Hibs stalwart delivers squad backing to under-fire boss: 'We all love him - and we're all right behind him.'

Hibs players are determined to prove their “love” for gaffer David Gray by turning their season around, according to versatile all-rounder Chris Cadden. And the former fullback says he owes a very special personal debt of gratitude to Gray.

Welcoming the board’s decision to offer rookie head coach Gray at least qualified backing after a run of just one win in their opening 12 league fixtures, Cadden said: “I can't speak for everyone else but me personally, I was delighted because we were all behind the manager. I've known the gaffer for a while now and he's been brilliant, he's especially been brilliant to me as a player, a coach and as a manager.

“He's been amazing for me so for me personally. I was absolutely delighted. but we know that results and performance need to change.

“If you've got to do it for anyone, go and do it for the gaffer as well. Because we all love him - and we're all right behind him.”

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Explaining the individual attention he’d received from Gray since joining Hibs in January of 2021, and especially during his long absence with an Achilles’ tendon injury, Cadden said: “Countless meetings I've had. I came in the back end of the gaffer's playing career, and he moved on to become a coach.

“When he was a coach, he had a bit more time to work specifically with different players and the number of meetings I've had, the amount of sitting in rooms watching clips of myself, what he thinks, what he thinks I can improve on, what he thinks I'm good at.

“For example when I was coming back from the Achilles, I played a reserve game against Ayr United, and he watched the full game. It was down at a junior park, but he sat and watched the full game and clipped all up and spoke to me about what he thought.

“Another example, when I was coming in training before the boys had games (while recovering from injury), the gaffer would come in early on a Saturday to come and train me and then go to the game. That was when Nick Montgomery was the manager. Little things like that, he's been unbelievable to me, he's been a real big influence on my career since I've come here.”

Gray is big on self-analysis in pursuit of improvement, constantly questioning whether he’s giving players the right message – in precisely the most effective way – to get the job done once the referee sounds that whistle. Cadden has no doubts.

“I think that's the frustrating thing because we're going out with as much information, as much detail and everything about the team we're coming up against - and the way the gaffer prepares us has been brilliant,” said the fullback. “So it down to us as players.

“I don't think we can ask for any more from the manager or his coaching staff at all. In terms of preparation and the way that we're looked after here, the facilities we've got, everything.

“So that's what we've got to do as players, we've got to be accountable for what we do. How can I get better? Because it's not good enough, we know that, and we’ve got to look at ourselves first and foremost.

“I think when you're losing games of football, I think there's always a feeling of letting people down. The gaffer, the fans, the club, you can go deeper like home with your family, it's not a nice place to be when you are losing games of football. So of course the gaffer comes under that.

“The gaffer can give us whatever tactics he wants, it's us as players that can go and change it. No one else. The 11 boys and the subs that come on.”