FOOTBALL is all about timing your run. While Steven Whittaker reaps the benefits of his summer return to his first club Hibs – in the form of regular club football, his first international call up for 18 months and getting his young family settled in the capital – there is no shortage of intrigue over whether another figure within his dressing room for both club and country might have moved in the opposite direction by the time tomorrow night ticks round.
Assuming an acceptable bid comes in for his services – so far Nottingham Forest haven’t met Hibs’ valuation – Whittaker knows only the Easter Road club and Scotland team-mate John McGinn can decide whether now is the right time to move to the City Ground or some other bigger fish in the footballing food chain.
But whatever he decides, Whittaker has seen enough of the 22-year-old midfielder to know that he is conscientious and level-headed enough to make the most of his career.
“It’s hard,” said Whittaker. “It’s down to John and his career, the path he wants to take. But it will be a massive loss for us at Hibs if he does go. He’s a great player to have in the centre of the park. But if John wants to progress, he has every right to do so. He’s got a sensible head on him and the right people around him. He’ll know what’s right for him and he’ll make the right choice when it comes.
“He won’t be fazed by it at all,” the 33-year-old added. “He definitely has the right attitude. If he does make the kind of move which has been spoken about, he will go on and do well. He will make the most of his career. Some players don’t, that’s just the way they approach it. Personally, I’ve always been grateful for the opportunities you get. You work hard for where you end up. John’s very much like that.”
It is 10 years since Whittaker left Hibs for Rangers – part of a job lot of aspiring footballers such as Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Steven Fletcher, Derek Riordan and Garry O’Connor who generally did pretty well out of the game. Five years in East Anglia followed, after declining to allow his contract to TUPE over to Charles Green’s Ibrox newco in 2012, but Whittaker fell out of favour under Alex Neil at Norwich and consequently hasn’t played for Scotland since a hopme friendly against Denmark in March 2016.
Whittaker is just enjoying being in the mix again, having been relegated to the role of spectator for the England matches.
“Of course it does cross your mind that you have maybe won the last of your caps,” said Whittaker, who conceded a penalty against Dundee at Dens Park on Sunday. “But that wasn’t in my thinking when I made the move to Hibs.”
This Lithuania side are three points worse off than Scotland and what inside track he has on these opponents come in the form of banter and briefings from his Hibs team-mates Vykintas Slivka and Deivydas Matulevicius, both of whom could play in Vilnius. “There has been a bit of banter here and there about the game and they will go into the match thinking they can get something out of it like they did at Hampden,” Whittaker said. “We know that is the situation we are in. There is not much room for error.”
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