Scottish Cup final: Leigh Griffiths heads back to Wolves but may return

HIBS striker Leigh Griffiths will be part of a summer exodus from the Easter Road club but has revealed that he remains open to the prospect of returning to them on a permanent basis.

One of eight players on loan at Hibs in a season which ended in humiliation at Hampden in Saturday’s Scottish Cup final, Griffiths will report back to Wolves under their new manager Stale Solbakken.

The Scotland under-21 international striker is keen to prove himself in English football but says he would welcome a transfer to Hibs if he is not considered part of Solbakken’s first-team plans at Molineux. Griffiths fears that he and Matt Doherty, also on loan at Hibs, damaged their prospects of flourishing at Wolves with their displays in the 5-1 defeat to Hearts.

“Wolves sent someone up to watch Matt and myself at Hampden,” said Griffiths. “I don’t think they would have been impressed by either of our performances, to be honest. But we’ll just need to go down for pre-season training and see what they say.

“I’ve not had any discussions yet, but I’ll go back down to Wolves and see what the new manager has to say. If he doesn’t want me, then I’ll need to look at my options. Every Hibs fan knows that I’m a Hibs fan, too. If the opportunity arises to join on a permanent deal, I’d love to do it. But for the moment I have to concentrate on going back to Wolves.

“The Championship is a great league and I’d like to chance my arm there if possible. Places will be up for grabs and players will be moving on under a new manager.

“For Hibs, Pat Fenlon has to go away and think hard over the summer about who he wants to bring in. A few of the boys are going back to their parent clubs and he’ll have to bring a few in.”

Griffiths admitted Hearts were worthy winners of the trophy on Saturday but believes they were aided by referee Craig Thomson. He was critical of the official’s failure to take action against Ian Black for a reckless early challenge on him, as well as the contentious penalty award which saw Pa Kujabi sent off and Hearts make it 3-1 at the start of the second half.

“I think the referee killed the game,” said Griffiths. “I don’t know how he can be 100 per cent sure it was a penalty at the start of the second half. Pa got a second yellow, but his first booking in the first half was wrong. It was a fair challenge. If Pa gets booked for that, what does Ian Black get for elbowing me in the face? Nothing.

“The boys are absolutely devastated by the result. We didn’t turn up until we were 2-0 down. Even then, they had a chance to go 3-0 up when James McPake made a great clearance on the line. As soon as we got the goal back, Hearts started to sit off us a wee bit.

“We managed to get the ball down and pass it. I think the pressure was all on Hearts in this final but they handled it well. They were massive favourites. To be fair, they showed they are a great club and they deserved to win the game on the day.”