Scott determined to prove himself to all the naysayers

Scott Allan has insisted he isn’t simply settling into a “comfort zone” after joining Hibs for a third time, bringing to an end a miserable four years with Scottish champions Celtic.

Hibernian's Scott Allan pictired at East Mains training centre

As the Championship’s player of the year following his first season at Easter Road, the midfielder was the subject of a string of bids from Rangers, rejected by the Capital club as, at that time, they were embroiled in a promotion battle with the Ibrox outfit.

Instead, Allan signed for their Old Firm rivals but, incredibly, started just three matches for the Hoops, spending much of the intervening period on loan at Rotherham, Dundee and, in the second half of last season, back in Edinburgh where he thrilled the fans once again.

Now, as he starts a new three year deal in the capital, the 27-year-old said: “I jusst wanted to come somewhere where I am appreciatedd by the fans and have a good relationship with the peope and the hierachy here.

“It’s obviously easier to settle in terms of coming in. You know the people and feel comfortable about the place - but at the end of the day it’s what you do on the pitch that people speak about and that’s what I am looking forward to the most.”

Allan found himself so ostracised at Celtic he found himself training with the kids, a situation which he admitted was tough, but one he learned to deal with.

He said: “You were finding out when you came in each morning, half the time. Ten minutes before training started, you’d find out who you were training with. There were five or six of us in that situation. There was a period after January when we’d come in and ask ‘who are we training with?’

“We didn’t know. Nobody had told us. So we would need to go and find out who we were to join. We talked about it amongst ourselves, just told each other to stay professional and hopefully you would get a change of scenery soon, get out and get yourself back up and running again. It became an easy decision to make about players who weren’t playing. I felt I dealt with it really well, kept my head, didn’t chuck my toys out of the pram. I felt players like Christian Gamboa and Marvin Compper did the same. We could hold our head high because we were the utmost professionals, regardless of what happened.”