Leigh Griffiths has been named as the Scottish Football Writers' Association player of the year and the Hibernian striker thanked both his manager and his older brother for steering him through the best campaign of his career so far.
Griffiths has already scored 28 times for Hibs during his season-long loan, made his Scotland debut, and earned the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League player of the year award. He will be in the Scotland squad for the World Cup qualifier in Croatia on June 7. It was a campaign troubled by off-field issues, though. In January he was criticised by parent club Wolverhampton Wanderers for using racist language in a tweet. He was also charged with shoplifting and faces trial in August.
Yet his electrifying form for Hibs was maintained virtually without interruption, a fact he last night credited to his brother, Paul, and Pat Fenlon. "It was the manager and my big brother. They're the guys I go to if I'm in trouble. It's really great to have somebody to talk to, especially if it's your own flesh and blood, but the manager has been brilliant. He's told me if I have any kind of problem, just to go and talk him. He said there was no point in bottling it all up inside and the quicker it's out in the open, the easier it is to solve and the better it is for me.
"My big brothers, Paul and Mark, and my dad, James, have been the biggest influences in my career. They were the ones who always encouraged me and told me to keep the head and do what I do best: scoring goals. It would be them because I've never looked up to players all that much. I just try to focus on my own game.
"My dad and my brothers always encouraged me not to be afraid to try things on the pitch. They would tell me that if I fancied having a shot, go for it. The way they saw it was that you might get one chance in a game and if that's going to be your only opportunity then you just have to do the best you can with it. Thankfully I took that advice on Sunday and it ended up in the top corner."
That was a reference to his wonderful free-kick at Tynecastle in Hibs' 2-1 derby defeat of Hearts, a goal he now regards as his favourite of the season despite several outstanding other candidates. "It's too late in the season to get an award for it, but it was brilliant for me.
"If you had said to me at the start of the season that I would get all these awards I would have snapped your hand off in about eight pieces. It's been a really great season and now I want to continue right through these last two games."
Griffiths was rested at Kilmarnock on Wednesday night but hopes to play at home to Dundee tomorrow in Hibs' final league game before next weekend's William Hill Scottish Cup final against Celtic. He needs two more goals to become the first Hibs player in 40 years to score 30 times in a season. "Obviously I wanted to play in Kilmarnock game but I can understand where the manager was coming from. He wanted to rest my legs. I won't be able to reach 30 goals unless I play this weekend. I wouldn't want to need two goals in the cup final. Maybe one, though . . ."
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