Exclusive:'That's rivalry, that's football' - Hibs boss talks fan fear over Hearts title hopes and playing for the badge
Easter Road boss in ‘we’ve still to play them ourselves’ reminder as season reaches crucial stage
Nobody could ever accuse David Gray of not understanding the rivalry. One of the few men alive who deserves to be described as a bona fide Hibs legend, the Scottish Cup-winning captain – and current manager – has put his body, mind and soul on the line against Hearts often enough to know how deep the enmity runs.
Even as Easter Road regulars fret about their team’s potential supporting role in helping their Tynecastle rivals to a historic title triumph, however, Gray cannot afford to be diverted by external concerns. Managing a team in the Scottish Premiership is hard enough without getting dragged into debates about what your results – the points you work so hard to gain – might do to someone else’s ambitions.
Gray is steeped in Hibs folklore
Footballers who have reached this level of the game, moreover, are a different breed. Every single one of them is there because, on top of whatever ability and athleticism they’ve inherited or acquired over the years, they’re also cold-eyed killers who would break you in half to win a throw-in.
So yes, Gray definitely understands why people looked at Hibs beating Celtic on Sunday – a first away win over the Hoops since 2010, in case you weren’t keeping count – and started calculating the impact of dropped points on the three-way battle to be crowned champions of Scotland. It’s likely to become something of a recurring theme, as Hibs face Hearts, Celtic and Rangers in the post-split fixtures.
Sitting in his office at East Mains, however, Gray cautions against anyone getting carried away, pointing out: “I think one result doesn’t make anybody win the league. I think that's very plain to see.
“I'm employed to win games of football. My job, and to stay in the job, is to win as many games as you can and improve players.
“The biggest thing for me that weekend was that stat that for a Hibernian team to not have beaten Celtic away since 2010, that was something that I’ve wanted to get rid of for a long time.
“As a group, our performance level hasn't always got what you deserve when we've went there a few times. So I think that is something that's really important to get that off our backs.
“Between now and the end of the season, every game is huge because we're chasing that team in front. We need to make sure we keep winning - and that doesn't help anybody other than Hibernian Football Club. I think that's the big thing.
“I think everybody else can see why you would say because Celtic drop points in a title race with our rivals: ‘Do they benefit from that?’
“Hearts they still have to win a game of football to go and do that. They've still got lots of games to play – we’ve still to play them ourselves.
“So there's going to be a few twists and turns between now and the end of the season, I'm sure. But what we can do is try and get as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.”
Gray has spent his entire life, from adolescence onwards, surrounded by people desperate to come out on top in every shooting drill, possession game or crossbar challenge. The concept of not being motivated to win, even if it is just in a training-ground competition with his assistant coaches, is entirely alien to him – and his players.
“That's either in you or it’s not,” he explained, adding: “I think that's something that the ones from a young age that end up going on to make it all have.
“They aren't always players that are the best technically. Aren't always the ones that are the best football players.
“A lot of the time it's a mentality and a desire to make sure you're the best you can be every single time. And winning is huge.
“As a young player it's about development but if you've got that winning mentality as well, it certainly helps. And that's something that's been instilled in me from as long as I can remember, from my dad if I'm being honest!
“Even to now in training, if I have any sort of competitive games ,and even if I'm involved in any form of training, even as a coach, I still want to win, I still want to beat Ginge (Liam Craig), I still want to beat Sammy (Craig Samson) all the time.
“That never leaves you, that competitive nature. And especially where we're operating at the minute, it's all about winning.”
Gaffer understands supporter feeling
That’s not to say that Gray doesn’t have sympathy for supporters who dread the prospect of the ‘other lot’ grabbing the motherload of bragging rights courtesy of a title triumph.
“That's rivalry, that's football, that's it,” he acknowledged, adding: “That's why the derbies are so good to play in.
“And I say it all the time, when the games come around, I fully understand how much it means to the supporters and how important that fixture is.
“We've still got one to go, all being well. Obviously we’re still not guaranteed that, not mathematically, but we want one.
“But I think that's definitely something that, back at Easter Road, we want to make sure that you use that disappointment in the last one going into the next one. You want to make sure you come out on top because there are brilliant games to be involved in.”
Hibs are currently driven by their own desire to hunt down and overtook a Motherwell side still five points clear in the race for fourth place. The members of this group who played in Europe this season loved the whole experience, felt like they were very close to doing something spectacular – and will be doing everything to secure a repeat opportunity.
Yet, when it’s suggested that having something to play for all the way to – and including - round 38 of SPFL top flight competition would help with motivation, Gray interrupts to agree/explain: “It does. But I think, I know this is going to sound like a really easy thing to say, but when you're a professional football player, you've always got something to play for.
“You've got the badge you play for, and that's huge. The football club.
“You're employed to be the best you can be all the time and you're always being judged. I think that's something that for, whether that's for here, whether that's for the future, whatever it looks like, football is a very ruthless and relentless sport.
“You need to be at your very best all the time, so every single time you pull on the jersey you get the opportunity to do it. It's a real privileged position to be in and you need to make sure you maximise that. So between now and the end of the season, every game is massive.”