Aberdeen have ripped £5m away from Hibs and I know the real problems now facing David Gray – Tam McManus

David Gray and the Hibs hierarchy must have felt like putting a foot through the TV as Aberdeen ripped £5million out of their hipper.

But let’s get one thing clear. That money hasn’t just gone. It’s still there to be won.

And the focus for Hibs has now to be to go out and grab it.

Listen, I’m well aware of the knock-on effect which comes from Aberdeen winning the Scottish Cup and gaining the guaranteed group-state football.

Nothing is ever taken for granted in this game and I’m sure no-one at Easter Road was counting the money until the game at Hampden was done.

But it has to have been a kick in the teeth because Celtic were overwhelming favourites. They’d taken Aberdeen apart without a raft of first picks the week before and, when Gray and his squad secured that third-placed finish, they must have thought it was as close to being in the bag as you can get.

Massive credit to the Dons. They have earned it. It’s the least you deserve for winning a trophy and, let’s not forget, Hibs had cracks at Celtic in both of the cup competitions during the season and couldn’t do what Jimmy Thelin’s team did, so fair play to them.

Nonetheless, the Hibs players would have been devastated. Not only has the guarantee of the group games now gone back on the line, their holidays have been shredded.

It’s been a long old season both physically and mentally for those boys given what they had to go through in the beginning before turning the situation around.

I know it’s not the old days when I would go on my holidays and go mental, but the players could still do with serious down time.

The game has changed. Individuals are handed programmes and fitness plans to carry out through the summer months to ensure they don’t come back into pre-season