Hibs-daft dad names new baby son after cup-winning hero

Sam Faichney with his baby son Edward. Picture: Jon Savage

But now one superfan has taken things a step further – by naming his newborn baby son after club captain and Easter Road hero David Gray.

Sam Faichney, 25, missed out on attending the cup final to help take care of his heavily pregnant wife, Danielle, but managed to catch the game on TV.

The dad was so overcome with emotion following Gray’s injury-time winner that he managed to persuade Danielle, 24, to agree to a lasting tribute to the triumph.

Overdue by a week and a half, Danielle finally gave birth to little Edward Gray Faichney on Monday morning at her home in Niddrie.

And the baby’s first experience of the world was watching the cup final highlights with his beaming dad.

Father-of-three Sam said: “It would have been a bit too risky to go through to Glasgow, just in case, so I couldn’t go to the game. But obviously with Hibs winning, I was a wee bit gutted I couldn’t go.

“I’ve had a season ticket since I was a wee laddie. Before work took over in the last two or three years, I used to go to every home game and try to go to away games.

“To be honest, it does mean quite a lot to me. It’s a historic thing, Hibs not having won it in 114 years.

“My oldest son is named after my dad, and my middle son is named after his grandad’s middle name.

“We never really had anything in mind for this one, so I said if Hibs won, we could give him the middle name of the goalscorer. I think my partner thought I was joking.

“She’s not really into football, but she understood what it meant. She was watching in the house with me. I think she felt sorry for me that I couldn’t be there.”

Sam, who works at a Premier Inn, said he originally wanted to name the baby Edward David Gray Faichney – but Danielle convinced him to cut it down.

And the proud dad admitted to having a tear in his eye as Hibs lifted the cup, insisting it wasn’t a weekend he would forget in a hurry. He added: “It’s been jam-packed – winning the cup, the parade and then my son being born.”

A Hibs spokesman said the club was “delighted” for the family and passed on its best wishes.

Right-back Gray secured his team’s place in history when he headed home the winner in the closing minutes of the match.

In an interview with the News earlier this week, his parents, Elaine and Peter, described themselves as the “proudest mum and dad in the world”.

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