership squad. We have shown against Premiership opposition this season that we can compete and we have to do that again over the next few weeks.
‘It will be a big test but one I fully believe the players can cope with.
‘ I think we’re finished in the market. No more rabbits. We have done more than what we expected.
‘I said all along we would bring in a striker and a defender, and we did that very early.
‘I was always hopeful we would do something different. But I am even surprised by how different it was.
‘Anthony Stokes would have walked into any team. We’ve done fantastically to get him.’
Stokes is l i kely to f orm a partnership with Jason Cummings sooner rather than later, whatever Stubbs may feel compelled to say about the other strikers — mainly Dominique Malonga and new signing Chris Dagnall — having a part to play.
The prospect of top scorer Cummings learning from someone of Stokes’ experience should be exciting for the youngster, who has already impressed his manager with his progression this season.
‘The benefits of that, only time will tell,’ said Stubbs. ‘ But they have a very good chance.
‘It’s not just Anthony and Jason. We have other strikers here who will play their part and contribute.
‘I understand why people think it’s those two straight away, but that’s unfair on the other players.
‘But he (Stokes) will certainly help Jason. For what we say about Jason off the pitch, he’s actually been getting more and more clever on the pitch.
‘I don’t mean that in a bad way — but he’s certainly not nine A-stars, shall we say!
‘ He is giving us some A- star performances on the pitch, though, and he is learning.
‘Jason is taking things on board, which is great to see.
‘He is doing things now that we’ve been trying to teach him. For me, that is very rewarding to see.’
The arrival at Easter Road of former captain Kevin Thomson also adds experience to the squad, Stubbs saying: ‘Kevin comes in first and foremost to contribute on the pitch.
‘But in the background there will be some sort of coaching for him to keep him improving.
‘He is halfway through his A licence, so it’s a good opportunity for him to learn and get a bit more experience working with our 15s and 17s.’