You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone – reprise?

To paraphrase the immortal words of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi it could be that Hibs will not know what they’ve got ‘til it’s gone if Derek Riordan is allowed to leave the club for a second time and the way things look at the moment that is a distinct possibility. It seems that there are no discussions ongoing between Derek’s agent Jim McArthur and the club and little prospect of there being any in the near future with informed sources’ suggesting that he does not feature in the managers’ plans. If that is true then I’m fairly certain I won’t be the only Hibs fan who finds that situation both incredible and frankly unacceptable.


Back in the summer of 2006 Derek left to join Celtic. There were accusations at the time of the player doing the dirty on Hibs but I don’t buy into that as quite simply, like it or not he had the opportunity to considerably boost his earnings as well as play for a side that regularly won silverware and had a passport into European competition on a season by season basis. It’s unfair to criticise someone looking to better themselves just because they joined one of the forces of evil. Had Derek gone south I doubt as much fuss would have been made over his departure. Of course being a Celtic player never really worked out for him and there are various theories as to why with one of the favourites being that WGS didn’t really like him as much as he should have! Whatever the truth of the matter, there was an almost universal cheer of delight when the prodigal son returned home in September 2008. Personally I thought we got more back than we gave away because Derek looked to have gained a few pounds warming the bench at Parkhead but there was no doubting he still oozed ability and he proved it in his first game back by scoring a screamer against Hamilton that won three points for Hibs. For the whole of that season he proved his worth time and again with a hatful of goals and a new found work rate, given the bizarre decision to convert him from a striker to a wide left midfield player.

Of late we have had to rely on Derek almost exclusively for goals and frankly if he were unable to play for any reason it’s nigh on impossible to determine where any goals would come from. His partnership with Stokes last season brought goals galore but so far this season he’s pretty much been a one man band in that respect.

Given his worth to the team it seems inconceivable that he’d be allowed to leave a second time but it looks like he may if a deal cannot be brokered soon. Of course I’ve no idea what kind of deal Derek would be looking for and if it proved to be wholly unrealistic then he may have to go elsewhere to play his football but I truly believe he loves Hibernian FC and is well aware of the financial situation when it comes to contracts and so would not be looking for the Board to break the bank to keep him.

There is another aspect to all of this however and that is his relationship with the manager. From all accounts it’s not the best and there have been strong suggestions from various quarters that John Hughes would prefer to move Derek on but I have to say that if he is thinking that way then he is going to lose the already dwindling support that he has. Derek is without doubt the most gifted player on the books and it’s hard to see where Hughes would get a replacement that can score the number of goals Riordan does, especially with the kind of money the manager might have to broker such a deal. It seems Darryl Duffy was brought in to replace Stokes and he may yet prove capable of doing that but where can Hibs find a striker with Derek’s ability if he leaves?

It pains me to think Riordan might be allowed to move on. If he goes it will quickly become evident that Hibs didn’t know what they had ‘til it had gone.