THE players that Shaun Maloney has inherited at Hibernian are, no disrespect to Martin Boyle, Paul McGinn and Ryan Porteous, not of the same standard as those he has grown accustomed to working with.

But few clubs on the planet can boast the sort of talent that Belgium, who are the top placed team in the FIFA World Rankings thanks to the brilliance of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, have at their disposal.

Maloney, who was yesterday unveiled as the new manager of the Easter Road outfit, is convinced the experience that he has gained dealing with those global superstars in the last three years will prove invaluable in his new role and help him to deliver success.

Appointing the former Celtic, Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic and Scotland midfielder is a bold and ambitious move by Hibs. But he has never managed in his own right before and is starting at a high level. He is, then, something of a gamble.

The 38-year-old, though, feels ready for the challenge that lies ahead after his time with the Red Devils and is confident that the lessons he has learned about motivating players will stand him in good stead.

“I am aware that this is my first job,” he said. “But I feel really experienced in terms of some of the high pressure moments and coaching players after my time with Belgium. So, yeah, I am ready to get going.

“When I first went in to Belgium the thing that made it very easy was the players. They were extremely humble. It’s hard to explain these players in terms of their attitude and work rate, but on the human side it was such a big positive

“We had big, big highs over the three years, beating big nations. We also had the lows, in big matches with fine margins – just like the cup final (Hibs lost to Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden on Sunday afternoon) the other day.

“All of these experiences are big learning curves. The last three years has been a great learning experience. But it was the connection with the players and staff was the biggest thing I took from it.

“Maybe each player isn’t the same, but I think the coaching process can be similar for any player or players in general. Every player is so, so different. So coaching messages and really different for each player.

“But that’s my job. It’s not the job of my players to adapt to me it’s down to me and my staff to adapt to our players. It is my job to get my players as comfortable on the pitch as possible. It is also my job to drive them and push them to their limits or do things they haven’t done before.

“There will be tough moments. So, yeah, that connection with the player has to be the priority. Then we coach them.”

Maloney added: “Belgium have an amazing team. But I think from my point of view there is a lot of talent at Hibs. I’m looking forward to working with them.

“I get the feeling the players are like myself and you respect everyone from the beginning. I’m not really from the school where you need to earn respect. You respect everyone and behaviour dictates how that goes in the future. 

“I don’t think it will be about my work with the Belgium team, it will be the work I do with the players each day. That’s what dictates the relationship going forward.

“I think it has to be that it’s always about the players. So whatever decision I might make tactically or any decision in terms of within a game, it’s always about the players. And it will be like that until the day I stop coaching.

“Every decision I make will be to the benefit of the players or to let the players’ talent shine through. Whenever we watch football, it’s a fans’ experience, but it’s always about the players.”

It will be interesting to see if Maloney, who will take charge of his first game tomorrow when Aberdeen visit Easter Road for a cinch Premiership match, introduces any of the tactics that he picked up in Belgium at Hibs.

He admitted that he is keen for his side to play with a style that supporters want to come and watch, but stated that he will evaluate what the strengths and the weaknesses of his squad members are before formulating a game plan.

“I think every team will play their own style or vision whatever manager they have, the main thing is always the players,” he said. “So no matter what decision I make in terms of tactics and team selection it is always to do with the players.

“You have to separate both. There are obviously certain ideas I have, but they are ideas around what I think is the best way to win.

“The big thing in that is I have to give something the supporters really enjoy watching, there has to be some sort of inspiration between the support and the players. I think that’s going to be vital over the coming days, weeks and years hopefully.”

Maloney was unable to take charge of Hibs at Hampden at the weekend and caretaker David Gray took the side. But he watched the match and was encouraged by his new side’s performance despite the 2-1 defeat they suffered.

“I thought they were excellent, particularly in the second-half,” he said. “I thought the first-half was difficult but in the second half, they performed very, very well. I think they can be proud of their performance in what is a very difficult moment when you get beat.

“Towards the end of the game, those big moments went Celtic’s way and that was the difference between one team winning in 90 minutes and possibly another result.”