Hibs hero Darren McGregor is ready to call time on his career early in a bid to prolong his association with his boyhood club.
The emotional defender admits Sunday might have been his last game in senior football despite having a year left to run on his contract at Easter Road.
McGregor made his first start since December for his 432nd career appearance in the 4-0 victory over St Johnstone.
But the former Rangers and St Mirren stopper is ready to sit down with club chiefs as he contemplates hanging up the boots and turning his hand to helping develop the next generation of Hibees.
The 36-year-old, a rock as Hibs lifted the 2016 Scottish Cup and followed it up by winning the Championship title a year later, insists he can’t imagine playing for any other club.
He said: “I have a year left but I’m not naive - I’m 37 in August. It is getting harder.
“I don’t want to block the pathway for younger guys coming up.
“I will need to have a conversation with the powers that be whether I can transition into something else.
“If I wasn’t playing for Hibs I would struggle to see myself playing for anyone else.
“If there was an opportunity to transition here into coaching I would love to look into that.
“I have been here a long time and loved every minute of it and I would do anything for this club.
“Whatever capacity they see me in then I would be keen to take it.
“If someone said to me when I had a proper job at 24 that I would still be playing now after winning the Scottish Cup with Hibs at 30 I would not have believed them.
“I have a different career path to a lot of boys. At 18 I was still playing for Leith Athletic then went to Cowdenbeath, Arniston Rangers, Cowdenbeath again, then St Mirren, Rangers and now Hibs.
“I have learned a lot but from a personal point of view and what I have been through and how hard I have worked and the adversity I have faced while squeezing every bit of ability, I think I have had a decent career.
“I would love to pass that on to younger guys and try to help develop them to be the next Hibs players.”
McGregor hadn’t featured for two months since snapping an ankle ligament against Motherwell in March. But he was handed the captaincy by caretaker boss David Gray for the season finale which could now turn out to be the last hurrah on his own 18-year pro career.
McGregor said: “It was emotional even thinking about it on Saturday night. Dave had spoken to me and said he was going to give me the captaincy which I’ll be forever grateful for.
“A lot of people didn’t know this but I’d snapped one of the main ligaments in my ankle against Motherwell.
“It should have been a 10 to 12 week rehab but I got back in six just with this mindset of potentially getting one more game as you never know what’s round the corner.
“Leading the kids out there with the armband, I was almost on the verge of tears. I had to control myself as it was so overwhelming. It’s just been a privilege to play with this club.
“If that is my last game, I will treasure it along with a couple of other things that I managed to achieve here.”
The perfect result to bow out with maybe. But McGregor is well aware the season has been far from acceptable with Hibs ending up eighth and 18 points worse off than last season's third spot finish.
McGregor said: "“It was the perfect way to finish the season.
“It was long overdue but I can’t sugarcoat it’s been a disappointing season and we have underachieved massively.
“For a club of this stature it isn’t good enough and we all know that.
“There’s been a lot of things that have happened this season.
“Losing Martin Boyle was a big thing for us. If you look at the goals and assist stats he is still right up there and he left us in January.
“We maybe didn’t replace him but then we have lots of injuries. I remember we had a starting XI out injured and that doesn’t help.
“But ultimately we haven’t been good enough and whether that’s down to complacency, a lack of confidence, you could go on and on.
“We finished eighth and that’s not good enough.
“Other than the years in the Championship our average over the last 20 years is sixth.
“That tells you all you need to know and we have to demand more.
“A club of this size we want to be playing in Europe and playing in cup finals.
“We have done the latter recently, but the finish in the league has let us down and we need to address that.
“Hopefully the new manager who comes in can rectify that.”
McGregor admits seeing David Gray make the transition from player to coach at the age of just 34 have inspired him to follow a similar route.
He said: “He’s definitely given me inspiration. He’s done a tremendous job.
“I’ve got no doubt in my mind that in the future he’ll definitely become a Hibs manager.
“He’s still learning. He’ll say that himself.
“But in six or seven months he’s taken the reins twice. Fair play to him.
“Watching him do his stuff does give me the motivation and inspiration to be the best that I can be in whatever I close to be.
“I’d 100 per cent like him to stay part of it. He gets the club and understands the players.
“I think any manager coming in, David could be a definite asset in terns of his rapport with the guys, what he’s achieved here and his work ethic which is second to none.”
