Raith Rovers' Paul Hanlon reveals his future managerial ambitions in football
Raith Rovers star Paul Hanlon – a goalscoring hero when adding to Dylan Easton’s opener as Raith reignited their William Hill Championship season with a 2-0 home victory over Partick Thistle last Saturday – is continuing to cope very well with the rigours of Scotland’s second tier after 17 years as a senior professional.
Although centre-back Hanlon, 35, still has 18 months left on his Raith playing contract, he has already been making plans for what he does after hanging up his boots, either from summer 2027 or beyond.
The veteran, who attained legendary status at former club Hibernian after making 565 apperances for the Easter Road side between 2008 and 2024, told the Fife Free Press: "I've got a business degree and my B and A coaching licence.
"My next step is getting a pro licence. That's my aim when I’m a bit more established, or more clear in terms of what I’m doing.”
When asked if managing Hibernian one day would be his dream job, Hanlon added: “I think just getting into a job would be good.
"That’s the thing as a football player, it's so uncertain, you could start a whole new career. I could bump into you a few times in something miles away from football, so you never know.
“But I've been in the game a long time, played a lot of games, seen a lot of managers, seen a lot of different things, so hopefully I've got a bit to pass on. But you need opportunities to come your way as well.”
When asked how much he’s still enjoying playing at Raith under manager Barry Robson, Hanlon said: “Fitness-wise I've felt great, but the manager's training has been really good for me personally as well he's very consistent in the way he works. You kind of know what you've got on a week-to-week basis, and I think at my age that suits me perfectly in terms of staying fit and feeling good for games.”
On the targets of Raith – up to fifth on 17 points from 12 games and just one points below the play-off spots – this term, Hanlon said: “I wouldn't say fourth place is our aim, I'd say play-offs.
"If you had asked anyone at the start of the season they would have said play-offs were the target anyway. I don't think anyone would sit here and say we're going to win the league.
“That was never coming out of anyone's mouth. It was a case of building on last season, which we ended really well, unlucky to miss out on the play-offs in the end with the run we put together.
"We want to get into the play-offs at any stage or go up automatically, whatever we can get to.
"Obviously it's a bit more difficult now as St Johnstone have started really well.
"But we're still right in the hunt for the play-off positions and then, as we saw last year, when you put a run together in this league it can take you right up there.”
When asked if he thinks the fact that St Johnstone and Ross County coming down from the top flight for this season – allied to teams like Partick Thistle and Dunfermline Athletic – have made the Championship a tougher league this season than last, Hanlon said: “It's hard to say because then it's probably doing a wee bit of disservice to what Falkirk and Livingston did because they're good sides.
"I’d say the standard is very similar to be honest. I feel like every team just goes toe to toe with each other.
"Although St Johnstone developed a wee bit of a lead at the start, they have dropped a few points recently as well.
"Everyone just goes into a game home or away thinking they can win.
"There's no changing your tactics to sit in deep, it's just teams going toe to toe, from what I've seen anyway, and it makes for exciting games at times. It makes for quite a few draws as well because both teams go for it.
"It's an exciting league with a lot of quality and St Johnstone and Ross County have added to that.”