I needed a manager to have faith in me like Alan Stubbs
SCOTT ALLAN is the first to admit he lost his way. He was the star who shone so brightly at Dundee United, who flitted south and flickered over England but never quite illuminated West Bromwich Albion.
Exploding back on to the Scottish scene with Hibernian, Allan is now the SPFL Championship Player of the Year. The fuse in the Easter Road midfield has been re-lit by manager Alan Stubbs.
‘This season has got me back on the map,’ said Allan. ‘People are talking about me again, which obviously wasn’t happening too much down south for one reason or another.
‘I have been given a platform to play under Alan Stubbs. I have had the freedom to go and play my game and it’s worked well for me and the team.
‘Obviously after my experience down south I have taken on board why I wasn’t playing and I feel I have put that right this year. I have managed to kick on and, like I say, Stubbsy has given me that platform to go and play.’
At 23, a pattern is developing in Allan’s career. When a manager believes in him and grants him the freedom to play, he excels.
There were rumours, strong rumours, that he felt less than appreciated at Tannadice before moving south. The Tayside club cited excessive wage demands. With Roy Hodgson dangling the prospect of Premiership football at the Hawthorns, he could afford to haggle.
Hindsight i s the only perfect science. After moving south in January 2012, the midfielder was quickly shipped out to Portsmouth on loan. Their manager, Michael Appleton, believed in him. But when when Hodgson left to manage England, West Brom seemed less sure.
There were more loan spells at MK Dons, Portsmouth (again) and a season at Birmingham City, with varying degrees of success.
‘It’s part and parcel of football,’ shrugged Allan. ‘Obviously some people don’t recover from that and others take it as motivation to kick on and prove people wrong. That’s the way it made me feel and I think I have managed to do that this year.
‘I went down south when I was 19 but I don’t think I was too young. It was a good opportunity and I don’t think you could pass it up.
‘When I first went down there, I played 16 games in the Championship from January to the end of the season and did well.
‘But the season after that, they changed manager. Roy Hodgson got the England job and the new manager came in, that happens.
‘Some managers are for you, some aren’t. Some get the best out of you, some don’t.’
He will never know now what category Ally McCoist might have come into. The former Rangers manager wanted to sign him before he left Tannadice and explored the possibility again last summer.
Allan grew up two miles from Ibrox as a boy and supported the club. Rangers fans are entitled to ask how a player who has done them so much damage in a Hibernian jersey slipped from their grasp.
There was no hesitation at Easter Road. Under Stubbs, Allan has rediscovered his self-belief, showing a gallus, inventive streak too often missing in the frantic fields of Scottish football.
‘I knew if I got a run of games I would be able to show people what I could do. I’ve worked hard to get in the team and I’ve managed to play in nearly every game since October.
‘I needed a manager to have faith in me and know my strengths. And Alan Stubbs has been that for me.
‘Hibs worked for me. West Brom was a learning curve for me and it’s in the past now. I want to look forward.’
He signed a two-year deal with Hibs, but retains admirers at bigger clubs on both sides of the border. Whether he is ready to move on at a time when he is thriving in his surroundings is another matter.
‘I think for any young player the club you pick to go to is massive,’ he conceded. ‘When you’re in a settled environment, you enjoy it.’
Hibs now have t wo weeks to prepare f or a play- off semifinal with either Rangers or Queen of the South.
‘I think we are going away for five days,’ said Allan. ‘With 18 days off, it will be nice to freshen up and, hopefully, it will benefit us.
‘The whole mentality of the club last season was really dark and it has completely changed. The manager has said it was a really cold place when he came in.
‘ This i s the best dressing room I’ve been involved in. The players and coaching staff are really close.
‘That’s why we’ve played some good stuff. We’re hoping to go up through the play- offs and we believe we can.’