Guillaume Beuzelin back at Hibs as a youth coach

Former Hibs star Guillaume Beuzelin has returned to Easter Road as a youth coach, promising to bring a little foreign influence to the club’s youngsters.

The French midfielder was a virtual unknown when signed from Le Havre in the summer of 2004 by then manager Tony Mowbray but immediately became an influential figure in a side containing the emerging talent of Garry O’Connor, Derek Riordan, David Murphy, Steven Whittaker, Scott Brown and Dean Shiels.

“Boozy” made 118 appearances in a green and white shirt before moving to Coventry City four years later and had spells with Hamilton Accies and in Cyprus before being forced to retire through injury.

The 33-year-old began coaching with Falkirk and then Stirling University but has now been asked to return to Hibs to take charge of the club’s 
Under-14 side, an offer he insisted he couldn’t refuse.

He said: “I’m delighted to be back. It’s a club I’m very passionate about and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’ve been told there are no former players coaching with the youth system. I’m a former player, so I know and love Hibs, but I’m also foreign, so hopefully I can bring some different ideas. With all my experience of playing in different countries, I hope to be able to add something different and beneficial to the club and help develop quality Hibs players.”

Beuzelin’s new role will also entail coaching local primary schoolchildren as part of the Tesco Bank Football Challenge with the Hibernian Community Foundation.

Meanwhile, Hibs striker Leigh Griffiths has been forced to pull out of Scotland’s Under-21 squad for tonight’s final European Championship qualifying game in Austria – a match Billy Stark’s kids must win if they are to have any chance of progressing to the competition’s play-off stage.

Griffiths, who scored in the 3-0 against Luxembourg last week, suffered a migraine just before the squad flew to Austria. Stark said: “It’s well known Leigh suffers from migraines. It only came on yesterday so it was a last-minute decision and unfortunately for us he’s not been able to make it.”