Raith Rovers' Paul Hanlon assesses chaotic start after summer move from Hibernian

Hanlon, 34, who made 563 Hibs appearances between 2008 and 2024, cruelly had his competitive start to life at Rovers delayed by a heel injury which caused him to miss six games in league and league cup.

And the pain of that enforced absence was then quickly exacerbated when fellow Hibernian legend Ian Murray – the manager who had signed Hanlon – was sacked by the Stark’s Park board following the 1-0 opening Scottish Championship defeat at Airdrieonians on August 3.

Reflecting on that chaotic time, Hanlon – who has since made 14 Raith appearances under new gaffer Neill Collins, told the Fife Free Press: "It was a little bit unsettling because obviously I was at a new club.

"I wanted to settle in as quickly as possible and then I got an injury at the start of the season which kept me out and took away my rhythm and during that period the manager left.

"I had bone bruising on the bottom of my heel and I think the surface I was training on day to day was causing problems in terms of the healing.

"It was mainly the position of the injury, because it’s on your heel and you’re running every day, jumping, landing, it just took a bit longer to settle down.

"It was a frustrating one to get so early in my Raith career.

"From my point of view I was changing clubs for the first time as it was the first time I’d moved from Hibs.

"It was kind of all going on, but all credit to the staff here and the new manager coming in, it’s settled down really quickly again and we’re all really enjoying coming in every day."

When asked if he thinks Murray, who led Raith to a second-place league finish and the Premiership play-off final last season, will get another manager’s job soon, Hanlon added: "I think Ian Murray has got a lot of good qualities. There is evidence to suggest he’s a good manager for what he did last season.

"There’s no doubt when jobs start coming up in Scotland then he’ll be a name that’s mentioned.

"The board here made a decision at the start of the season to change it. Since the new manager’s come in he’s been great. I’ve spent more time with him now than I did with Ian at the start of the season when I had an injury.

"It’s tough to judge but going forward it’s an exciting time for this club with the manager we’ve got in place, the style he wants to put in and the demands he puts on us every day.”

Raith, sixth in the Scottish Championship on 15 points from 14 matches, visit leaders Falkirk in the league this Saturday with a 3pm kick-off at Falkirk Stadium.

The Kirkcaldy side go in having won 4-0 in the Scottish Cup third round at Linlithgow Rose last Saturday, ironically booking a fourth round trip to John McGlynn’s Bairns on the weekend of January 18 and 19.

Hanlon said: “I think purely our professionalism in the way we approached the Linlithgow game was what made the difference on the day.

"They had good players, they worked hard on a tight, narrow pitch which can get on top of you. Especially in the first half, they put balls to near enough the edge of our box. We dealt with it all well, got goals at good times and that’s what saw off the tie for us.

"Falkirk are a good side. They’ve got themselves a kind of winning formula from last season. Falkirk have a good style of play but we’ve obviously already beaten them this season as well so there’s nothing to fear.

"Looking across this league, both teams will fancy themselves to win no matter what the fixture is.

"We’re going to Falkirk this weekend and we fancy our chances of winning.

"It will be no different when the cup tie comes around.

"There were a lot of different teams in Monday’s fourth round draw which could have provided a lot of different experiences for us.

"But it’s one we know well, we’re going to be well versed when that cup tie comes round so we need to be ready for it.”

When asked if he’s surprised that pre-season title favourites Raith currently trail Falkirk by 20 points, the defender added: "I don’t think anything can really surprise you in football these days, there’s that much that’s going on."