Liam Craig

[Northernhibee]

Retiring at the end of the season. 35 now.

Best of luck in your coaching role Liam - great goal against The The’s in the 4-0 drubbing and a screamer against Patrick IIRC.

[CL0762]

Penalty against Hearts under Butcher too.

[TelaStella]

Had a hard time of it here but felt he always gave his all when plenty around him wouldn’t want to know. Good luck to him


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Logie Green]

Penalty against Hearts under Butcher too.

He also missed one at Tynecastle in the first season in the Championship. They went on to win and galloped off into the distance.

An imposter of a player and the worst captain we’ve ever had; couldn’t even get into Butcher’s team in the last months of the relegation season.

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated. He wouldn’t look out of place among the plodders we’ve currently got in midfield.

I appreciate the train of thought that if you’ve nothing nice to say about someone then don’t say it but he really frustrated me when he played for us. He had a particularly annoying habit of standing just too far away from a player taking a throw in because he didn’t want the ball.

[Hiber-nation]

Don't really want to go over old ground on how he played in the 13-14 season. Fantastic captain off the pitch and redeemed himself on the pitch in the Championship.

Good luck Liam.

[Jones28]

He also missed one at Tynecastle in the first season in the Championship. They went on to win and galloped off into the distance.

An imposter of a player and the worst captain we’ve ever had; couldn’t even get into Butcher’s team in the last months of the relegation season.

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated. He wouldn’t look out of place among the plodders we’ve currently got in midfield.

I appreciate the train of thought that if you’ve nothing nice to say about someone then don’t say it but he really frustrated me when he played for us. He had a particularly annoying habit of standing just too far away from a player taking a throw in because he didn’t want the ball.

Are you suggesting a missed penalty at tynecastle is why they went on to win the league at a canter, and not the years preparation they had for that season?

[overdrive]

Good luck in his retirement. I genuinely don’t get the hate some of our support give him. Yes, he was captain when we were relegated but he was far from being one of the worst players in that team. He’s nowhere near as bad as some make out and probably the only player we’ve signed from St Johnstone in recent years that wasn’t a complete failure.

I also think he was put in an awkward position when Butcher stripped Williams (and McPake) of the captaincy and gave it to him.

[jacomo]

Always liked and respected him as a player.

Unfortunately proved the old adage: a good St Johnstone player will not bring his form to a Hibs shirt. I don’t know why that is but it has happened so often in recent years.

A trier though, and good luck to him in the next phase of his career.

[jacomo]

Good luck in his retirement. I genuinely don’t get the hate some of our support give him. Yes, he was captain when we were relegated but he was far from being one of the worst players in that team. He’s nowhere near as bad as some make out and probably the only player we’ve signed from St Johnstone in recent years that wasn’t a complete failure.

I also think he was put in an awkward position when Butcher stripped Williams of the captaincy and gave it to him.


No not a complete failure but not the success we all hoped for either.

The abuse was completely unwarranted though.

[Steve20]

Nowhere close to being the worst player in the relegation team, but was still pretty rubbish for Hibs.

Decent player for St Johnstone though, so maybe it was the players around him during his time here that dragged him down.

[Brooster]

He also missed one at Tynecastle in the first season in the Championship. They went on to win and galloped off into the distance.

An imposter of a player and the worst captain we’ve ever had; couldn’t even get into Butcher’s team in the last months of the relegation season.

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated. He wouldn’t look out of place among the plodders we’ve currently got in midfield.

I appreciate the train of thought that if you’ve nothing nice to say about someone then don’t say it but he really frustrated me when he played for us. He had a particularly annoying habit of standing just too far away from a player taking a throw in because he didn’t want the ball.

Another perfect example of the deluded toxic environment this forum has become. Why not wish an ex player all the best in retirement or say nothing at all. All the best Liam, a decent guy who deserves a good retirement.

[Smartie]

He was absolutely hung out to dry during his first season.

Did he not play out wide right in the Malmo game? And was the chest / hoof thing he used to do under Butcher not because he was following instructions? And then were the wide players and forwards we had during that season not about as bad as the ones we have currently?

He redeemed himself by putting in some excellent performances the next year, but it was correct that he moved on at a time when we were bringing in better.

Carried himself with dignity through some tough times though. I’m glad he’s enjoyed success and will be very highly regarded elsewhere .

[DaveF]

Another perfect example of the deluded toxic environment this forum has become. Why not wish an ex player all the best in retirement or say nothing at all. All the best Liam, a decent guy who deserves a good retirement.

You pick out one negative post and ignore the positive ones.

If you hate the forum that much, maybe you should give it a miss?

Anyway, good luck to Liam. I liked him as a player, he gave his all but sadly at anytime when we were largely garbage.

[500miles]

Scored 10 goals and got moved to defensive mid. Total waste of a player.

[ekhibee]

I remember when he signed and thinking what a good signing from his first stint at St Johnstone, but he was a bit of a damp squib for whatever reason, possibly being played out of position. He always seemed to put in a lot of effort and I've nothing against the guy, it just didn't seem to work out for him at Hibs. Decent player for Saints though.

[WeeRussell]

Are you suggesting a missed penalty at tynecastle is why they went on to win the league at a canter, and not the years preparation they had for that season?

… and that was the best part of the post.

[Northernhibee]

Scored 10 goals and got moved to defensive mid. Total waste of a player.

Yeah, I never understood that, or when we did the same with Mallan.

[Logie Green]

Are you suggesting a missed penalty at tynecastle is why they went on to win the league at a canter, and not the years preparation they had for that season?

No but it helped them get of to a flyer.

I’ll bow out. Apologies for not sugar-coating my views of him as a player.

Part of the reason this board is so toxic is that if you’re not a happy clapper you get shot down in flames.

[easty]

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated.


Then he went back to St Johnstone and won a Scottish Cup and a League Cup.

[Pretty Boy]

The only player I have ever properly lost the rag at. Away at Dingwall, 2nd last game of the season and at FT he slumped to the ground with his head in his hands. He was the captain ffs and we still had a chance in the Killie game. I was going nuts at him for about 10 minutes, the red mist came down and then some. I did feel a bit daft by the time the bus hit Inverness and like a total muppet by Perth.

He had a good season in the Championship and redeemed himself somewhat. By the time he left I would probably have been happy enough to see him stay another year.

[loanheadhibby]

Don't really want to go over old ground on how he played in the 13-14 season. Fantastic captain off the pitch and redeemed himself on the pitch in the Championship.

Good luck Liam.
Fantastic captain off the pitch?
Care to elebarate?

[brog]

No but it helped them get of to a flyer.

I’ll bow out. Apologies for not sugar-coating my views of him as a player.

Part of the reason this board is so toxic is that if you’re not a happy clapper you get shot down in flames.

No, but you can criticise without using words like 'imposter'. If you do it more constructively it may have more impact.

[jacomo]

No but it helped them get of to a flyer.

I’ll bow out. Apologies for not sugar-coating my views of him as a player.

Part of the reason this board is so toxic is that if you’re not a happy clapper you get shot down in flames.


Nah mate, it’s context. There’s a time and a place for everything.

Categorising Hibs.net as a happy clapper paradise is ridiculous. You just misjudged the mood.

[jacomo]

Fantastic captain off the pitch?
Care to elebarate?


I heard this - he was more than happy to represent the club in his own time… hospital visits to sick kids and the like.

[Smartie]

Yeah, I never understood that, or when we did the same with Mallan.

I did think that Craig seemed to change physically when he was with us. Prior to joining us he was slimmer, more energetic and looked to get up with the strikers and get goals.

By the time he left he looked bulkier, a bit more sedentary and more of a "sitting" player. Scott Brown went through a similar transformation where he went from someone who would tank everywhere into someone content to sit in front of the back four and dictate play.

I'd have thought that a lot of his end product statistics - goals, assists etc would be from penalties and set pieces, which were pretty decent tbf.


The Mallan thing was bonkers. He was clearly never going to have the attributes to play deeper.

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

Nearly 400 appearances for one team and played in a side that won two domestic cups in one year. That has to be applauded as a decent career. Arguably he would look at the time spent with us as a low point.

[Hiber-nation]

Fantastic captain off the pitch?
Care to elebarate?

Turned up at everything, absolute gent, went out of his way to be a great representative for Hibs, in his own time as well, ask any of the ER staff or anyone who attended a function when he was present.

[SHODAN]

His goal against Rangers is one of my favourite ever. The sheer amazement of being 4-0 up on them is one I don't think I'll ever experience again.

[CraigHibee]

Dont tbink he was as bad as he was being made out to be at times imo

[SaulGoodman]

You pick out one negative post and ignore the positive ones.

If you hate the forum that much, maybe you should give it a miss?

Anyway, good luck to Liam. I liked him as a player, he gave his all but sadly at anytime when we were largely garbage.

Where did he say he hated the forum? He said it is toxic right now. And it is.

[BSEJVT]

No but it helped them get of to a flyer.

I’ll bow out. Apologies for not sugar-coating my views of him as a player.

Part of the reason this board is so toxic is that if you’re not a happy clapper you get shot down in flames.

No part of the reason this board is so toxic is that folk have lost any shred of decency and it has become a mouthpiece for keyboard warriors.

Would you write on someone at your work who was leaving card, great you are going I thought you were ****ing hopeless, no you would not.

Folk come on here and spout pish in trying to outdo each other with their excessive condemnation of everything and anyone.

Things they wouldn't say dare to the recipient face to face.

Show a bit of class man, if you feel that you need to criticise someone from yesteryear (I mean why would you even be bothered doing so?) then don't sully a thread others have set up to say thanks to the individual for their efforts in doing so.

[bigwheel]

Good pro Liam ..has had a strong career as a player to reflect back on ..apparently a really good guy too. Expect to see him do well as a coach. All the best !

[DaveF]

Where did he say he hated the forum? He said it is toxic right now. And it is.

Toxic? Come on, a few dozen folk venting about a ***** season hardly makes a toxic forum. The guy had an opinion of a player that went against the majority view. Where is the toxicity in that?

[ben johnson]

Last Updated: Saturday, 23 September 2006, 15:53 GMT 16:53 UK

Liams finest hour

Hibernian 0-1 Falkirk
Kenny Milne was on target for Falkirk
Kenny Milne was on target for Falkirk
Falkirk brought Hibernian's recent good run to a halt after a tempestuous encounter at Easter Road.
Kenny Milne shot the visitors into an early lead but referee Alan Freeland was the man making all the headlines.

He banished Falkirk substitute Liam Craig to the stand before sending off Hibs captain Kevin Thomson.

Falkirk's Stephen O'Donnell was also dismissed late in a scrappy game, while Hibs' Scott Brown was shown a red card after the final whistle.

Falkirk started brightly and were ahead after eight minutes when Milne swept the ball in from close range after Mark Twaddle had headed an Alan Gow corner back across the goalmouth.

Anthony Stokes was clean through on the Hibs goal but the Falkirk striker's shot was saved by Zbigniew Malkowski at full-stretch.

The home side were knocked out their stride by the visitors' tenacious approach and both teams were guilty of some reckless challenges.

One such tackle saw O'Donnell crash into the advertising boards and substitute Craig got involved when home fans tried to confront the prone player.

The Falkirk replacement was then sent from the dugout by Freeland but the match official did not brandish a card.

Hibs, who lost defender Rob Jones to an early injury, then saw their skipper Thomson dismissed on 36 minutes after picking up two yellow cards.

The first offence had been for dissent and Freeland produced another card for a late lunge at O'Donnell.

Tony Mowbray's side were guilty of shocking indiscipline and Michael Stewart and Ivan Sproule were both booked for lashing out at opponents.

Referee Alan Freeland sent off substitute Liam Craig
Referee Alan Freeland sent off substitute Liam Craig
Hibs introduced Merouane Zemmama just before the interval and the tricky midfielder tried to prompt a fightback.

Sproule robbed Milne and raced through on goal midway through the second half.

But, rather than square the ball for the waiting Steven Fletcher, the speedy winger failed in his attempt to round 'keeper Scott Higgins.

Hibs substitute Abdessalam Benjelloun flashed a volley narrowly wide before Freeland stepped into the spotlight once again.

O'Donnell was shown a second yellow card but the referee failed to note that he'd already cautioned the Falkirk man.

And it took a complaint from the Hibs management team to alert the fourth official to Freeland's blunder.

The referee further enraged the home fans when he failed to award a penalty for a Jack Ross challenge on Zemmama.

Falkirk sub John Stewart fluffed a great chance to kill off the game when he meekly chipped the ball into the arms of Malkowski but the Bairns held on for a welcome three points.

Once the match had finished, Freeland once again reached for his red card and Brown was the man punished.

[DaveF]

Folk come on here and spout pish in trying to outdo each other with their excessive condemnation of everything and anyone.

Things they wouldn't say dare to the recipient face to face.


Remember those happy days of 2016 when people were outdoing each other with offers to David Gray that they would never say to his face.

Pish is posted to all degrees. It's just that everyone is raw and hurting after a season of torture. Hopefully happier times are coming which will lift everyone's mood.

[McD]

Played out of position, in a ****ty situation not of his making, surrounded by a lot of awful footballers.

not ever going to be mentioned in a list of Hibs greats, but he became a lightening rod and a target for all kinds of abuse that wasn’t really fair, and he certainly won’t ever be close to a list of Hibs poorest players either

[BILLYHIBS]

I wish Liam Craig nothing but the best for the future

I did not have a problem with his time at Hibs

Always gave his best

Hibs Captain IIRC

[KeithTheHibby]

Bumped into him in the grassmarket a few weeks ago. Had a great chat with him, had nothing but good things to say about his time at Hibs.
The minute he pulled on a Hibs top Fenlon played him out of position and the goals pretty much dried up. Not his fault. Could easily have left after we got relegated but stayed to play his part the following season. As much as he was part of the team that got relegated there were far more players guilty than him, some never gave a ****.
Delighted he went on to win a couple of medals during his time with St Johnstone.

[ZitellZeTime]

Wasnt as good as I thought he would be but although they may deny it there were quite a few happy when we snapped up Rowan Vine from them, "just the type of player we need" etc, and some were absolutely exstatic about Swanson and thought he would be the missing piece in the jisgsaw and push us on, saw how that turned out.

Craig had some decent games, some bad ones, some average. Had a lot better but had far far worse. Scored some decent goals from midfield which is something we're crying out for just now too. Him and Robertson were very similar at us although id say Liam was the better of the two for us, especially with so many being excited by the signing of Robertson. Also went back to them and had a decent career and won the Scottish Cup with them, infact must have won the League cup too but I thought he retired last year. Cant remember seeing him.

Sure we signed Mcginn Mcgeouch and Bartley when we got rid of them who were all great for us and definitely an upgrade to say the least so wasn't sad to see him go but wish him well for the future.

Although we've had much worse like Keenan etc, its weird everyone we sign from the saints seem to do not as good for us for some reason.

[Danderhall Hibs]

He also missed one at Tynecastle in the first season in the Championship. They went on to win and galloped off into the distance.

An imposter of a player and the worst captain we’ve ever had; couldn’t even get into Butcher’s team in the last months of the relegation season.

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated. He wouldn’t look out of place among the plodders we’ve currently got in midfield.

I appreciate the train of thought that if you’ve nothing nice to say about someone then don’t say it but he really frustrated me when he played for us. He had a particularly annoying habit of standing just too far away from a player taking a throw in because he didn’t want the ball.

What a lovely tribute.

[hibstag]

Don't really want to go over old ground on how he played in the 13-14 season. Fantastic captain off the pitch and redeemed himself on the pitch in the Championship.

Good luck Liam.

Yep away to QOS fantastic ic.

[kentao]

Didn't rate him as a player but met him and his wife plus son, at the Falkirk wheel and he couldn't have been nicer and was happy to talk for ages, was just before the Hibs Vs rangers play off game. All the best in your retirement Liam.

[hibee]

Turned up at everything, absolute gent, went out of his way to be a great representative for Hibs, in his own time as well, ask any of the ER staff or anyone who attended a function when he was present.

Still doing this now I see, even for non St Johnstone fans, this young Bonnyrigg Rose player was getting abused by opposition players and parents for the colour of his hair. Liam seems to have invited them up to St Johnstone to meet him and watch a game.

https://twitter.com/jordinotgeordie/status/1524684246161530886?s=21&t=yza9qfW1c7Ofh89Qe1Pw6A

[JoeT]

All the best to him, has had a good career

[hhibs]

All the best to him, has had a good career


Agreed,good luck Liam.

[Hiber-nation]

Fantastic captain off the pitch?
Care to elebarate?

I elaborated. Do you have any comments on that?

[Jones28]

He also missed one at Tynecastle in the first season in the Championship. They went on to win and galloped off into the distance.

An imposter of a player and the worst captain we’ve ever had; couldn’t even get into Butcher’s team in the last months of the relegation season.

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated. He wouldn’t look out of place among the plodders we’ve currently got in midfield.

I appreciate the train of thought that if you’ve nothing nice to say about someone then don’t say it but he really frustrated me when he played for us. He had a particularly annoying habit of standing just too far away from a player taking a throw in because he didn’t want the ball.

I’m sure he’ll be gutted with your assessment, as he polishes his league and Scottish cup winners medals.

[BILLYHIBS]

Started 68 games and was our Captain 46 times scoring 12 times

As others have said probably not a Hibs legend with a few below par team performances but highlights that stand out a superb goal in the 4-0 rout of The Rangers at Easter Road and his winning penalty against Hearts

[AdidasHibernian]

See him from time to time walking around Larbert area so presume he stays local to me, never actually spoke to him but always liked him as a player when at St Johnstone and was happy we signed him, sadly his time was mixed here but I genuinely think it was more the Butcher situation and the fact we were shocking when he was here mainly as a team in general. Far from a memorable time here but tried his best and always gave his all for the club, can't ask for more than that as a minimum so he gets my well wishes for his next chapter.
Plus am sure he would say hes had a great career post Hibs as well with what he has went on too achieve at the Saints again..

All the best Liam.

[Brooster]

You pick out one negative post and ignore the positive ones.

If you hate the forum that much, maybe you should give it a miss?

Anyway, good luck to Liam. I liked him as a player, he gave his all but sadly at anytime when we were largely garbage.

Haha....jog on.

[SChibs]

Another player who always seemed to be excellent against us but when we sign him he didn't live up to those performances. That being said he was a decent player for us, not terrible but not spectacular. I do believe he gave his all on the pitch but he wasn't here at the best of times

[He's here!]

Good player in a poor team. Noticeably improved when Stubbs brought in better players around him.

[AgentDaleCooper]

He also missed one at Tynecastle in the first season in the Championship. They went on to win and galloped off into the distance.

An imposter of a player and the worst captain we’ve ever had; couldn’t even get into Butcher’s team in the last months of the relegation season.

It said it all that when he joined us St Johnstone won their first ever trophy and we got relegated. He wouldn’t look out of place among the plodders we’ve currently got in midfield.

I appreciate the train of thought that if you’ve nothing nice to say about someone then don’t say it but he really frustrated me when he played for us. He had a particularly annoying habit of standing just too far away from a player taking a throw in because he didn’t want the ball.

Wasting a bit of energy there IMO