David Gray shares how he's tried to replace iconic Hibs duo's influence and the inspiration they still bring

They have both left legacies that will be remembered forever at Hibs - and David Gray says Paul Hanlon plus Lewis Stevenson still serve as inspirations for current stars.

The defensive pairing who won the 2016 Scottish Cup with the Easter Road head coach were both inducted into the club Hall of Fame last week. Alongside veterans David Marshall and Adam Le Fondre, the iconic duo left the club at the end of last season.

With them, they took experiences of promotion, cup success and over 1000 appearances for Hibs. Gray has been the head coach left with the task of trying to replace them, and commending their elevation to Hall of Fame status, he says their exit has prompted other stars to step up, with recruitment also a factor.

He said: “Fully deserved. You know, I think when you look at their careers, I was privileged enough to be able to play beside them, coach them and even manage them on small occasions along the way. I've known them a very long time. Fully deserved what they got.

“You say about making me feel older, definitely! I think I'm younger than Lewis for a start. Two boys still playing regularly. Still got that appetite to keep doing it and it just shows you the level of professionalism they've had throughout their whole career that they've still managed to go and do that.

"Yeah, that is a challenge, definitely (replacing their influence). I think even when you look at something I was very fortunate with, even when I played with the group of players we had through the successful times, there was a real strong core of players that were probably old-school players that had been through it quite a bit.

“So when you lose two guys like that and add to that David Marshall for last season, the amount of caps that he's had, the amount of appearances he's played, the level he has played at, the experience he has, it's a lot to take out of your dressing room, but I think that's something we worked hard on in terms of recruitment, was about the right type of people you bring in because you know you're losing their big personalities and they are standard setters all the time.

“You've also got players who have already been here, your Martin Boyle's, Josh Campbell's and Joe Newell's, that you then need to lean on them more and show them more belief to take more responsibility and make sure they do that, which they've carried that well. And then the new players coming in, I think we've done really well on that front and it's about trying to get as many good characters in the building as you can."

While their legacies are now proving the inspiration rather than the day-to-day work inside the club, Gray still believes that young players coming through the Hibs ranks in particular can gain plenty from Hanlon and Stevenson. He added: “ I think if you start with the academy boys, they're two boys that came right through the academy, right through the system, and it goes two ways.

“Either you do really well and you move, like Scott Brown, Kevin Thompson, guys like that, or you then become regulars on the first team for as long as they have, which is an achievement, an unbelievable achievement in itself to show that level of consistency for such a long period of time.

“And then you've got young players like Rudy Molotnikov and Josh Campbell that have came through the system now that I remember watching break through as young boys. Then they've trained with them and now obviously played with them at times last season.

“So it's great that you've got people like that coming through that can see it and give the young players especially an understanding of what it takes to be a professional and how you need to act every day because they were really, really good at that. I think even last season, the two of them never missed one training session at the age they were at, which is incredible.

“I know they didn't always play the amount of games they wanted to play, so they didn't have the 90 minutes at the end of the week to have on their legs potentially as often as they would like it, but they never missed a training session the whole time, which is obviously a testament again to how you need to be as a professional."