Hibs award fate revealed as Easter Road gaffer and Celtic manager Rodgers go head to head with shock outsider

Hibs boss David Gray was pipped to the top honour at tonight’s PFA Scotland Awards, as a jury of the country’s gaffers voted John McGlynn as their Manager of the Year. Former club captain Gray, already a Scottish Cup legend and Easter Road fans’ favourite, spoke about being “flattered and humbled” just to be short-listed alongside Treble-chasing Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and Falkirk’s McGlynn, who as just secured back-to-back promotions for the Bairns.

Gray, who took over as interim boss when Nick Montgomery was sacked late last season, was appointed on a permanent basis by the Hibs board in the summer. He inherited a squad overstuffed with bodies but short on quality – and immediately brought in a dozen new faces in a bid to stimulate a quick recovery.

But Hibs made a disastrous start to the Scottish Premiership campaign, winning just one of their first 14 league games. They were sitting bottom of the table as recently as early December following a 3-0 defeat to the reigning champions at Celtic Park.

Under pressure to turn things around, but with a public vote of confidence from the board to ease the strain, Gray then turned the season around in dramatic fashion. Hibs put together an unbeaten run of 17 straight league games to sail into the top six at the split.

Although that undefeated sequence was burst by a 1-0 loss to Aberdeen at Pittodrie last week, Gray’s men bounced back with a 3-1 thumping of Dundee United Saturday. With three rounds of fixtures remaining, they’re now sitting three points clear of Aberdeen – and six ahead of United – in third place.

European football is now all but guaranteed for the Hibees. And should they finish third and Celtic go on to win the Scottish Cup, they’ll jump straight into the Europa League play-offs, with guaranteed Europa Conference League group stage entry as a fallback.

Your next Hibs read: Why BOTH gaffers deserve Manager of the Year honours