Hibs: Neil Lennon hopeful of keeping bulk of squad together

Neil Lennon has won both the Premiership and Championship as a manager

Hibernian head coach Neil Lennon hopes to keep the bulk of his squad together after winning promotion to the Scottish Premiership.

Several first-team regulars, including captain David Gray, are out of contract this summer.

"In terms of all the players out of contract, they've all been offered deals," Lennon told BBC Scotland.

"The majority of them seem pretty happy with them, there might be one or two want a bit of tweaking here and there."

Hibs secured the Championship on Saturday after beating Queen of the South.

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Gray, fellow defenders Darren McGregor, Lewis Stevenson and Liam Fontaine, midfielders Marvin Bartley and Fraser Fyvie, winger Chris Humphrey, forwards Martin Boyle, Grant Holt and James Keatings and goalkeepers Ross Laidlaw and Scott Gallacher are among those coming to the end of their current deals.

"The majority of the players are enjoying what they're doing here and the success that they've had over the last 18 months so I'd be surprised if there was a big exodus," former Celtic and Bolton boss Lennon said on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

"Maybe one or two might move on for personal reasons but I think for footballing reasons, the majority of them will stay on."

'Pressure off' ahead of cup semi-final

The Easter Road side will face Derek McInnes's Aberdeen in Saturday's Scottish Cup semi-final, with Lennon's predecessor Alan Stubbs having led Hibs to their first Scottish Cup trophy win in 114 years with victory over Rangers in last year's final.

Hibs beat Edinburgh rivals Hearts in a replay earlier in the competition and Lennon added: "We've kept some of our best performances for the cup run so far and now we're back at Hampden.

Gray (far left) scored the winner in last year's final while Stevenson (with trophy) has been with Hibs since 2005

"It's going to be a big crowd, against a class side, really good manager in charge so we know how difficult it's going to be but the pressure's off as far as we're concerned.

"The only thing the players want to do is defend the trophy as best they can now and if you're going to win it, you have to beat what's put in front of you and the next obstacle's a big one in Aberdeen.

"I've got a good core of the squad who are more than capable of playing in the Premier League. They proved that with the cup runs last year, they made two finals and won one and now we're in a semi-final as well having beaten the biggest rivals very convincingly over two games."