Hogg to lead Yogi charge

Published on Wednesday 22 July 2009 09:52

CHRIS HOGG will today be unveiled as Hibs' new captain, the first step towards realising boss John Hughes' vision for the Easter Road club.

Hughes has spent the past few weeks assessing each and every one of the players at his disposal but now that process is at an end, telling his players: "The ball is now in your court."

While Hogg faces a mammoth task in replacing former skipper Rob Jones following the towering defender's move to Scunthorpe, Hughes has identified the ex-Ipswich Town youngster as someone who embodies all he is looking for from his stars.

Hughes had admitted Hogg, along with Ian Murray and John Rankin, was in contention to take the captain's armband on a permanent basis, the young defender having skippered the side in pre-season friendlies against Dunfermline and Raith Rovers.

And later today Hogg's promotion will be confirmed as Hughes signalled he's finished weighing up each of his players and is now ready to make the changes he feels are necessary although he stressed it won't be an overnight transformation.

Last night's match at Stark's Park, abandoned shortly after the interval as the Kirkcaldy ground was engulfed in a ferocious thunder storm, provided, Hughes, revealed, a number of answers to questions he had over certain individuals.

He said: "I feel I have now given everyone a great opportunity to go and express themselves and show what they have in terms of desire and application and now I have to make decisions.

"As a manager you are everything, you have to be their best pal to get the best out of them, you have to kick their backsides at times, you are a psychologist, a social worker and at the moment I'm doing all that, seeing what buttons to press.

"But I want guys who do not need to have buttons pressed, they do it themselves.

"To be fair, a lot of them were made in the first week of pre-season training, wee bites and pieces of character, what you want to see and don't want to see on the training ground.

"It will take time but I want to build a team here which every time they pull on a Hibs jersey they play with a passion and pride and with a style of play.

"But you have to earn that right. You don't just turn up on a Saturday and hope it will happen, you make it happen by living football 24/7, training like champions and that's what we are trying to do.

"You know as a player when you get it right, it's the best feeling in the world, everyone playing with a smile on their face, knowing all your team-mates are on the same page. Hard work is your best friend, sometimes even when you have been beaten but you cannot get the strip off because it is stuck to your back you still have a real sense of achievement and that's what I need to get every day in training.

"It's maybe now time for me to start working towards what I see as my best XI and say to the others it's up to them to get into it. I cannot look to carry people."

Meanwhile, it is understood former Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack has become a target for Hughes although the Hibs boss was today refusing to comment on speculation. The 27-year-old has fallen out of favour at Plymouth Argyle while Hughes failed in an attempt to take him on loan to Falkirk back in January.