Paul Hanlon, the Hibernian defender, hopes that he is able to inspire the Edinburgh club to a make an immediate return to the top-flight this season, just like his boyhood hero Franck Sauzee did 15 years ago.

The pair share the same squad number - both the Frenchman and Hanlon have had a '4' emblazoned on the back of their shirts - and it would seem churlish to suggest that this is where the similarities between the two players end.

Hanlon, for one, intends to work hard to ensure that he has more in common with Sauzee by the end of the campaign. The former France internationalist finished his career at Easter Road but was also a member of an imperious Hibs squad which recovered from relegation to the first division by gaining promotion in 1999, after only a year out of the top division.

That is a story which has seemed unlikely to be repeated at times this term - Hibs lie in fifth place having won just three times this season, albeit their latest was away against Rangers on Monday - but Hanlon is confident that their promotion hopes can still be rescued. He is determined to play his part, too.

"I went to most of the games that season [in the first division]. I was only eight or nine," said Hanlon, whose club have appointed former winger Joe McBride as coach of the under-20s. "They made some great signings - guys like Sauzee, [Russell] Latapy, guys like that, who became legends.

"Sauzee was my favourite Hibs player when I was growing up. It is great to be able to wear the number four he had."

Hanlon will come up against another familiar face today when Hibs play host to Raith Rovers. The Fife side signed Martin Scott during the summer, with the midfielder returning to Easter Road where he spent a frustrating two-year spell earlier in his career. "The first six months were brilliant but it just didn't work out. I signed under Colin Calderwood, Pat Fenlon then came in and that's when my time at Hibs came to an end," he said.