Paul Kane talks more proudly than most about his affiliation to Hibernian FC, with the Easter Road club playing a hugely important role in his personal and professional life.
Born and bred in a Hibs-mad family in Leith, Paul played for the Club over 250 times between 1982 and 1990, scoring 42 goals in green and white.
With tales of the Famous Five in the Kane household from an early age, Paul was brought up to enjoy regular visits to Easter Road during his school years with a popular figure proving to be his favourite player.
“Pat Stanton was my ultimate hero. My dad’s favourite was Bobby Johnstone and my uncles liked Joe Baker, so it had come down the eras from the Famous Five to Baker to Stanton – they were all big, big players.”
A Scottish Cup final defeat to Celtic ranks high in Paul’s clearest early memories, with the journey home proving to be more memorable than the disappointing match itself which was played in front of 105,000 fans.
“In 1972 I remember going to the Scottish Cup final at Hampden. We were beaten by Celtic and the windows on the bus were shattered - on the way home we were freezing. We had been beaten 6-1, everyone was in a bad mood and the windows had been tanned in on the bus!”
A UEFA Cup tie with Italian giants Juventus in 1974 was Paul’s earliest encounter with a European night at Easter Road, with the visiting fans from Turin impressing during a 4-2 defeat.
“It wasn’t the football side of it that stood out for me, towards the directors’ box at the time were the Juventus fans. They had these big black and white flags like they have in England these days, the size of them on the huge poles sticks in my mind.”
Paul’s first playing experiences with football were with Edinburgh boys club Salvesen and it was in a friendly match against Hibs where Paul made his first impressions with the Club.
“We played against a Hibs in the Easter holidays and beat the pick of the ‘S’ form players. Bertie Auld was the manager at the time and he asked me to come for a trial. I went in three times and on the third trial he said the Club wanted to sign me.”
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Auld left shortly after Paul signed for the Club and the man who was to take charge next would have a profound impact on his career in professional football.
“Pat Stanton took over, to a Hibs fan like myself at the time it was the dream team – Pat Stanton, Jimmy O’Rourke and George Stewart, all guys that I had seen play.
“Pat was my first hero for Hibs, he’s the guy I remember looking up to. My favourite was Jackie McNamara after Pat, he became my idol because I thought he was a classy player
“Sometimes when you meet people you admire your respect for them goes down because it’s not as good as you’d imagined. When I met Pat Stanton and Jackie McNamara they went up in my estimations because they were such nice people, real gentleman and they’re like that to this day.”
Paul’s dad Jimmy joined Hibs in 1958 but an unfortunate injury meant he didn’t make a first team appearance for the Club. Paul’s move to Easter Road acted as a second chance for his dad to live out his ambitions.
“It was a dream come true. From my dad’s point of view, it was something he’d always wanted to do, play for the Hibs first team, but he never did.
“The next best thing for him was to see me sign for Hibs and have the chance to go on and play for the first team - luckily for me it happened eventually.
“My dad followed me to every game with Hibs home and away, he did that right the way through my career apart from when I was in Norway. If I was in the squad at Hibs, he would be there whether I played or not.”
Paul’s Hibernian debut came from the bench in a Friday evening match against Swansea City at Easter Road but unfortunately his first impact on the game was memorable for the wrong reasons.
“I can remember my first touch, or what should’ve been my first touch. I lifted my foot and the ball ran right underneath my boot and out for a throw to Swansea!
“I was playing against Ray Kennedy that night, he’d been at Liverpool and won the European Cup. When I looked at the opposition, I thought they were giants, I was just a little boy at 16 or 17.”
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A bumper crowd watched on as Hibs took on Dundee in a rearranged match at Easter Road when Paul scored his first goal for the Club in a 3-1 win.
“With the previous game being abandoned, the Club had allowed fans into the replay for free. On another day the crowd might have been six or seven thousand but it was double that night.
“It was great to score. The first thing you want to do is to play for the team you support and then score a goal. At that point it doesn’t matter who it’s against - luckily for me it was that night against Dundee and we won the game which was great.”
As a lifelong Hibs fan, Paul can be forgiven for allowing derby matches with Hearts to get his pulse racing more than most, although any notion of over-excitement was quickly tempered by manager Pat Stanton before Paul’s first encounter with the Club’s city rivals.
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“I was in the dressing room shouting and bawling and Pat said ‘Paul, do your talking on the park son, that’s where it counts.’ It was never big long stories with him, it was just one-liners that meant something.
“It always stuck with me before derbies from then on, to concentrate on performing on the pitch rather than shouting in the dressing room – show it by playing your own game. I can remember the moment like it was yesterday and it’ll stay with me forever, and he was right.”
As a local businessman since his retirement from football, Paul’s affinity for Hibs hasn’t waned, with many chats inevitably turning into discussions about the next match.
“The topic of conversation in most pubs in Leith is about football in general but mostly about Hibs. The Tor was where I was from, and the local community there just want to talk about the Club, all they want is for Hibs to have a better team and to be a better club.”
A memorable Saturday afternoon in 2016 turned into a memorable few days for a lot of Hibs fans, with some notable players celebrating on Easter Road on the Monday following the cup final victory.
“I didn’t have a drink at all, from the Saturday right through to Monday. It means my memories of the celebrations are clear and I can tell people some of the stories from the weekend.
“Seeing Stokesy and the guys in the bar was brilliant – these are things that money can’t buy and they’ll be there forever. Some of the players being in the pub with the fans and regulars, these are memories that can’t be taken away.”