Michael Weir: Hibs players were overlooked in my day so it's great to see Paul Hanlon get his Scotland chance

Hibs defender Paul Hanlon made his Scotland debut against the Czech Republic on Wednesday. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

It's great for the club to have three players in the squad but particularly for Paul Hanlon to get his first cap at the age of 30.

Steve Clarke is going down the route of selecting good professionals who do their work week in, week out for their clubs and Paul falls into that category.

He's shown good character to play for a club like Hibs for such a long time. He's been there for the good times and the lean times and he's come out on top. Now I think this has just topped it for him.

Paul McGinn is another one who's a steady, reliable player. These players are very hard to come by and the type you can build teams around. Ones who are seven or eight out of 10 every week and you know what you're getting with them. He's another one who should be very proud of what he's done to get in squad, and the same goes for Ryan Porteous. They should all be proud of what they've achieved.

Any footballl player would want to play for their country and I was no different. I was unfortunate not to do it, but I would have been over the moon if I had. You were always waiting on the call but, if I'm honest, I don't think I was good enough. There were better players ahead of me, real top players like the Strachan's of this world, so it was very difficult to get into that squad. You just lived in hope.

I was desperate to play - to say I'd played for my country would have been a great thing - but at that time the standard was very high and it was really difficult for myself and others to get into the squad. There were a lot of high quality players in the Hibs squad - ones like Darren Jackson and Keith Wright who played for their country so we had players who could do it.

There were a number of others who I thought could have done it but were not given the chance. Graham Mitchell was a great player who I couldn't believe never got near the Scotland squad. Gordon Hunter was another one. There were numerous ones but they've got to be given the chance.

That's why I give credit to Steve Clarke for giving boys like Declan Gallagher and Andrew Considine a chance. Both of them were outstanding and the difference is they are really bursting out their skin and will do anything to play for Scotland. In the past that's not always been the case. For a lot of them it becomes a problem to get called up because of their club situation, but he's went for players who will do anything to put the jersey on - and it shows.

I've not seen a Scotland team for a long time who have put as much effort and desire into it. It looks as though it means everything to them to pull on that jersey. It's shown in the results and I think they can only get better. Hopefully the Hibs boys are part of that.