No redemption

SAFE to say, when Ian Murray left his boyhood heroes in 2005, it wasn't an amicable separation. A guy many Hibs fans labelled a Judas, he was condemned as dishonest for the way he allowed his contract to run down and refused to come clean about where he planned to play his football the following season. When it turned out he was leaving Easter Road for Rangers, the perceived betrayal was complete.

Hibs supporters booed and goaded him whenever paths crossed and at Ibrox he, infamously, gave them a one-fingered response.

But now he's back and while many in his shoes would kiss the badge and beg forgiveness, there is something admirable in the stance of the former captain who rejoined Hibs last month from Norwich City.

"I love the wind up as much as anyone," says the player who once had 1973 dyed into his hair for an Edinburgh derby in an attempt to antagonise Hearts fans by reminding them of a 7-0 thumping by their city rivals that year. "So with the (one-fingered] gesture to the Hibs fans, I can't understand why so many are upset. They were happy to give me stick for 90 minutes and see their team win 3-0 but, having dished it out, when I did one little thing, they went mad and still resent it. It's a case of 'how dare you?' but I could ask them the same thing. If they give it out they should be able to take it."

He says too many fans want the power to abuse without reprisals. They want to see passion in players but expect them to act like emotionless shop dummies when being abused for the crowd's merriment.

"Thankfully I think times are changing and I think the authorities and the referees are more understanding of players," says Murray, who faces up to the Ibrox club at Easter Road today, in the Scottish Cup fifth round. "It's not that they are lenient but I think they are a bit more on our side now. After all we are only human and we are also in a situation where we are pumped up and my response to those complaining is to ask them what they would have done in the same situation? Would they have taken it for 90 minutes without reacting? I did try.

"Unfortunately, getting some fans to understand that is asking too much. Even now I know that a few of them don't like it and want me to apologise for the gesture but that's not my problem really, if they don't like it then it's up to them to get over it. They have to realise that if the kind of abuse they give players every week was dished out on the street instead of in a football ground then they would be lifted or get more than a gesture in response. They wouldn't take it, so why should others be expected to? I know that some will argue that they paid their money, so they are entitled to shout what they want, but I never made them pay the money, no-one made them go to the game, it was their choice.

"It's funny, though, because every Hibs fan I bump into or speak to says 'ah, I never gave you stick, I never booed you.' Plenty of them were happy to dish it out but no-one admits to it!' These things don't really bother me because sometimes the stick is actually funny and sometimes you look round and it's a grown man sitting there with his kid and you just think it's madness, a bit pathetic," says the 26-year-old.

If it reads like a rant, the impression would be wrong. There's no hesitancy in the words but they are not falling over each other to escape a rabid, foaming mouth either. The comments are well-considered and reasoned and whether people agree or disagree with him, he firmly believes in them.

But there is no residual bitterness on his part. Vilified by many, the barbs never threatened his love for the club. He knows some will question that given his disappearance along the M8, he knows that because he did exactly the same in the past when he was in the throng bemoaning the choices made by his heroes, Andy Goram, John Collins and Darren Jackson. Now he understands. It's about ambition and it's about money.

The most galling thing for him is that he may have sated his need for the latter but not the former during the two-and-a-half-year holiday from Easter Road. On the subject of silverware, Hibs won the League Cup in his absence while Rangers endured their worst barren spell since the 1960s. "Yeah, it's not often they go two years without winning something or that they go through three managers in two years. The first year was a tough year. We did well in Europe but domestically we were poor. The second year, I don't know if it was the lack of depth in the team or the lack of quality, or maybe both, but we struggled massively. But I played a lot more games than people realise and I played in the Champions League, and although I didn't win anything it was a great experience. I played around 60 games in a year and a half, which is probably more than I had played for Hibs in the previous year and a half."

Although proud of the number of games he played for Rangers, his second season at Ibrox was blighted by injury and illness. Murray was afflicted by reactive arthritis, which attacked his joints and forced complete rest and then lengthy rehabilitation. It affected his ankle first, then his knee, then every joint ached. It was finally diagnosed as one illness. "Yeah, it probably looked like I was picking up a load of injuries but thankfully we found out what was causing it and I was lucky. I was told I could be out for a month, six months, a year or longer. In the end it was the six months, which was bad enough."

He returned to action in time to play one match for Paul Le Guen before the Frenchman's departure. Bucking the trend of Scots in the squad, he was actually a fan of the manager and his training methods. But he had been told he was part of his plans. "It's always the same in football, if the manager wants you and plays you, you like them, if they don't you usually end up hating them." That was the case with Glenn Roeder at Norwich City. Mention him and then you see Murray's bitter side. Told he wouldn't be an integral part of Walter Smith's Rangers rejuvenation, he opted to try football down south. Having been there, done it, he's in no hurry for a return. "I felt I had to try it down there or I would be sitting in five or six years wondering 'what if?' but after Peter Grant left, it was no fun. Playing for Glenn Roeder, it was the first time in my life I felt like chucking it during a game, a lot of the players felt that way. He's an angry man, not nice to play for."

The lure of home and of linking up with new Hibs manager and former team-mate Mixu Paatelainen was too much. Taking a wage cut, he agitated to get the move in time for the Edinburgh derby. "I'm lucky," he says, "I can say I have played in both derbies. For the Rangers fans in the team the Old Firm games are massive. When it came to the Hibs v Hearts games, they might take an interest but in the grand scale, to them, it was nothing. To me it was always the big one. I wanted to win the Old Firm games but not as much as I have wanted to win every Edinburgh derby. I think I always hoped and thought that one day I would come back but, to be honest, I maybe didn't expect it to be so soon. I'm glad I'm here, though, and now I just have to do enough between now and the end of the season to get a longer contract."

Murray may never beg forgiveness for his perceived former misdemeanours but few can doubt the sincerity of his actions if or when he does kiss the badge.

NEVER GO BACK?

IAN Murray is the latest in a long line of Hibernian players to return for a second spell at Easter Road. Others include:

JOE BAKER

Outstanding striker who announced his arrival with all four goals in a 4-3 Scottish Cup defeat of Hearts in 1958. Sold to Torino for £75,000. Moved on to Arsenal and had spells at Nottingham Forest and Sunderland before returning to Hibs in 1971. Managed only 20 first team appearances in second spell at Hibs.

MIXU PAATELAINEN

Joined the club in 1998 as a striker from Wolves. He left in 2001 for Strasbourg but returned a season later until 2003. He scored 39 goals for the Leith club, including a hat-trick against Hearts in October 2000.

PETER CORMACK

Cormack joined Hibs in 1963 and was a midfielder with an eye for goal, scoring 76 times in 202 appearances. He moved to Nottingham Forest in 1970, then on to Liverpool where he won league and UEFA Cup medals. Returned to Hibs from Bristol City in 1979 before finishing his career at Partick Thistle.

JOHN BLACKLEY

Blackley made 279 appearances for Hibs, and helped them win League Cup in 1972. He moved to Newcastle United in 1977. Made a return as assistant manager to Pat Stanton before becoming manager in 1984.