Hibs playing for high stakes as club's vision, season hopes and David Gray status all on the line
David Gray’s men trail FC Malisheva 2-0 after disastrous loss in Pristina
Life comes at you fast, when you’re a Scottish club involved in the early rounds of European competition. As Hibs can readily attest.
David Gray’s men are about to play their first competitive home game of the new campaign. Already the stakes could hardly be higher.
The Easter Road side stand at a crossroads. One way lies progress and a chance to stabilise affairs after last week’s godawful start to season 2026-27. The other path leads to crisis, with all its attendant ugliness.
Hibs fans were furious in Pristina
Trailing 2-0 to FC Malisheva, a Kosovan side who had never even reached the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round before this season, Hibs remain slight favourites to qualify, according to those who make the odds. The bookies aren’t often wrong.
With that one full-blooded game under their belt, Hibs – who definitely looked flat-footed against opponents playing their third competitive fixture of the season – will surely be sharper. They’ll also benefit from any sort of energy generated by the home crowd on Thursday night.
As for whether supporters will be fully supportive, so to speak, that can hardly be in doubt. Not for a game that is likely to be vital on three fronts – each of which is examined here.
The wider Hibs project
Everything the current ownership, board and football department are trying to build involves making progress on a number of fronts. Europe is integral to the entire project.
Gray earned plenty of kudos, at board level, for securing back-to-back qualifications for UEFA competition. That’s something no Hibs team had achieved in half a century, which underlines the value of that achievement.
Although the club were early pioneers who regularly went deep in competitions back in the day, however, Hibs have never reached the group/league stages of European football. And, in the modern era, that’s where the money is.
When the draws for the second and then third qualifying rounds were made, the people who make the big decisions and sign the cheques at Easter Road would have been delighted.
Malisheva still represent beatable opposition. Neither Shkendija, of Macedonia, nor Slovenian side Bravo – one of whom lies in wait for the winners in Edinburgh on Thursday - are absolute powerhouse outfits.
There is a chance of Hibs being hit with an absolute stinker of a draw in the play-off round, of course, should they get that far. But it feels like this year represents an opportunity.
To put this in perspective, from a commercial standpoint, Hearts raked in just shy of £5 million from their involvement in the league phase of the Conference League last season. Hibs posted losses of just over £5 million in their most recent accounts; you do the maths, as our American cousins would put it.
Beyond finance, there is a feeling that Hibs should be a European club. That they have a stature, fan base and tradition deserving of regular exposure to continental competition.
A season in the balance - already
Of more immediate concern, of course, is the impact this game might have – for good or ill – on season 2026-27. Momentum matters a great deal, especially at the start of a campaign.
Win by three clear goals – or more – tomorrow night and Hibs will go roaring into the domestic campaign. Starting with Motherwell at home on Sunday, a sort of reverse book-ending of the fixture that rounded off last season, they’d have the chance to build up a real head of steam.
Between now and the start of September, Gray’s men could be involved in another four European fixtures PLUS half a dozen Scottish Premiership and Premier Sports Cup games absolutely laden with potential.
August fixtures
| Aug 2 | Motherwell (H) |
| Aug 9 | Rangers (A) |
| Aug 15 | Partick Thistle (H) |
| Aug 22 | Kilmarnock (H) |
| Aug 29 | Dundee (A) |
The visit of the Steelmen is followed by a trip to Ibrox, a happy hunting ground for Hibs in recent seasons, even if the arrival of Derek McInnes will certainly have an impact on Rangers. After their Sunday afternoon out in Govan, there’s a home tie against Partick Thistle in the rebranded League Cup, before a genuinely intriguing run of Kilmarnock at home, Dundee away and, on September 2, Hearts at home.
All of those games look winnable. If Hibs get the job done on Thursday night. It goes without saying that the schedule suddenly looks a whole lot tougher, should they suffer an ignominious European exit.
A gaffer in the spotlight
Gray has been in tough situations before. He’s been under pressure, his value as a manager openly questioned by a section of supporters.
He will understand, then, the need to avoid an embarrassing aggregate defeat to a team from an unheralded corner of the UEFA empire. A club forced to play their home European games in Pristina, because their own ground is a long, long way short of competition requirements.
While losing to Malisheva wouldn’t be a sacking offence, per se, it falls into the category best described as “Aye, and …” One of those results that can be used against you in the event of difficulties.
Lose a winnable game? Aye, and they lost Malisheva. Slip up on the derby. Aye, and they got knocked out by that mob from Kosovo. You get the idea.
It seems unfair, then, that nobody will remember even a thumping, resounding, thrill-inducing Hibs victory for very long. But it would provide Gray with a bulwark against criticism.
He could use the breathing space to regroup, get some injured players back into the squad and sharpen up those still needing to gain their competitive edge. All of that is possible. And it all rests on what happens over 90 minutes (please, no extra time) at Easter Road on Thursday night.