Why Toby Sibbick rejected 'crazy' Hibs transfer as Hearts star reveals standing ovation for teammate's initiation song

Toby Sibbick sealed Hibs’ Scottish Cup exit last month with a deft dinked finish to help ease Hearts into the fifth round.

And the defender has revealed how he instantly shut down transfer interest from across the capital before he returned to Tynecastle for a second spell. Sibbick was out of the picture at Barnsley in late 2021 and the Tykes were willing to let him leave if he could find himself a new club.

The Hibees contacted Sibbick’s agent, who was skeptical of their chances of success given his client’s previous stint across the city. Despite playing only two games for the Jambos before being floored by illness and his future far from certain, Sibbick knew he just couldn’t cross the divide. In the end, he did return to Edinburgh as Hearts swooped to snap him up on a three-and-a-half year deal. “About the November time, after the Fulham game, we appointed the new manager and I only trained twice with him,” Sibbick explained. “He said I wasn’t going to be playing or part of his plans and I could start looking elsewhere.

“As a player, from November to January is a long time and there’s a lot of football to be played, so he ruled me out pretty early. In the December, Barnsley said to me that If I found a club, I could go and wouldn't have to wait until January.

“I was thinking: ‘This can’t be normal, something else must be going on,’ because Barsnley is more of a selling club and the board has a lot of influence on how things are run. There were a few loan options, some in League One which were good loans, but I felt after how I was getting treated, I needed to get out permanently.

“Hibs came about. They got in touch with my agent, but he said straight away: ‘Right, I’ll take it to him but I can’t promise you anything