I CAN understand why Hibs are reluctant to sell their best player Scott Allan to their main rivals for the Ladbrokes Championship.

It was no great surprise they were prepared to knock back the £225,000 Rangers offered last week in order to hold on to the 23-year-old.

If the Easter Road club win promotion to the top flight at the end of the 2015/16 campaign then their stance will have been proved worthwhile.

The Hibs fans are desperate not to lose the midfielder and their chief executive Leeann Dempster and manager Alan Stubbs have come out and stressed he is not for sale.

If Allan was to go to Rangers then the Hibs supporters would go absolutely berserk after their public statements.

However, Hibs have to think about what sort of impact all of this will have on the player himself.

Allan wants, without a shadow of a doubt, to go to Rangers and what is more he wants to go right now. He has told the club as much and handed in a transfer request.

If the move doesn’t go through then where does that leave him? What sort of state will his head be in this season?

The club can say to him: “Sorry, you’re staying here for another season. Get your mind off Rangers. Focus on Hibs.”

But will he be able to do that? What kind of performances is he going to produce in the second tier? Will he just down tools?

He could just say: “Stuff you!” Or he could say: “Fine. I’ll get my head down and have another good season for Hibs and join Rangers next season.”

Now we have a small element among the Hibs support giving their star player a hard time on social media.

There are obviously a fair number of Hibs fans who are, as a result of Allan saying that he wanted away and due to him handing in a transfer request, unhappy with him.

He has come out and said he doesn’t want to be there. He has stated he wants to play for their greatest rivals for the title. So why would the supporters back him?

The minute he has a bad game, misplaces a pass or misses a scoring chance he will get dog’s abuse from the stands. Hibs should take all of that into consideration.

I don’t know which way he will go. But I do know that the last thing a football club wants to do is keep a player when he is unhappy.

I have seen it happen on many occasions and it is definitely not advisable. It is a huge gamble by Hibs not accepting the offers from Rangers.

There are no guarantees they will go up even if Allan stays. If he signs a pre-contract agreement with Rangers in January – as he is quite entitled to do - then what do Hibs do?

They will have to play Rangers twice in the Championship. Do they play him? Is he going to help Hibs win if it means the club he is going to be joining don’t win promotion?

Stubbs is a man of principle. He has just signed an extension to his contract. But if Allan was allowed to go after everything which has been said I would imagine he would walk away.

He has told everyone – most importantly the supporters – so if he is offloaded I would imagine he would seriously review his own situation. Hibs can’t be seen to be deceiving the fans on this issue. If they say he isn’t going anywhere then they have to stand by that.

I enjoyed the Petrofac Training Cup game at Easter Road on Saturday. Rangers started slowly and Hibs did better in the first half.

But once they scored their football was superb, their movement was excellent and the pace they played at was great.

They have players who want to get on the ball and are prepared to work hard to get it.

Everything you wanted to see from a side you saw. It was impressive given that there were seven new boys playing in the side for the first time. It was their first competitive match.

There is still a long way to go. But the foundations are there for Rangers to go on and enjoy a long hard season.

I think we saw the effect the W Factor – Warburton and Weir – has had on the side in the Capital at the weekend.

They have to achieve consistency. But if they show the same desire and workrate against Peterhead in the League Cup on Sunday and then after that then there is no reason they can’t enjoy a fine season.

Glasgow Times:

Wilson and Wallace have quality to follow in long line of captains

IF you look back at some of the captains Rangers have had over the years you can see how important they have been to the Ibrox club.

Bobby Shearer, John Greig, Richard Gough, Barry Ferguson and Davie Weir have all been huge figures for the Gers.

So Mark Warburton is right to take his time and weigh up the candidates for the role before deciding who will be successor to Lee McCulloch.

Lee Wallace wore the armband at the weekend against Hibs so it is his to lose. I would be quite happy if he got the nod. You always know what you’re getting with Lee. He probably shouts more than any other player on the park. I think he has proved he is capable of doing the job.

Danny Wilson has also shown he has what it takes to be a skipper. He led Hearts to the Championship last term.

He is going to be at Rangers for a right few years so he has that in his favour.

John Eustace has, even though he is only on trial and hasn’t even signed a contract, has been mentioned in connection with the job.

He may be a good footballer and, as a holding midfielder, operate in a position where he can give out instructions and spur his team-mates on.

But he is 35 now and is only going to be at Ibrox for a season at tops. You need somebody long-term. I know Lee has only got one year left on his current deal.

But if they are going to offer him an extension to his contract – and I don’t see why they wouldn’t – then he should be the man to lead the team out.

If, for some reason, he isn’t going to be there, if they aren’t going to give him a deal or if he wants away, then Danny should get it.

Glasgow Times:

No reason for Scots to fear the Auld Enemy

LIKE so many of the Tartan Army, I was delighted when England were drawn in the same group as Scotland for the World Cup on Saturday.

It is a great group which will get the fans right behind the national team as we bid to make it to Russia in 2018.

We definitely have a chance of getting something against the Auld Enemy. The last time we played them in a competitive match we won.

A Don Hutchison goal at Wembley in the second leg of the Euro 2000 qualifier in 1999 ensured Craig Brown’s side won 1-0.

Nobody, not the players, the fans or the coaching staff, will fear playing England.

I would much rather play England than another big footballing nation like Italy or Germany or Spain.

England have better individual players than we do. But that doesn’t mean they will be a better team than us.

They have players with touch and skill. But we have fighters and grafters, get stuck into teams and don’t allow them to play. The bookies will have England as favourites – but that will take all of the pressure off us.

Gordon Strachan has worked wonders with Scotland. Everyone wants to be involved, nobody wants to lose their place.

I played England at Wembley once in 1973. I played at centre-half and marked Mick Channon. We lost 1-0 after Martin Peters scored a header.

Those were the days when that fixture attracted crowds of 100,000 – and 99,500 of them were Scots. It was an incredible arena.

It has changed a bit since then, but the players will all love it and, having played at Wembley two years ago, will be prepared for it.

Your question for Derek Johnstone

JIM MUIR of Glasgow asked: “Can Rangers win the League Cup or Scottish Cup this season?”

Derek said: “Why not? There’s no reason why they can’t. It is a new Rangers team and they look far better than last season

“They reached the League Cup semi-final last season, so I don’t see why they can’t win either it or the Scottish Cup this season.

“Mark Warburton needs to bring in one or two more players. But if he can strengthen his squad further the Gers can bid for the cups as well as the league.”

If you have a question for Derek, just email him at dj@eveningtimes.co.uk and we’ll print the answer alongside the question.