There has been many good stories coming out of Easter Road since John Hughes and Brian Rice arrived in the summer, and quite a few surprises along the way as well. Perhaps the biggest story however has been the rehabilitation of Abdessalam Benjelloun. The Moroccan international had appeared to have played his last game for the club, after a season away and personal difficulties that saw him miss the start of pre-season training the road back looked a decidedly shaky one.

Fast forward a couple of months and Benji is smiling again - and with good reason. He is playing in a position that few expected him to fill, no longer the out-and-out striker but sitting in behind the front line, still a goal threat but now more a goal creator - and loving every minute of a role he feels is a natural fit. Talking to Hibernian TV this week, Benji revealed that it was in discussions with John Hughes that he revealed he started his career playing behind the main strikers. The manager has given it a try - and the new Benji is emerging, looking fitter and stronger than ever and lending lie to claims that he was never a team player.

"I am playing in a different position now and it is good, I have more space but I have more responsibility," Benji said, adding: "Before I always played up front but now I think I am playing in my real position, behind the strikers and taking the ball to them. Passing to other players for them to score is better in my mind than scoring goals myself, of course everyone wants to score goals but I'm very happy to create chances because that is good for the team. In modern football you have to work very hard, when you lose the ball you have to work to get it back, you have to defend as well - we are seeing that with Merouane and Derek who work so hard when they lose the ball, they come back and look to win it again."

It has been said that the art of man-management in football is sometimes forgotten - but clearly that is not the case at Hibernian right now. Benjelloun admits that Hughes is a manager who gets the very best out of every player, simply through talking to each individual or, perhaps of even more importance, listening: "In professional football now you need a manager who will talk to his players every day, he will talk about positions and where players are comfortable to play. Our manager asks me every day how I am feeling, he will tell me every day that I am the key for the team and if I play well then the team will win.

"If however if I play badly then in my position it will be difficult. He asks every day for my opinion, and that is why I say that Yogi gives special things to Hibernian. He gives us a different mentality and for that reason everyone is happy with him. He talks also to the young players every day - I love to play now because I have the confidence given to me by the manager." One football pundit chose to berate Benji and his Moroccan team-mate Merouane Zemmama at the weekend for their comments about a possible challenge from Hibernian to the Old Firm this season. Benjelloun however remains unbowed, firmly believing that by setting such lofty targets the players are providing a mirror-image of the hopes and desires of their own supporters.

"Rangers are still a very strong team but also Hibernian is becoming a very strong team this year. We have shown we can play some fantastic football, but maybe people are saying that this year Rangers and Celtic will not do well - they may not be the same teams of two or three years ago but they still have the advantages we don't. All the same teams like Dundee United, Motherwell and Hibernian are looking better and can compete better with Rangers and Celtic, so it will make things interesting. This season I think can be special, we can offer a lot more this year but we have to keep working hard towards that."

There is little doubt that anyone looking at Benjelloun on Hibernian TV could not fail to be impressed by the passion and desire, a passion and desire that Benji insists exists throughout the club. And to that end he had an appeal for those Hibernian supporters yet to have a first-hand look at the side this season: "I ask them to help us, because now we have a very, very good team. The supporters can help us to stay in third or even better, I hope they will come this weekend and fill our stadium.

"Against Kilmarnock it was a little bit quiet, but we are doing very well and I hope our supporters come this weekend and make a lot of noise. If the stadium is full then of course it will push us on to doing something different, we play for ourselves and the team but mostly we play for the fans - so I promise them if they come they will enjoy seeing Hibernian playing good football."

The full interview with Abdessalam Benjelloun is available not on http://www.hibernianfc.tv - also today on Hibernian TV is Patrick Cregg.