Hibs star Thornhill urges Calderwood to stay

Hibs star Matt Thornhill today urged Colin Calderwood to turn his back on bids by Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest to lure him back to England, insisting he was the man to bring success back to Easter Road.

Thornhill, who played under Calderwood at Forest and was his first signing as Hibs boss after moving from Newcastle United to Edinburgh, admitted he was desperate not to see the 46-year-old quit after barely nine months in charge of the Capital outfit.

However, the midfielder revealed Calderwood was keeping his cards close to his chest, saying: "He has not really said anything to the players so as far as we know he is staying. He has not come in, got us in a meeting and said he's going, so hopefully he stays with us."

Having led Northampton Town to promotion in his first managerial job, Calderwood did likewise with Forest, although he was later sacked by the City Ground side before helping Chris Hughton guide Newcastle United back into the English Premier League.

Now Hughton wants Calderwood back as his assistant at Birmingham, while new Forest boss Steve McClaren hopes to persuade him to become his right-hand man.

Calderwood himself was reticent to discuss his future following Hibs' 3-0 win over Berwick Rangers in their first pre-season friendly and the club itself has maintained a rigorous stance of "no comment" even although the saga is now dragging into a third week with the new season little more than a fortnight away.

Today when asked if they had anything to say on the matter, Hibs again simply replied: "No further comment." Thornhill for one, though, is convinced Calderwood can replicate the success he enjoyed in management south of the Border at Easter Road.

He said: "I worked under him at Forest and signed for him up here. Everyone likes him as manager and as a person off the field as well. Everyone thinks he will stay so hopefully he does that and we go on to better things this season at Hibs.

"If the reports are true then he has a tough decision to make. I think he would want to stay as a manager, not an assistant. Of course he can bring the good times back at Hibs. We have a very young squad but bring in a couple more experienced guys like Sean O'Hanlon and I think we will be ready to go."

Garry O'Connor, one of three summer signings by Calderwood, echoed Thornhill's words, the Scotland striker saying: "It shows you what a good coach our manager is that there's a lot of interest in him.

"We're just lucky we've got him here and we hope he can stay here. I'm hoping Hibs will do everything to keep him and I'm sure we can."