EXCLUSIVE: Hibs captain embraces faith, hope and charity with powerful message to team-mates

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‘We’ll all go through much worse than a game of football,’ skipper tells players

No room for toxicity. No signs of anyone “sacking off.” A togetherness that wasn’t always visible to the naked eye, when so much was going so wrong with such infuriating frequency.

Joe Newell never lost faith in the Hibs players who had given supporters every reason to abandon all hope in this calamitous campaign. Nor did he shirk his responsibilities as captain, with a dressing room summit organised by the skipper universally cited as the catalyst for the team’s recent mini revival.

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All part of a job that can veer between “horrible” and “the best feeling in the world,” according to Newell. A man who fully understands the harsh realities of life in an occasionally brutal footballing environment.

He’d never raise the subject himself. But Newell is heavily involved in a charity helping sick kids in Edinburgh, lending his support and profile to a supremely worthy cause.

When they held a fundraiser just a couple of weeks ago, a lot of the people attending were really looking forward to meeting the Hibs captain. But football politics dictate that there was no way, no possible way, the skipper could be seen even posing for the odd party photo while his team were rooted to the foot of the Scottish Premiership.

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Newell, looking like a man released from a long sentence after Saturday’s surprisingly straightforward 3-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park, said of the charity association: “I've done it for a year now, it's a massive part of my life, I go every week. Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity, so ECHC within the Sick Kids Hospital.

“A brilliant girl involved in the charity, Rachel Kerr, she put a massive fundraising night on, did incredible work, raised a lot of money. They're big supporters of the charity.

“The fundraiser was at the Hibs club. But we’d just lost – again. And I was like: ‘I can’t go out even for that …’

“I really felt terrible about it because it’s such a brilliant cause. But it’s part of life as a footballer. And we’ve all gone through it a lot this season.

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“There have been times when my mates have come up to visit, only to end up getting a crate of Tennent’s and sitting on the settee – because we can’t go out in town after a loss. It wouldn’t be right.

“I know we’ve all been through it, everyone at the club. We’ve all been through tough times this season. So after the Motherwell win at least the fans, especially, could go out and have a pint and smile for a change.”

The work that went into getting that win over Motherwell started five days earlier, in the first team dressing room at East Mains. That’s when Newell called a players-only meeting that several squad members have since identified as a potential turning point in the season, sparking a character-driven comeback in last Tuesday night’s madcap 3-3 home draw with Aberdeen – and then the victory at Fir Park.

“I'd thought about it a couple of times throughout the season,” revealed Newell, the midfielder adding: “But I think the fact that the same questions were getting asked again of the boys, I thought it was massively important – and it was more of a reminder of the togetherness in the group.

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“I've stood in front of you guys and repeated myself often enough. And I know a lot of you won't believe me and you'll think I'm just saying it.

“But I believe in the group so much and I know the manager does, and I know how much we want it. So it's not a case of boys sacking it off or anything like that.

“I know the togetherness has always been there. I see it at half-time at Dundee when everyone's having a go at each other. I see the way we started that game. I see little signs

“So I just wanted to remind everyone that we are together. But we have to stay together.

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“There can be no room for anything toxic or bad attitudes or anything; we have to just maintain this level. And then I kind of finished it off by saying just relax, it's a game of football.

“All of us, players coaches, fans, we'll all go through much worse times in life than a game of football. There are bigger things.

“I know what it's like to play for this club. It can be horrendous, it can be horrible, it can be amazing; it can be the best thing in the world. But every club's like that, to some extent, and football's like that in general.

“So it was just another reminder of just relaxing and just believing in ourselves and staying together really. That obviously comes to fruition Tuesday night with an amazing mad last 10 minutes and then, against Motherwell, I thought it was such a professional performance - something that we've been questioned on, again.

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“I'm sure everyone will say the same as the gaffer; I'm sure he'll have said to you that we're not getting carried away, that we are still a million miles away where this club should be and where we think we can be.

“As soon as we got back in on Monday, it was business as usual. We need to chase the team in front of us. But for Saturday, I was so pleased for the manager, so pleased for the fans who travelled in great numbers again – because they deserve it more than anyone.

“There was so much raw emotion, so much relief. After the Dundee game, I stood in front of the cameras and you guys and had that raw emotion of the 4-1 and the goals and capitulation again and Groundhog Day and ‘What's happening, Joe? Why does it keep happening?’ And I can't give you an answer.

“I just feel like we've been through the ring, and we've been through so much in the season already. The initial emotion was just more relief more than anything.”

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