Ian tips Hibs gaffer to Col it right

Hibs club captain Ian Murray believes his manager will have to tread carefully in the transfer market but is confident Colin Calderwood has the nous and the contacts to deliver some exciting young players to Easter Road this summer.

Murray, 30, thinks it would be too easy for any coach to be tempted by the expected stream of player recommendations from agents in the close season and that signing targets should not be judged on their club of origin.

Calderwood gave service in a managerial capacity at Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest and as assistant at Newcastle before taking the reins at Easter Road.

Before embarking on his coaching career eight years ago, the Hibs boss spent 19 years as a professional player in England, from the lower leagues to the Premiership.

With that level of experience and a long list of contacts stretching to places that many other SPL managers may never have considered, Calderwood can be more resourceful than most, says Murray, in his pursuit of new blood.

"I think he'll have loads of contacts down south and abroad," said Murray. "The gaffer played at a great level, played for his national side at the World Cup. People will always put two and two together and get five (in terms of] contacts they think he might have - (but] they will be contacts that nobody knows about.

"They'll probably be the most obscure people you probably don't have a clue about. They won't be the obvious ones that people think.

"There'll be stacks of players put to him over the summer - the agents will be working overtime - and he'll probably have a list as long as his arm. There's a lot more than getting names off paper and getting (players] under contract - it's a lot harder than people expect. Fans look at players out of contract and say, 'Oh we should go for him', but it's not as easy as that. You have to look deeper - they're on that list for a reason - and you have to do your homework.

"You have to (be clever]. But it's very hard and it's expensive and takes a lot of time. People forget the manager probably travelled the length and breadth of the country this week looking at reserve games and lower league games in England. But it's very hard to tempt guys up here, to leave England, to leave their families."

It's a situation Murray can relate to in reverse order, himself having flitted south of the border to join Norwich City after his release from Rangers in 2007. His wife Julie was all set to move to East Anglia to be with him until Murray decided to head home to Hibs just a few months later, but the situation may not be so simple for the type of young players Murray thinks Calderwood may be targetting.

"It's hard," he admits. "It's different if you're a single guy and you're young - Edinburgh would be a great city to come up to. It just depends what the player wants, it could be a player who doesn't need to come up for any other reason (than to play football] - he might have plenty money in the bank and might not fancy it, simple as that.

"Or, it might be a young guy getting released from a Championship side, he might get a game for a year or two years and move on again.

"I think the gaffer will want younger players. You need that mix of youth and experience, but there's no doubt that if you go into the market of boys who have been released from other teams, that'll be the type of player we'll be looking at. People will see youngsters being released from Man United and instantly think they're better than what we have - and they're not, to be honest with you.

"So, it's a very tough market for the manager, but so far his buys have been decent - he's done really well. You've got to be fairly clever, but the manager seems to be that sort of guy so we'll be fine."