Hibs buy Alan Stubbs’ Scottish Cup medal at charity auction

HIBS have purchased former boss Alan Stubbs’ Scottish Cup winner’s medal in exchange for a substantial donation to charity.

The Englishman helped the Easter Road club end their 114-year wait to lay hands on the trophy again when masterminding their Final victory over Rangers back in May.

And, while acknowledging it would be the perfect souvenir of the historic achievement, Stubbs was determined it should instead be auctioned off to raise funds for good causes.

“Before the Final I got an anonymous letter from a woman stating she was trying to raise money for much-needed life-saving machines, after her child had passed away,” he said.

“She was trying to raise money for these machines, to help try to keep young babies alive. I was reading the story and I was blown away. It was so powerful.

“So I’d decided before Hampden that if we won the cup, I was going to auction my medal.

“I had some really decent offers for my medal, but I wanted it to mean something and for my medal to do something special for someone.

“I’m glad to say it didn’t go to any one individual, but went to Hibs in the end. They bought it off me and it’ll go in their museum and there will be three substantial donations going to three charities.”

Stubbs, out of work since being sacked by Rotherham four months ago, explained his desire to carry out the good deed was fuelled by his meeting earlier in the year with terminally-ill Hibs fan, Shaun McKinley, who passed away on Hogmanay.

“I went to see him, early last year. It was through the club,” he said.

“I just went along by myself one night, and turned up without him knowing.

“I knocked on the door and his wife answered. She had been primed that I would show up one day. I just went in and sat down with him.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, speaking to someone who is terminally ill. We didn’t know how long Shaun had left and he had a young child,  who was just two years old, I think.

“He was completely overjoyed to see me. I was sitting there, thinking: ‘This is not what life is supposed to be like’.

“It was heart-warming for me because I was trying to talk and share our situation. But always, in the back of my mind, I was thinking: ‘How long has he got to live?’

“This is a young, 30-something man. We chatted about his experiences and the treatment he was going through.

“He was wired up to a machine that was constantly there, and I don’t think anybody would want to see someone in a position like that.

“Sometimes you wonder if there is a God. Sometimes it makes you think stupid things.

“But on the flip side of that, maybe Hibs winning the cup final was one of his dying memories and he went having witnessed that.”

Alan Stubbs was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.