JOHN ROBERTSON's first impression of the teenage Leigh Griffiths was that he might not be on University Challenge any time soon but he did possess something that you cannot teach.
The then Livingston manager set the Scotland internationalist on his path to stardom when he took him to Almondvale, and it didn't take long for him to become top pupil. No wonder the Hearts legend believes Hibernian's 13-goal striker is a potential matchwinner as the Edinburgh rivals renew their cup enmity in the William Hill Scottish Cup, just six months after their epoch-defining final encounter.
"My first thoughts when Leigh came in was that he wouldn't be on University Challenge any time soon, but that he was just a lovely lad," said Robertson. "He trained hard and had this natural ability to score goals, but what I really loved about him was he would try outrageous things, like just when you think he is going to cross it then next thing he is slewing it into the top corner.
"With the blonde white hair and mohican, he reminded of a young Derek Riordan. He had the ability to do the unexpected and score wonder goals but also score the goals that everyone scores. The only issue we had was trying to get him into the first team as quickly as we could."
Griffiths is on his second loan spell at Easter Road from parent club Wolverhampton Wanderers, with his contract in the Midlands due to expire next summer. Robertson feels that the Clydesdale Bank Premier League is a level at which Griffiths can thrive. It has helped him to become a bit less of a fan and more of a professional.
"The problem Leigh has got, similar to myself, is that when you go to England, even in League One, you will find that everyone is much bigger, stronger, quicker, much more physical, and given Leigh's build he is probably more suited to the SPL, just as I was," Robertson explained. "Leigh is Hibs daft, but in the early days he maybe let himself get carried away about that. I think Pat Fenlon has kept chipping away at him, given him two or three suspensions, two or three fines, and someone has had a word with him and told him to just concentrate on football. When he does that he is as good as any striker in the SPL."
Much has changed since these two teams last met in the Scottish Cup in May. Now it is Hibs who are hanging on the coat tails of Celtic, and Hearts who have an unfamiliar team and indifferent form. But perhaps this will allow a young Tynecastle side to approach the match free of pressure. "Both sides will want to win just as much on Sunday," he said. "But it's amazing how football throws up these little scenarios from time to time. Even if Hibs won 5-1 and reversed the scoreline it wouldn't make up for the cup final defeat but it would go a long way to easing the pain. Hearts have the chance to put one over their rivals again and for the first time knock them out the Scottish Cup twice in the same year.
"I spoke to my older brother, who is Hibs daft, and he said the Hibs fans will be excited and confident but the fear might return before the game, when reality sets in."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article