Hibs must loosen transfer purse strings after making Europe like when Big Eck broke club record for De La Cruz - Tam McManus

Ulises De La Cruz. The man with the movie star name and the big bucks transfer fee to go with it. In a full year spent with wee Tam Cruise I never heard him utter a word so I can’t believe he’s now forging a career as a politician back home in Ecuador.

I’ll tell you what though the south American let his football do the talking in Leith and what a player - worth every penny of the £700,000 Alex McLeish agreed to fork out in the summer of 2001.

That was a club record for Hibs and still raises eyebrows 22 years later. But we raked in double just 12 months later when the Ecuador international moved to Aston Villa and became a Premier League star. It was a significant fee to pay back then. But Big Eck had just led us back into European football for the first time in nine years and Rod Petrie loosened the purse strings as a reward.

McLeish had contacts all over the world. It was one of his strengths so he brought Tam and his Ecuadorian pal Eduardo Hurtado over to Hibs and to this day I’m convinced Hurtado was just Tam’s translator. He still got 12 games and did a job. Badly. De La Cruz was something else though and I can still see his two goals in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road to beat Hearts a few months later. One with his left peg - his standing foot - flew right in the top corner past Antti Niemi.

We went out on an Edinburgh bender after that as you do and Tam never opened his mouth once - particularly when it came to his round. But he was due the freedom of the capital that night and more than repaid the club the following summer. He was definitely one of the best I played with at Hibs.

It just shows if you’re guaranteed money in Europe then you can go and spend a few more quid on your squad. Hopefully that’s the