FROM HUTCHIE TO HIBS VIA HAMPDEN - HANLON'S REMARKABLE JOURNEY

Time marches on, teams move on. Players, however beloved, cannot carry on forever. But you get the distinct impression that Paul Hanlon wouldn’t have minded taking a crack at becoming history’s first eternal footballer … as long as it meant staying with Hibs.

As it transpires, Hanlon looks certain to play on, despite today’s hardly surprising news that he and long-time team-mate Lewis Stevenson will be leaving the club at the end of the season. It’s going to feel slightly odd, watching the current club captain play AGAINST Hibs next season. But do you doubt that he’ll be giving 100 per cent for his new team?

Anyone familiar with Hanlon’s story will know that a love of the game has driven him to achieve mighty things. The former Hutchison Vale youngster – an attackingmidfielder in his youth, believe it or not – had to work hard to earn himself a place in professional football. He’s been grinding ever since. Every single day.

When he looks back on his time as a Hibs player, Hanlon will not be short ofhighlights. Or, for that matter, experiences that could most charitably bedescribed as challenging. Overall, he’ll be remembered for much more than justone magical day at Hampden. Even if his part in the 2016 Scottish Cup victorywill forever bind him tightly to the players, coaches, directors and supportersthere to witness the great curse being lifted in such dramatic fashion.

For Hanlon, every high and each low carries added impact, simply because he’s a fan, firstand foremost. If he admits that becoming a first-team player required a mentalswitch, treating football as a job and trying to build a career, he’s neverlost his love for the club.

As a kid who grew up in Hearts territory, with a back garden overlooking Saughton Enclosure,the young Hanlon was never likely to be anything but a Hibee. By the time hewas old enough to stand up and see over the adults sitting in front of him, hewas a regular at home and away games, travelling with family and friends.

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He idolised the players. Still gets a little fired up when talking about actually beingthere for the 3-2 win over AEK Athens at Easter Road back in 2001. This was alwayshis club. But not always his team. Let’s explain.

Hanlon played all the way up to under-14 level with Hutchie, learning as much about becominga responsible person as he did about playing football; at their best, grassrootscommunity clubs are worth their weight in gold, when it comes to contributingto both the game and society in general. Between the lessons learned there andspending every minute of free time engaged in street football or pick-up gameson any patch of available grass, with no age restrictions and zero adultsupervision, he grew and matured.

After scoring 32 goals in his final season at Hutchison Vale, he was picked up by Hibs.And immediately dedicated himself to making the grade, taking instant pride inhaving his own jersey to wear every weekend.

He was handed a first-team debut at the age of 17 in Mixu Paatelainen’s first game asgaffer, a 3-0 Scottish Cup home win over Inverness. Apart from a brief loan atSt Johnstone, he’s been in or around that first team pretty much ever since. Anoccasional left back and naturally left-sided centre-half, he’s often beenone of those players whose best games go unnoticed.

But nobody could ever overlook his role in the club’s Scottish Cup triumph. Indeed,without Hanlon’s contribution, Hibs may still have been waiting for a follow-upto their 1902 Cup win.

Hanlon’s sliding half volley at Tynecastle in February of 2016, a dramatic late equaliser right infront of the delirious away fans, earned Hibs a Scottish Cup quarter-final replaythat had looked anything but likely as they trailed their city rivals 2-0 withjust 10 minutes remaining. The rest, as they say, is history.

In and out of the team since Nick Montgomery’s arrival as manager, Hanlon may not be asquick as he once was. Even if he still managed to pop up on the left wing atone point in Dingwall on Saturday. It’s been obvious for a while that the new gaffer wasn’t set on the skipper as his first choice to partner Will Fish.

He’s been preparing for this day, graduating – and picking up the class medal, to boot –from Napier University with a BA Business and Enterprise in Sport degree inOctober. It says everything about his approach to education that, of everythinghe gained from the experience, the most important lesson – in his view – was grantinghim a deeper understanding of how much hard work goes into the non-footballside of running a club.

But he’s still only 34. No age for a centre-half. His ability to sniff out - and snuff out - danger doesn’t appear to have been diminished by the passing of years. He’s not short of offers. Even if the opportunity to retire as a on-club man, the sort of fairy tale ending afforded very few players in the modern game, is no longer on the table.

2024-05-07T17:06:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd