Hibs boss addresses pressure question with focus vow and 'go under' admission amid 'bob along' claim
Premier Sports Cup quarter-final victory crucial for Easter Road side
Under-pressure Hibs boss David Gray insists he’d rather be under the harsh glare of the Easter Road spotlight than working at a club where fans were happy to just “bob along” without getting fired up over results.
And the laser-focused gaffer admits he would “go under” if he allowed himself to be distracted by supporter fury over recent form.
Ross County lie in wait
Hibs head to Dingwall to take on League One title favourites Ross County in a crucial Premier Sports Cup quarter-final tomorrow. After exiting the UEFA Conference League in a heart-breaking play-off loss, losing the first Edinburgh derby of the season and slumping to defeat against St Johnstone in Perth last weekend, Gray has faced mounting criticism from some sections of the support.
Speaking ahead of taking his team north for an overnight stay before tomorrow’s 3 pm kick-off, the former club captain insisted he welcomes the intensity, declaring: “I think there's always context to everything. And I think that's just the nature of the industry we're in.
“Fans will be frustrated, fans have got high expectations and demands. And you'd rather it that way than a team that just bobs along.
“And I think there's always context to everything we're doing. It's been a really bad four days in terms of the two results back-to-back, losing the two games. And I know that more than anybody.
“The amount of time I've been at the club, 12 years, I've seen many highs, many lows across the way from that. It is about making sure, though, during that period that you quickly learn.
“You constantly challenge the group to improve, but pick everybody up and make sure you remind that, yes, we've lost the last couple of games, but we've already demonstrated already this season, many times, that we're a good side, we're a good group.”
Asked if securing a Hampden semi-final would provide more breathing space, personally, Gray stressed: “I don't want to sound like it wouldn't change for me. I'm fully focused on my job I'm doing.
“So if I allow the noise to affect what we're doing, or allow it to distract me in any way, then you just go under in that situation.
“I've been through adversity before. My full focus is just winning. We need to win, should we win.
“The last two seasons under me, we've not done well enough in the cups. We could complain about draws and everything else that comes with that. This is an opportunity to get to Hampden, and that's all that matters.
“If you even think back to when I played, I've never had social media. I've never read newspapers. I don't enjoy that side of the game, I think, because everybody's got an opinion.
“Whether people are qualified to have it or not, it doesn't matter. That's fine because that's what you sign up to.
“I put pressure on myself every single day to try and get the best out of this group of players every single day and my staff. And if I don't do that, how can I expect the players to do that? So I'm very much driven that way.
“I expect the noise, I expect that to be there. I certainly don't use it as a distraction or feel sorry for myself.
“It has to be something that just drives me forward all the time because we've been through it.
“I certainly wasn't expecting my management career to start the way it started and then think: ‘That's it, it's just going to be plain sailing from now on.’ It was always going to come at different times because the expectation and the bar rises all the time.
“We can't speak about where we want the club to get to, the expectation we've got, and then lose a couple of games and think that nobody's going to be asking questions. Of course, that's always going to be there, that's natural.”
Fair judgement from fans in third season
Gray believes it’s only right the fans are judging him – and his team - more harshly than they did when he stepped into the role as rookie manager back in the summer of 2024. His team were sitting bottom of the table as late as early December in that first season at the helm, the recovery as they finished third in the Scottish Premiership going a long way to making his reputation as a head coach.
“You put it like that, in terms of the run we were on previously, but I was in a different situation then as well,” he said. “Now I'm two years down the line, and going into my third season, it's a very different way of looking at it than just in the door, first-time manager. Malky (Mackay) was just in the door in terms of the structure and the transitional period that the club was in at that time.
“So we'd expect it to come on quicker now because we're a bit more settled and we've had time to do things. Naturally, I think that's always going to be there.
“So I'm not adverse to criticism. I'm not shying away from it. I'm certainly not put off by it in terms of feeling sorry for myself. If anything, it's definitely the opposite.”