Hibs bid £1 million for Luke McCowan before Celtic swooped, with Malky Mackay explaining why there was no backup.
The Easter Road sporting director stated that it came down to the wire, but they were unable to prevent Celtic from switching.
Malky Mackay has disclosed that Hibernian bid £1 million for Luke McCowan in a last-ditch effort to get him from Dundee.
They lost to Celtic after Dundee rejected four previous proposals, and fans were disappointed that there was no backup plan in place. The Hibees did bring back Nectaris Triantis on loan from Sunderland and recruited defender Jack Iredale from Bolton Wanderers, but the one punters truly wanted was unveiled along the M8 before making his Hoops debut against Rangers on Sunday.
“However, our conversations with Dundee were all conducted in good faith. And our owner was really willing to support the football team by going to recruit a specific player.
“It literally came down to the wire. It was an hour until the deadline. It’s not like we knew Celtic were going to come in for him; it wasn’t until 10 p.m. on the night that we found out we had been outbid.
“We didn’t say, ‘OK, what are we going to do with the million pounds?'” Because I am not in the business of simply spending the owner’s money for the sake of it. Specifics are required, and we must ensure that we do not make financial or investment blunders, allowing us to repent at our leisure.
“We could have jumped to another target, spent the money, and then realized, ‘Actually, this guy isn’t any better than what we have in the building.'” That’s a long and convoluted way of expressing that simply because the money is available does not imply that the opportunity exists.
Leave a Reply