No doubt who Raith Rovers' Paul Hanlon rates as his best ever team-mate

Paul Hanlon joined Raith Rovers on a three-year contract this summer (Pic Mark Scates/SNS Group)

Having previously spent 16 years of his playing career at boyhood heroes Hibernian, Raith Rovers defender Paul Hanlon starred alongside some legendary – and not so legendary (!) Hibees during his stint of over 550 games for the Easter Road side between 2008 and 2024.

Although Lewis Stevenson, Steven Fletcher, Sol Bamba, Martin Boyle, David Gray, Anthony Stokes, Steven Whittaker and Derek Riordan could be rated as standouts, Hanlon is unhesitating when asked to name his best ever team-mate.

"I’d say John McGinn,” 34-year-old centre-back Hanlon told the Fife Free Press. “Ability wise that goes without saying in terms of what he’s gone on to do in his career.

"He kind of galvanises everywhere he goes. He was at Hibs and was a fans’ favourite, hero, who really got the crowd going.

John McGinn celebrates scoring for Scotland (Pic Rob Casey/SNS Group)

"He is doing the same at Aston Villa, scoring goals, getting them to the Premier League and he’s a talisman for Scotland. For those reasons, he’s the one.”

Hanlon and McGinn were both in the Hibs squad which won the 2016 Scottish Cup final 3-2 against Rangers at Hampden, the Edinburgh side’s first victory in the tournament in 114 years.

Hanlon added: "As a Hibs fan, that was my highlight as a player.

"The fans had just been waiting so long for it, generations of fans, people who had maybe gone to the games with their grandads and maybe they were now a grandad, generations that had never seen it happen.

"I heard some unbelievable stories afterwards. When you bump into fans everyone’s got their own story about it. That was incredible.”