Hibs' Grant Holt making the most of the Edinburgh Fringe

Grant Holt is loving life in Edinburgh at the moment, making the most of all the Fringe has to offer but, when the season kicks off this afternoon, he is determined that Hibs will take top billing in what he hopes will be a show-stopping campaign.

Hibs striker Grant Holt believes the confidence gained from last seasons Scottish Cup triumph will fuel the drive towards promotion. Picture: SNS

“It’s a bit busy at the minute,” said the former Wigan and Norwich striker, who joined the Leith side this summer. “I’ve been getting out and about to a few shows. On Wednesday night I saw Sarah Callaghan and she was very good. It was Nina Conte on Thursday night. I’m doing the rounds. I’m from Carlisle and I’ve been here in Edinburgh 
a lot. I’ve lived away from home a lot before and I got my flat and my home comforts sorted which is key.”

He is also totally settled in at Hibs. Well aware of the club’s target for this term, the Englishman, who has experience of helping Championship clubs into the top flight during his time down south, is 
relishing reprising that role in Scotland.

“I think it’s just the consistency, that’s what it is” he added. “When we did it with Norwich, no-one in the division expected us to do it, but we had a good group of lads who wanted to win and wanted to achieve stuff.

“You talk about the cup final here and winning that last year and without that the end of the season could have been a low because the lads hadn’t got promoted. But now they come back feeling good and ready to right the wrong from last season.

“[The Scottish Cup win] was fantastic for the lads in a way because it has given them that bit of impetus to say ‘look, I liked that bit of success and I want more this year’.

“I think they are at a level now that they realise that they need to be up and need to be in the Premiership and when they have achieved what they did last year, beating the teams they did in the cup and Rangers in the final and then, I know it is pre-season but playing Motherwell and giving them a good going over, I think it shows that’s where we should be week in week out.

“It doesn’t come easy and there will be teams who come to us and try to sit in to try 
to get points and it is their right to do that, but I think we need to get over that quickly and show them how strong we are and how resilient we are and when we get the lead we have to hold on to it and see games out.”

Today’s opener is a renewal of old rivalries, with Falkirk the opposition. The Bairns finished ahead of Hibs last term and dispatched them in the play-offs but Holt intends to rectify things this time.

“When you are a good team and you have two sides like that you always end up going head to head. There is always a rivalry because you both want to achieve the same thing,” 
he said. “Unfortunately, last season neither team did it and they are here to do it all again, and I am here to make sure that this year we come top of the pile.”