Encouraging rehab text gave wingback insight into new team-mate long before Easter Road arrival
If some in football might have been pleasantly surprised by Grant Hanley’s stand-out, backs-to-the-wall, teeth-bared, none-shall pass, Man of the Match performance in his most recent Scotland outing, the same cannot be said of his new Hibs team-mates. They know they’ve got a good ‘un – potentially a great ‘un – in the veteran centre-half. And are glad the rest of the world is bearing witness to the big man’s immovable importance.
Hanley, a summer signing by David Gray as the Easter Road gaffer looked to add strength and experience to his back line, was absolutely rock solid as Steve Clarke’s Scotland carved out a 0-0 draw against Denmark in their opening World Cup qualifier just over a week ago. The 33-year-old was crucial to the Scots leaving Copenhagen with a point.
Scots bagged vital World Cup point in Copenhagen
Hibs wingback Chris Cadden, revealing that he’d bonded with Hanley over shared injury misfortune long before the former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Norwich City and Birmingham City stalwart, watched both Scotland games – Clarke’s men bagged an important win over Belarus in Hungary to complete their double-header – back at home after enjoying a mini-break with wife Caitlin. He was hugely impressed by Hanley – but hardly shocked.
“Oh, he was brilliant,” said Cadden, the experienced campaigner – who battled back from serious Achilles’ tendon surgery following a horror injury back in 2023 – adding: “He's been amazing since he came in.
“I actually knew him before he came here because he ruptured his Achilles seven weeks before me. He actually messaged me out of the blue, I've got the same agent as him, but he messaged me out of the blue.
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“Just to say, look, if you need any help or any advice or whatever, listen. So he actually helped me through my rehab.
“I knew when he came in he would be a great guy. He's not really proved me wrong. He's been brilliant. All the boys love him.
“In terms of performance in Denmark, he was tremendous. A bit biased but I thought he was probably the best player on the pitch, to be honest. Really good in terms of heading everything away, clearing everything as a defender. Aye, he was really, really good.
“Add the level he's had and the career he's played at. He's been brilliant. So it's good to get him in the building and see how these guys work as well.
“Because he's played at a top, top level playing for his country and the amount of caps he has got. So, from a personal point of view as well, it's good to see how this guy works and how he is about the boys.”
International break a chance to relax
The Caddens are expecting their first baby in December, which meant the international break wasn’t exactly full of late night, the 28-year-old revealing: “I had a wee trip to Ibiza. I was with my pregnant wife, so it wasn’t like a normal Ibiza holiday! But it was a nice wee reset so a couple of days off.
“I think I needed to relax and recharge a bit. Aye, a little bit. I think it's just because how full-on and how hectic it was right at the very start.
“We were in the pre-season and it felt like there was a big build-up for the Midtjylland game. And then after the first Midtjylland game, it was just game after game after game, which was great.”
Overall, though, there’s a feeling that Hibs benefitted from their European outings against Midtjylland, Partizan Belgrade and Legia Warsaw. Six games that might have even improved them, as a team?
“I think so, especially when you embrace a challenge you haven't done before as a team, that you haven't done for a couple of years,” said Cadden. “To go and do that, and especially in the atmospheres that we went and faced, they were tough, they were good teams as well, so I think you learn a lot and you take a lot of positives from it.
“But there's always stuff you can learn and you can get better at, which we have looked at. As I say, some proper European teams there as well, big names, big clubs, good teams as well and some amazing atmospheres.
“Aye, we’ve got some proper games coming up now as well, and that’s what you want. You say that every year with the league and how good it is. Where we are, there's always going to be big games every single week and that's how you treat them as players as well.”
Dundee United represent typically tough SPFL test
Hibs host Dundee United at Easter Road this evening, with Jim Goodwin’s men – fourth-placed finishers last season – once again sitting just on the shoulders of David Gray’s team. Like the hosts, the visitors also embarked on a too-short European adventure over the opening weeks of the season.
“Obviously Jim Goodwin has been in the league for a while now and his teams are obviously what they're going to be,” said Cadden. “They're going to be tough and they're always a really good team.
“They'll be saying the same as me in terms of their players and their staff, in that they tasted European football as well. So they'll be wanting to try and get back there.”
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