Tam McManus - the nearly man.
It's a tag which has sat with me throughout my playing career and I only have myself to blame for not shaking it off. A kid who was top scorer for Hibs in one campaign but didn't sustain it, had I followed that up with another season of goals then I'd have flown far higher - but I didn't.
The truth was I was never fit enough, I couldn't play 90 minutes and it all caught up with me. Every close-season I would get a training programme for the time off but I stuck it in a drawer and went on holiday.I hated running, I'd do nothing and then the week before we were due back to training I'd run a lap of a public park and believe that would do me. Unfulfilled potential and a huge regret. I coach kids at Braidhurst High School and it's the boys with the best attitudes rather than ability who I back to make it. It's mental but true.
It's why I hate to see talent not reach the heights it merits, and why I've been delighted by the recent impact at Hibs of Ewan Henderson. I was disappointed with him last season but he's come back this summer and is looking the part.
Only one goal to show for the last campaign and a player who is so much better than a bit-part performer who's in and out of the side. For an attacking midfielder, he did nowhere near enough and that needs to change. In football there are no second chances.
Not enough goals or assists but he looks a completely different player in the last few weeks and his aim has to become one of the first names new boss Lee Johnson scribbles on his team sheet. He's started this campaign like a man on a mission and he's been on fire. I thought his display when he came on at half-time against Falkirk was excellent. Hibs were dominant after the break and that was due to the impact of Henderson.
A better end product, his final pass and his goal ratio all have to improve and we saw on Saturday against Bonnyrigg Rose what he's capable of when he gets himself up amongst the strikers. Take away his two superb two goals and you still saw a guy who can be the top man at Easter Road if he believes in himself and the penny drops.
He has terrific feet, that was shown with his first goal on Sunday, his second was a superb finish where he fired a shot into the postage stamp, it's form everyone has been crying out for Henderson to show.nIt wasn't on show last season, he didn't do it but he certainly looks capable of being crucial to Hibs this term but it has to be sustained. He needs to step up and be a man, he's 22-years-old, you aren't a young boy forever.
This is a player who's played for Celtic and scored for them in Europe so his time is now. To be the top man at Hibs he needs to demand the ball and be the creative number ten who does it week in and week out by scoring and creating goals. Last season he was too safe, maybe the manager has had a word and told him he needs to shoot more.
When you are a young boy at a big club and get a chance, all you want to do is to stay in the side. There also comes a point when someone like Henderson needs to show he can run the game for Hibs. He needs to be a mainstay and he's more than capable of doing it. He's a fantastic footballer, he has it all in his locker and he needs to be the man.
Hibs asserted themselves immediately against Bonnyrigg and scoring in the first few minutes made it a fairly comfortable afternoon. Make no mistake, after losing to Falkirk in their previous game, an emphatic win was a must and they delivered on that front.
That defeat to the Bairns was nowhere near good enough and is a dirty mark on what has been a decent last few weeks for Lee Johnson and his revamped squad.No matter who you are, you can't afford to just turn up and think you can perform for 45 minutes and it'll be good enough.
At New Dundas Park they were at it from start to finish. Now they need to follow that up against Morton on Wednesday.
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