Why Euro chasing Hibs boss Gray will be paying close attention to Celtic v St Mirren Scottish Cup semi-final
Blank weekend of Scottish Premiership action as Easter Road side prepare for Edinburgh derby
David Gray will be tuning into this afternoon’s Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and St Mirren, as Hibs fans dreaming of a European return find themselves supporting the Hoops for a second straight season. But Gray insists he’s NOT following the action from Hampden with one eye on how it might impact on his team’s chances of breaking a 50-year record when it comes to UEFA competition.
The only way the team finishing fifth in the Scottish Premiership can qualify for Europe is if Celtic go onto win the Scottish Cup at Hampden next month. Should they slip up against the Buddies this afternoon, obviously, the race for fourth place – a contest that currently sees Hibs sitting three points behind Motherwell – becomes a battle for that final UEFA Conference League qualifying spot.
Aberdeen shock win denied Hibs Euro prize
There are similarities between the situation facing Hibs this year and last season’s Euro sub-plot to the Scottish Cup, with Celtic’s shock loss to Aberdeen in the final consigning Gray’s men – who had finished third in the Scottish Premiership with a game to spar - to the qualifying rounds of European club football. The Dons took the guaranteed league stage qualification that had appeared within the grasp of their Easter Road rivals.
Gray, looking to become the first Hibs boss to secure back-to-back qualification for European football in half a century, said he would be watching today’s action. But purely from a professional vantage point.
“I'll be making sure we're across all the games to be fair,” he said, adding: “I'm not going to any games this weekend. But I'll certainly be watching them.
“No, not so much from that point of view (the race for Europe). More for the fact that in two games’ time we're playing Celtic. So it'll always be from an opposition analysis point of view.
“I know we've played each other so many times in the season and we're constantly across each other's games. But I think it is really important to see how the game has gone, when the players come on, what changes were made during the game.
“I think these are all things that every coach and backroom staff do every week when you're looking at your opposition. Even though we’ll have played quite a few times in the season, every game is very different.
“You never ever think for one second that because something worked the last time that you'd do the same thing again, expect the same thing to happen. The tactics that happen within the game are always something different.
“I think that's important. And that'll be the case going into the next, game, which is obviously the derby.
“So we've got no game this weekend but then a full week and we don't play until the Sunday. A much as we'll be keeping an eye on the Celtic one just to see what they're doing, everything's all about the derby next weekend, obviously.”