Hibs fans will say an emotional farewell to ‘Star Man’ Martin Boyle at the end of this season.
Boyle is the last of the 2016 Scottish Cup-winning squad still playing for the Club although of course David Gray and Darren McGregor both remain on the payroll.
Many questioned the wisdom of Alan Stubbs when he swapped hugely talented young winger Alex Harris for Boyle in 2015.
Harris looked likely to be the next Hibs superstar after bursting onto the scene under Pat Fenlon, but he never recovered from an injury picked up against Motherwell at Easter Road.
But Stubbs’ spotted Boyle’s potential and the rest is history.
Born in Aberdeen, Boyle started his career with Montrose and made his first senior appearance aged 16 in a Scottish Cup tie coincidentally against Hibs at Easter Road.
After three seasons, Boyle signed for Dundee where he played 56 times before agreeing a loan exchange with Hibs for Harris during the 2015 January window.
The move was made permanent in the summer of that year, and few could have predicted what an important player he would turn out to be.
He was an unused substitute when Hibs finally won the Scottish Cup in 2016 and scored nine goals during the 2016–17 season, as Hibs won promotion back to the topflight.
A first-half League Cup semi-final hat-trick against Rangers is probably the crowning moment, but there have been many highlights in his Easter Road tenure.
His record in Edinburgh derbies is impressive scoring five times in the eight wins eight draws and six defeats. This includes a memorable double at Tynecastle in a 2-0 victory.
On 21 January 2022, Boyle left Hibs for an “undisclosed seven-figure sum” to join Al Faisaly in the Saudi Professional League but returned to Hibs at the end of that season.
Boyle’s signing was confirmed the night before an Edinburgh derby and was a surprise inclusion in the squad.
Then, with Hearts leading the game by a goal, Boyle came off the bench to equalise with almost the last kick sparking mayhem amongst the Hibs fans.
The Club held talks with the Australian international last month and it was mutually agreed they would part ways at the end of the current campaign.
The timing allows the 32-year-old to consider his options before heading to the World Cup with the Socceroos.
But he is unlikely to be short of options with long-term interest from the A-League where the likes of Melbourne City and Perth Glory have tried to land him.
But Boyle will undoubtedly receive a huge send off from the Hibs fans after his final game at Easter Road.
And he will leave the Club as 11th highest goalscorer.
At the time of writing he has scored 108 goals, six behind the great Arthur Duncan and three in front of Derek Riordan.
Hibs head coach Gray said: “The situation is, he’ll be out of contract at the end of the season and he’ll be moving on,” Gray said. “But what he deserves and what he will do between now and the end of the season, and what he’s desperate to do, is to go out on a high, as high as he possibly can.
“That’s his mindset just now. And he deserves to go out that way as well for what he’s done for the football club.
“I think he’s only a couple of games away from 400 games, 100-odd goals. An incredible servant to the club. So that’s all on his mind as well, to try and finish on a high.
“Also he’s got the carrot of trying to be in the best possible form going into the end of the season with a World Cup coming up, which is something that is a big driving force for a lot of players.”
Credit: Ian Jacobs
