NOT so long ago Hibernian were fretting about being double-booked this weekend.
Now their diary is completely free. If everything had come to pass as Alan Stubbs and his players had hoped, then Hibs would have been competing in Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup final sandwiched by the two legs of the SPFL Premiership play-off final. Falkirk, though, put paid to their cup ambitions by beating them in the semi-final and now Rangers have done the same to their promotion aspirations, Hibs falling again at the penultimate hurdle. It will be of scant consolation that they can at least now begin their summer holidays a week early.
The soul-searching will begin for Stubbs and his players but in truth they did not do a huge amount wrong this season. If neighbours Hearts were just an unstoppable force that could not be halted, then Hibs did the next best thing by finishing second ahead of Rangers. Not having to feature in the play-off quarter-finals allowed them extra time to rest but also seemed to blunt their sharpness. Over two legs against Rangers, it took them until the 183rd minute to score a goal that proved to be no more than a consolation. For a team that had been praised repeatedly throughout the regular season for their attacking exploits, it was a tame way to surrender their promotion aspirations.
A cloud, then, hung over Easter Road on Saturday but at least the situation is not as grim as this time last year. Stubbs had taken over following one of the worst seasons in the club's history as first Pat Fenlon and then Terry Butcher proved unable to arrest the team's slide down the Premiership table and eventually into the Championship via the play-offs. Stubbs would not have wished for a second season outside of the top flight but at least he enters his sophomore year with his squad in good shape to have another shot at winning promotion. Should he be able to maintain the crux of his squad, and add a few more players, then Hibs would start among the favourites for the title.
"If you look back where the club was in July, we have come a long way since then," said Farid El Alagui, the French striker who missed a large chunk of his first season at the club due to injury.
"There has been a lot of change. We are very disappointed not to go up, especially with the type of play we showed this season. But we have nothing to be jealous of Hearts or even Rangers.
"This has been a great team to play with. We look at what we missed and maybe at the start of the season we didn't have enough time for preparation. Some players came in late, but once the team was set up we were outstanding. It was close to reaching the next stage.
"The main thing is that we want to go again next season. Everyone is looking forward to starting again and we want to do right what didn't happen this season. We are not far away so I think we have a good chance. We have more time to prepare ourselves and get a good start to the season."
Holding on to Scott Allan could be key. The Championship's player of the year was again the outstanding figure in Hibs' 1-0 victory over Rangers at Saturday, a result that saw the Easter Road side exit the play-offs on aggregate following a 2-0 loss at Ibrox in the first leg.
The 23 year-old will likely be in demand over the summer but El Alagui hopes the talented midfielder will stay and develop at Easter Road.
"When Scott came in at the start of the season he was seen as a great prospect. He was a young player who went down to England and then came back here to try and prove how good he was.
"So he had a lot of things to prove to everyone. And he showed how good he is but that is also thanks to the manager who gave him this stage to perform and made him ready. I think there is still more to come from him, I don't think we've seen him 100 per cent yet. Just look at his he has improved this season. I think he can do the same again next season."
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