Stephen McGinn speaks on brother Paul, Jack Ross and trust, and Hibs' tactical approach against Rangers

Easter Road new boy spoke at length about sibling and the culture at his new club

Stephen McGinn spoke about brother Paul and manager Jack Ross

Hibs midfielder Stephen McGinn has admitted the St Mirren dressing room was collectively shocked when the Buddies allowed his brother to move to Easter Road in January.

Paul McGinn followed younger sibling John in turning out for the Edinburgh side when he joined on an 18-month deal during the winter transfer window and the eldest of the trio – who has since followed suit – recalls the disbelief in Paisley when the transfer was confirmed.

Speaking to GO Radio, McGinn said: “Paul came in from Partick Thistle and when we were struggling as a team, he was genuinely our best player.

"He got every vote in the player of the year the season before last and we were stunned in the dressing room last January when he was allowed to leave.

"We were banking on him as one of our main players. If you take away the fact he's my brother, as someone who's played with him, he was playing at this type of level for us for 18 months so I wasn't surprised to see him take the jump and how well he's done.”

The middle McGinn brother has been a stand-out performer for Hibs this term, contributing to a defence that didn't concede from open play in seven games and has only been breached five times in eight matches.

His arrival wasn't met with universal approval by the Hibs support but his performances at right-back or in a back three have impressed fans and pundits alike.

Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson described him as "Hibs' most consistent player” and the eldest McGinn believes a large part of that is down to the Easter Road head coach Jack Ross.

McGinn explained: "Football is a game of opinions and Jack is someone who trusts us completely.

"I've not played since December but if I had to go on for 15, 20 minutes I'd go on with full confidence that the manager trusts me.

"He did that with Paul when he had him at Dumbarton when he was assistant manager. He saw the potential in him, probably as a fellow right-back.

"Everyone who has worked with Jack will tell you that he has massive trust in his players, it's one of his main strengths as a manager.

"People who play for him tend to play near the top of their game because of how much trust he puts in them.”

McGinn, who was an unused substitute as Hibs played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Rangers, also offered an insight into how the Capital club had set up to face the Ibrox side.

McGinn explained: “With Jamie Murphy not being allowed to play against Rangers, it allowed us the opportunity to change things up.

"We did work on a 3-5-2 set-up from right at the start of the week as it was something we felt could hurt Rangers - isolate Martin Boyle out in the wide area against Borna Barisic.

"The full-backs are a massive part of what Rangers do and we felt we could give them something else to think about with Boyle out there, a one-on-one battle.

"We wanted to get the two strikers in the game too, because a lot of teams have gone with one up front.

"Christian Doidge and Kevin Nisbet have been brilliant in the games they've played together and when you have that firepower, especially at home, you just want to get it into the formation.

"The manager worked on it all week and the boys carried out the plan to perfection.

"We ended up changing to the 4-3-3 at 2-1 and we stepped it up again, so the manager was delighted with how it went."

Despite a positive result against Steven Gerrard’s side McGinn insists all attention is now on Sunday’s trip to Glasgow to face Celtic.

He added: “On the Monday after we beat St Mirren, that was it parked and it was all about beating Rangers.

"It was the same after Sunday: when we went back in to training it was all about going to Celtic and trying to beat them.

"We know how hard it's going to be but the manager is really insistent on not letting the standards drop, don't get complacent.

"He wants us to do what Aberdeen have done for the last few years, consistently knock out wins and see where it takes us."

While McGinn feels Ross was unlucky in getting sacked by Sunderland last year he recognises that the move is certainly Hibs’ gain, and is backing his friend and gaffer to keep aiming high.

McGinn added: “I'm biased having worked with him but the Sunderland 'Til I Die documentary was good to watch – probably because I was privy to some of the conversations about some of the madness that was going on – but if you spoke to any Sunderland players who worked with him I think they would speak really highly of him.

"They were so close, as well. They lost in the last minute of the play-off final; it wasn't like they were kicking about mid-table. When he actually got sacked I think he had them top four or five at the time. It wasn't like they'd had a disastrous run of five, six, seven losses in a row.

"I think it hurt him a bit, the timing of it, and it didn't feel deserved, but it's Hibs' gain and we're getting the benefits of getting him back up here.

"I'm sure he can go as far as he can. Publicly, he's always said his dream job is the Scotland one and having worked with him, why not?"

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