Latapy makes return with Edinburgh City

The East of Scotland League outfit are celebrating landing the biggest signing in their history after persuading the 43-year-old to come out of retirement to pen terms until January.

And former Trinidad & Tobago manager Latapy is set to be the star attraction for what City hope will be a bumper crowd when the midfielder makes his debut at Meadowbank Stadium in Saturday’s Scottish Cup second-round visit of Irvine Meadow.

Jardine admits the players’ jaws hit the floor when Latapy was introduced as their newest recruit at training on Tuesday evening.

And he recalls how his arrival all stems from an ambitious plea from joint-boss John Green last month when Latapy, whose family home is in Portugal, turned out in a game to honour Hibs captain Murray.

Jardine said: “It’s surreal, absolutely surreal. Without a doubt this is the biggest signing in the club’s history, it’s beyond our expectations to get a player like this.

“It was actually a tongue-in-cheek request at Ian Murray’s testimonial. It was through a friend of my co-manager John Green.

“Russell said, ‘whenever you like I’ll come over if business allows’. We put the request in and he’s here, he loves Edinburgh and he has a lot of friends here. He’s been true to his word to John.

“We didn’t think it would come off but it’s his enthusiasm for football and you saw that on Tuesday night. Hats off to the wee man for coming over for the love of the game because we don’t have any money.”

Latapy was brought to Scotland by Hibs in 1998 and quickly endeared himself to the club’s fans when he inspired the Leith side to the first division title in his first season.

He then had spells at Rangers and Dundee United before playing for Falkirk for six years until 2009. He stood down as manager of Trinidad & Tobago in January after 18 months in charge.

Jardine admits the players were left speechless when Latapy appeared at training.

He added: “Russell was fantastic to the lads, although they were a bit in awe of him at first.

“We didn’t actually tell them so they trained for the first hour and we gathered them in when he was on his way across and told them.

“The guys couldn’t believe it. They were all over him once they realised he had sign.

“One of the lads asked to come off after playing with him for five minutes because he felt dizzy.

“It was young Ryan Wilson, he said, ‘I can’t believe this’. For the Hibbies in the team he is a legend to them and for everyone else he is there to be admired.

“He is 43 but some of his touches were great so I’m sure we can squeeze him into the team for Saturday.”