Scottish Cup: Holt ready to make tough decisions

The 40-year-old former Kilmarnock and Scotland midfielder, having been handed his first manager’s job, is looking forward to his hot-seat debut.

“I can’t wait, I really can’t wait,” he said. “You can say I’m a jammy so and so because some managers never get to a cup semi-final or cup final. I am just fortunate that I’m coming in at a time when we are in a cup semi and I get to take charge and implement things I want to implement.

“But it would be wrong to implement wholesale changes in something that has not been broken so far. It will be little tweaks that perhaps Hibs didn’t see in the games they have watched us.”

Holt faces tough choices in his first team selection with some players destined to be sitting in the stand in what could be the biggest occasion in their careers.

“I’m a hardy boy,” he said. “That’s why I went into this role, to have these decisions. It is part of my remit and players understand that not everyone can play.

“I won’t do it because I don’t like somebody. I will do it for the benefit of the team and the squad. If someone is left out? That’s life. It happened to me. Every game you miss you are hurting, the manager doesn’t know what he is doing and there’s a few swear words get mentioned.

“But they all have a chance up until Saturday.”