Hibs v Celtic: David Wotherspoon tops list of achievers from Old Bhoy network

The Leith club could do with the monetary boost a semi-final place would bring after announcing massive losses in midweek, and a victory over an Old Firm club would do much to placate the restless Hibs fans.

David Wotherspoon has his own reasons for wanting to beat Celtic, however. The versatile 21-year-old from Perthshire left Celtic in 2007, convinced he would have a better chance of making it at the senior level at Hibs. It worked out well for him, but not for others from his youthful spell at Celtic.

“I didn’t get pushed out,” said Wotherspoon. “They still wanted me there, but leaving was the better option, as I wasn’t the happiest. There’s not been many who have come through from my time at Celtic. Michael Tidser and Darren McGeough at Morton and Ewan Moyes, who has left Hibs. Apart from them, I don’t know anyone else who made it through to any first teams.

“I don’t really feel I have a point to prove against Celtic but, obviously, it’s in the back of your mind. I chose to leave but now I want to show them what I have got, show them what they are missing out on.

“First things first, however, it’s all about getting a win, trying to get a team performance, and that’s the first thing in my mind.”

The prospect of playing against his first club reminded Wotherspoon that, when he was at Celtic, he always played in central midfield, the position in which he has recently featured for Hibs and the Scotland under-21 side.

“I had a couple of games there with the under-21s and I think the manager noticed that and wanted to try me there. It’s where I want to play so I was delighted.

“There were a couple of injuries and a couple of players who didn’t come to the squad so it was an opportunity to go in there and show a bit of my experience, being one of the older players in the under-21s.”

Hibs manager Colin Calderwood agrees that Wotherspoon’s eventual role will be in centre midfield but adds that the player can play, and has played, at right back and striker as well as in midfield.

Calderwood said: “With maturity and the experience of playing, I see him being a central player, whether that’s further forward or more centrally in midfield, but it’s his performances that will decide that.”

As they prepare to face a Celtic side with much greater resources, Wotherspoon and his colleagues will not be thinking about those financial losses announced by Hibs and blamed by chairman Rod Petrie partially on results. But Calderwood admitted that the club had been affected “in every department” and the players are “very, very mindful” that people will no longer be employed at Easter Road who might have been.

Missing faces can haunt you, and that might be another incentive for Hibs to beat Celtic on Wednesday.