Captaincy call has no bearing on David Marshall gametime, says Hibs boss

Hibs manager Lee Johnson has dismissed the notion that his decision to return the captain’s armband to Paul Hanlon could be viewed as ominous for David Marshall’s first-team opportunities this season.

The former Scotland international goalkeeper was appointed skipper last summer, with a leadership group involved as well. But Johnson has explained the logic behind his decision, admitting that it was a combination of a positional call as well as easing the load on the shot-stopper, who has a lot on his plate at the moment.

“David Marshall will start in Andorra,” Johnson confirmed on Wednesday afternoon. “My thought process was that it allows Marsh to concentrate on the goalkeeping battle and positionally, when you’re trying to get information to the players, it’s not easy to go via your captain when he is in goal 50 or 60 yards away.

“Don’t forget when I came in the door Paul was injured; I didn’t know anybody, and at that point Marsh was the only one in the squad who I could guarantee would play. Marsh is a leader anyway, that’s a factor in this. But he’s also taken on an awful lot in terms of his future. He’s studying for a sporting directorship, he’s doing his coaching badges as well, and being captain of a club like this takes an awful lot of time up, and you’d be surprised at the little things like arranging bonuses, tickets, that sort of stuff. Paul having been here a while, it suits him best for next season.”

David Marshall skippered Hibs last season but the armband has been passed back to defensive stalwart Paul Hanlon for the upcoming campaign. Picture: Ross Parker / SNS Group

Hanlon added: “I’m obviously delighted to do it this year, with the role changing slightly. I was club captain and supporting Marsh last year, but to have the honour and privilege of walking out with the armband on each Saturday is a great feeling.

“In terms of that leadership group last season, Ryan Porteous was involved and we’ve got guys like Joe [Newell] and others who can step up and are involved in all the discussions in the dressing room. There’s always a group of senior lads and leaders involved anyway. So that doesn’t change much. Marsh and me are both quite similar; we both act how we act anyway, whether we have the armband on or not, so I don’t think that will be changing from either of our perspectives.”