My Sporting Hero: Lewis Stevenson on John McGinn

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Welcome to a new episode of the My Sporting Hero podcast, part of Nutmeg FC. The home of brilliant football stories – made in Scotland.

So far this month, Nutmeg FC subscribers have enjoyed....

* Nick Harris’ brilliant analysis of the possible American takeover of Rangers

* An exclusive column from our tactics guy Adam Clery about Ryan Christie at Bournemouth

* The Motherwell v St Mirren Slow Match Report from the brilliant Daniel Gray

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This time on My Sporting Hero, our guest is Lewis Stevenson.

A product of Hibernian FC’s youth academy, Lewis, doubling as a left-back and a midfielder, made more league appearances for the club than any other player. He is the only Hibs player to have won both the League Cup and – in that famous 2016 final victory over Rangers – Scottish Cup. He was man of the match in the 2007 League Cup final demolition of Kilmarnock.

Now in the twilight of his playing career, Kirkcaldy-born Lewis plays for Championship side Raith Rovers.

Lewis played alongside numerous talents during his time at Easter Road, and he chose as his sporting hero ex-teammate and Scotland and Aston Villa midfield superman John McGinn.

It was the evolution of John that impressed me. I remember watching him playing for St Mirren in a game against Celtic. John had a skinhead and he was giving Victor Wanyama, who was the top player in the league at the time, a really hard time. I thought to myself, “Who is that guy?” I always took a shine to the way John played and when he came to Hibs, I couldn’t believe how good he was.

However, what was most important for me was what a great guy he was. He wears his heart on his sleeve, but off the pitch he would do anything for you. Some people never get to meet the heroes, but I’ve been lucky in that I’ve got to meet John McGinn. Sometimes you see these sporting heroes, and they’re almost like film stars, so it’s hard to relate to them. But that’s not the case with John. Any youngster could look up to him.

He’s got a great family behind him and I think that’s been part of his success. His mum and dad were really supportive. I played with John’s older brother St