Hibs transfer inactivity addressed with 'Don't panic' message as gaffer Gray holds out for a hero

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SPFL rivals recruiting in busy window as Easter Road club take time

Halfway through a busy enough January window, in Scottish terms, and Hibs haven’t signed a single player. Not exactly how it was planned. But no cause for panic, according to gaffer David Gray.

Having landed an entire starting XI (plus a spare or two) during the summer window, adding numbers to a squad already veering towards the bloated end of overstuffed, Gray is wary of making an impulse buy that might, as he points out, disrupt the momentum acquired during a remarkable 10-game recovery run by the Hibees. Nor is he convinced that every signing made by Scottish Premiership rivals will deliver the improvement needed during the upcoming 10-match sprint to the seasonal split.

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Asked if the constant bulletins from other top-flight clubs, the new arrivals with promising pedigrees or proven track records, makes him feel even a touch antsy about his own recruitment department’s lack of activity, Gray declared: “No. I don't think you can ever be reactive that way. I think you need to always think what genuinely makes us better, how are we at the moment.

“Look, people are all strengthening or trying to strengthen. It doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to get better.

“It just depends on their situation; they might be bringing people in right now, knowing they’re going to lose people off the back of it or whatever. When the windows are open everyone looks to try and evolve their squads and their shape and where they are.

“I'm probably slightly different because of the number of bodies we've got but also the number of bodies coming back from injury. And I'm conscious of what we're building at the moment as well.

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“So it's not a case of having to rip everything up again by the end of the season. Next year we've got 15 out of contract, including young boys, so you can't just do everything at the one time.

“It is very much an ongoing process all the time. We need to be making sure that, because of such a turnover in the summer, yes, there will be a turnover again, but we don't just rush into bringing people in. They need to be the right ones that we think make us better, but the right characters as well.”

With new head of recruitment Garvan Stewart in the building and a Black Knight scouting database available to Hibs, it’s inconceivable that they won’t make at least one eye-catching signing before the window closes on February 3. Given the politics involved, the pressure is on billionaire investor Bill Foley and his representatives on earth to deliver a couple of ‘X Factor’ players capable of propelling Hibs into the battle for European places.

Settled squad with strong culture

Wary of ending up with recruits who might actually have the opposite effect, Gray said: “I think everyone who ever signs a player will do it because they believe it's going to be the right thing. It doesn't always work like that because sometimes they don't hit the ground running, they pick up an injury or there’s a clash of personalities or whatever it might be.

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“Sometimes when you've got a settled balanced squad, unless you're adamant that it's going to improve you, sometimes you're better to go with what you've got. Especially if it's working in the culture and the environment, and the training and the dressing room is where it needs to be.

“The plan is not to be quiet; the plan is to be proactive and see where we go. I've always said that.

“When you talk about the players coming back or already coming back, like Kieron Bowie and Myko Kuharevich, they're like two centre forwards that come back straight away and add strength and depth to the forward positions. Elie Youan’s not quite fit yet, but when he comes back, when Marvin Ekpiteta comes back, when Joe Newell comes back …

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“If you think about the size of the squad we've been carrying all season, we have always said that we have got a lot of players. It’s a transitional sort of season. But if something comes up that we think can make us better and it can be done, and the club have been very supportive of it, we'll look to try and do it.

“I do still expect there to be movement before the end of the window - but we just need to keep making sure we get the right people. That's been the biggest message especially from my point of view, to make sure we get the right type in.

“Because we're in a good moment at the minute. But one thing you don't want to do is just think everything's alright. You always want to keep progressing as much as we can. If we can do something, then we'll look to try and do that.”

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