All eyes are on Luke McCowan at Hibs vs Dundee - including Celtic's - as Rangers saga springs to mind

There are no guides to coping with the peculiar predicament awaiting Luke McCowan at Easter Road this weekend.

Advice is not included in any Professional Footballers’ Association handbook. The midfielder will not simply be in the Dundee side that walks out alongside Hibs this afternoon, it's very likely he will be leading them out. All the while he will be aware that those in the team opposite could be his teammates by the same time next week.

Does he bust a gut or take it easy? Does he just try to put it all to the back of his mind and play his own game? Easier said than done of course.

It brings to mind another match at Easter Road from nine years ago. Current Hibs manager David Gray – who's so eager to add McCowan to his squad he’s sanctioned two recent bids - was playing on an afternoon when Scott Allan endured intensely conflicting emotions. 

Luke McCowan is wanted by Hibs. | SNS Group

The midfielder was the subject of a tug-of-war between Hibs and Rangers. As tends to happen, the teams met each other on the first day of the 2015/16 campaign in the Petrofac Training Cup.

Hibs held the upper hand of course - Allan was their player. However, like McCowan, he was in the final year of his contract. Rangers made three unsuccessful bids, whereupon Allan tried to force matters by handing in a transfer request. This is where the situation differs to McCowan's scenario. As Dundee managing director John Nelms confirmed in an appearance on the latest edition of William Hill’s The Warm-Up, McCowan has not had his head turned. Not by Hibs, at any rate. "Luke's a credit to himself, Luke's our captain," said Nelms. "He's handling of all the attention really, really well. 

"He says: 'I'm a Dundee player, I'm the captain, I have a responsibility, this is what I do. Whatever happens, happens.'”

For Hibs, or anyone else, to happen, he added, it would take a “compelling” bid.

Dundee manager Tony Docherty has already stressed that he has “no issues” about playing McCowan at Easter Road. In contrast, the then Hibs manager Alan Stubbs opted to put Allan on the bench against Rangers. When he came on, with Rangers leading 3-1 en route to a 6-2 win, his every touch was cheered by the visiting supporters. Allan later recalled the “grumps” of the home support as he warmed up on what was a “weird, surreal” afternoon. His picture was even used on the cover of the match programme.

One reason why Hibs won’t put McCowan’s face on the front of today’s programme is they don’t produce an official one any longer, more’s the pity. He’s also not their player – yet.

McCowan scored on his last visit to Easter Road. | SNS Group

And that’s what makes today’s clash between Hibs and Dundee an even more attractive encounter. Even without the McCowan sideshow – or is it the headline show? – the match would still have been viewed as an intriguing prospect. After all, there’s already pressure building on Gray, whose reaction to a challenging start to the season has been to make some interesting transfer market acquisitions. The question now is whether he will get the chance to assimilate them all into the team – and are there more to come before Friday’s 11pm transfer deadline?  

Gray was playing a straight bat yesterday at Hibs’ East Mains training ground. The intrigue of the McCowan situation was put to him. “It might (be intriguing) for some people,” he said. “For me he plays for Dundee. That does not change between now and the game.” 

He had at least confirmed that Hibs wouldn't be putting in a bid on the eve of the game, a classic unsettling tactic ahead of a tricky fixture for the hosts.

Dundee arrive high on confidence after scoring 29 times already this season - while it was a successful campaign, it took the Dens Park side until January to reach this number of goals last season.  They will hope to score at least once at Easter Road, where they drew 0-0 on their first visit last season and lost the second one 2-1. Who scored their goal? McCowan of course.

The stadium is not a happy hunting ground for the Dens Park side. Their last win in Leith was as far back as 2001, which adds to the pressure on Gray. He was just 13-years-old when Dundee striker Steven Milne thrashed a 90th-minute winner beyond Nick Colgan. A defeat to Dundee is not to be borne, certainly not after recent reversals to St Mirren and Celtic (twice). 

Gray admitted that one of his ploys to raise spirits among his squad earlier this week was to remind them that “they are not playing Celtic again this weekend”. Hibs are up against Simon Murray, however. His return to Easter Road - and Gray tried hard to re-sign the player this summer - has been overshadowed somewhat. He and not McCowan could yet become the story. Gray is still a fan and referenced Murray’s energy. "He used to turn my bad balls into good ones,” he recalled.  

Scott Allan looks dejected during Hibs' 6-2 defeat by Rangers when the Ibrox club were heavily courting him. | SNS Group

But McCowan remains the focus. Whatever the truth of the matter – and it’s understood Hibs are yet to receive a response to their latest bid for the player – all eyes will be on Dundee’s No.17, who’s also the subject of interest from elsewhere.

As well as Hibs, Celtic are known to be keeping tabs on the playmaker. They are bound to have someone watching at Easter Road today.

Allan, who grew up a Rangers fan, wrong-footed everyone by signing for Celtic a couple of weeks after that strange afternoon, when he remembers the Rangers supporters singing “he’s one of our own” at him.

Dundee fans, meanwhile, will celebrate a player who’s already earned their approval whatever happens this afternoon in what looks likely to be McCowan’s last appearance for the club. It will surprise no one if it is in fact a green and white shirt that he’s playing in next weekend. Celtic v Rangers would make for quite a debut.