Hibs boss in 'never happy' admission as David Gray talks player movement and comedy summer 'chill out' method

Hibs boss David Gray admits it will take him a few days to come down from the heightened emotions of a crazy first season in football management. Despite his calm demeanour and apparently steady nerves as his team swung from crisis to over-achievement in a campaign of extremes, the young coach admits he’s been almost permanently “grumpy” since moving from interim manager to undisputed No. 1 last summer.

And Gray jokes that the only way he can properly chill out during his second close season as gaffer will involve extreme measures, laughing as he declared: “I'm sure the first two or three days I'll be putting my head in the fridge for a couple of days and chilling out. I might even have a glass of wine!

“I'm probably looking forward to Tuesday, Wednesday where that moment might happen. Because I've not honestly thought about things as much as I’d like.

“I've had so many people - very kindly - come up and say you've done a good job in terms of the turnaround. That’s been nice.

“I'd love to say I know exactly what to do in this situation. But I've never done it before! So it'll be my first sort of off season, as a coach.”

Hibernian climbed from bottom of Scottish Premiership to third place with game to spare

Everyone at Hibs was put through the emotional wringer in season 2024-25, which began with a horrific run of form that left Gray’s team rooted to the foot of the Scottish Premiership as recently as early December. They then mounted a quite ridiculous revival, equalling a club record of 17 straight league games unbeaten as they wrapped up third place in the Scottish Premiership with a match to spare.

Gray revealed how a recent conversation with wife Hayley had underlined the constant demands of management. As many a gaffer can testify, being physically at home to spend time with family doesn’t always translate to being there with their loved ones …

“I think the relief side to it comes after the game,” he explained, adding: “I remember having a conversation with my wife about this, actually.

“She said to me: ‘You're never happy, how are you never happy? You won at the weekend, you're still not happy, what's wrong?’

“I was like, well, it's probably just more relief that we won the game. Then it's on to the next one.

“She said: ‘Well, how does that work? Because you lost the week before and you weren't happy - and you win this week you're not happy. What chance have I got?’

“I remember telling here: ‘Fortunately there are only two games to go, pal. So in two games’ time I might be really happy. Or I might not be very happy at all – and then I’ll have to wait four weeks or more for the next game! Then I might turn the corner a bit …’

“That's just the nature, maybe me being crabby but also just constantly trying to improve all the time and not allowing myself to ever hope or think about the future. Other than trying to deal with what's in front of us.”

Summer transfers in AND out will keep everyone at Easter Road busy

With movement in and out of the squad guaranteed, even if there won’t be the same sort of turnover that saw Hibs make a dozen signings last summer, Gray knows he can’t just leave his phone in a drawer and completely switch off. That’s not the business he’s chosen.

Explaining how he expects the close season to pan out, he admitted: “We're always reflecting anyway. There's always communication about moving the club forward, progressing and looking at players - and that'll never ever stop.

“So the phone will never ever go off, clearly. But you also do need to have that little bit of down time, which is something I've tried to do even during the season.

GET THE LATEST HIBS NEWS DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL INBOX WITH OUR FREE NEWSLETTER SERVICE

“I remember the first couple of weeks thinking you can take on everybody yourself. As the season went on, I learned to delegate more, and I think that's important.

“Because I'm very lucky that I've got very good staff around about me. You can't do everything yourself and you need buy-in from everyone.

“So I've been very fortunate from that point of view. But there'll always be that period of reflection from me, my staff the club about trying to improve and move the club forward.”

Your next Hibs read: The one quality shared by both Hibs senior teams as gaffer reflects on special season