Harry McKirdy gets Hibs carpeting over social media post as Lee Johnson reveals 'conversations' being had

Harry McKirdy has been carpeted by Hibs bosses over his Gareth Bale-style social media post with the striker’s Easter Road future again up in the air.

Boss Lee Johnson says the 26-year-old has been spoken to with talks ongoing over his discipline. Misfiring McKirdy, who has yet to score in 19 appearances since signing from Swindon last summer, vented on Instagram last Saturday night after failing to get off the bench against St Mirren.

Next to a picture of a park bench the Chelsea fan wrote: “Chels. Nina. Golf. Hibs” in reference to his football team, partner, hobby and club - similar to Bale’s “Wales. Golf. Madrid” post as he fell out of the reckoning at Real Madrid four years ago. It’s the second time McKirdy has found himself at the centre of a social media storm after he responded to a Swindon fan telling him it was time to go back south with a “not wrong” reply last October.

Johnson said: “It looked like it was an equivalent of the Bale scenario. My mentality is always to protect the team. That's my sole motivation, my sole agenda. What I want is players to respect their team-mates. So yes, conversations have been had and are being had at the moment with Harry.

"Do I think he's a bad lad? Absolutely not. Do I think he’s emotive, particularly at those times on a Saturday night? Yes. We'll decide what the best course of action with him is, not only for the good of the team but also to support players like that.

“There's a lot of stick that flies about on the back of social media comments like that and these lads are desperate to play, they're desperate to perform and there's a lot of pressure on them.

"There are two sides to it. We've got systems in place to protect our players, but also to reprimand if we feel that's