Alan Stubbs insists Hibernian will be the envy of the rest of Scotland if Sir Tom Farmer can pull off a deal to wipe out the club's debt.

The Easter Road outfit confirmed earlier this week they are in 'complex negotiations' involving the holding company and the bank amidst suggestions majority shareholder Farmer was poised to clear an estimated £8 million of arrears.

Those reports were described by the club as 'speculative', with an announcement to be made in time for an annual general meeting that has been delayed until January 28 to allow discussions to be concluded.

However, Stubbs, who said he had been kept briefed by chief executive Leeann Dempster, yesterday hailed the work being done by Farmer behind the scenes to 'potentially wipe the whole of the debt clear'.

The Hibs head coach insisted such a scenario, combined with the club's upgraded stadium and modern training facility, would ensure others would look on with jealousy - if they can also get back to the Premiership on the pitch.

He said: "It's great news. I'm aware of quite a bit of what's going on but obviously at this moment in time there's still a lot of talking to be done.

"In the meantime there will be a lot of people making their own assumptions, but over the next month or so and at the AGM everything will become a lot clearer.

"It's great news for the club. Tom's been a fantastic owner for us and what he's got in mind with the board and with the plan Leeann's putting together, I think everybody will be really happy with the final outcome.

"It's brilliant news, the fact that we've got the opportunity of potentially wiping the whole of the debt clear. We're very, very lucky we've got an owner who is prepared to do that and, looking from the outside in, I think everybody should be really optimistic about what the next step could be for the club and what the next pathway could be for it. The next step from my point of view is trying to get the team back into the Premiership, that's the most important thing.

"I think we would be the envy of most clubs then, because a lot of clubs will not be in the position we could find ourselves in. No-one wants to have anything in the background, any debt. Everyone wants to be on a level playing field and the club income paying for itself.

"In the past that's not necessarily been the case and we've had to rely on Sir Tom to keep funding the club.

"With Leeann coming in and all the new ideas and challenges ahead, we want to be working from day-to-day, season-to-season where the club is self-sufficient and funding itself."

Meanwhile, Stubbs has revealed how he had to take a long walk on Saturday night to avoid a possible 'domestic' with assistants John Doolan and Andy Holden.

The trio, whose families have remained south of the border since they took over at Hibs, share a house in Portobello and Stubbs has confessed the arrangement can have its down sides - particularly after results like last weekend's 1-0 defeat away to Falkirk.

He added: "I went for a walk on Saturday night, I had to get out of their faces. There's a situation where we'll speak about the game and I'll ask if I got anything wrong, or if they did, but it's one of them where I don't try to dwell on it too long.

"It happens, it was obvious why we didn't get a result - there were too many players not at it - so I went for a walk. It's like having a domestic with your partner, sometimes you've got to walk away and clear your head for an hour.

"I don't know how (the arrangement) works, but it works! I'm a bit disappointed because the first thing that happened when we walked in there was that Taff (Holden) took the big room.

"I thought, as manager, I would have been given it! It's a good job me and John grew up as kids, so we've seen quite a lot together.

"On the flip side of that, I'm not happy to be the one doing all the cooking all the time. I've told them they've got to start mucking in at the house all the time, all the chores."