Under-fire Hibs gaffer on board backing, outside 'noise' and 'cut-throat' world of management - Exclusive

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No need to ‘rip everything up’ despite team sitting bottom of table, insists Gray

Hardly prone to panic, neither is David Gray blind to reality. He knows that his famous Hibs history – one glorious day at Hampden included – will count for nought, should results fail to improve.

That’s entirely as it should be, according to the lifelong fan who grew up to become a beloved Scottish Cup-winning captain. But as for Gray actively worrying about his own future, when there are so many other pressing concerns? Well, you can guess how he feels about that.

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Speaking with the sort of blunt honesty that first persuaded the Hibs board to hand him the manager’s job in the summer, he revealed: “I don’t think to myself: ‘If we don't win this weekend, that could be the end …’ or whatever. But I'm also not naive enough or deluded to think that just because of my history at the football club that I've got any more time than anybody else.

“Absolutely not. The position the football club finds themselves in at the moment is my responsibility. And where we find ourselves just now isn't good enough. So all I can concentrate on is how quickly I can change that and turn that round

“The pressure's always there. I'm well aware of that part the job. But I took it at the start well aware of the challenge I faced.

“I knew it was always going to be a challenge. I knew it was always going to be tough. History tells you that, of course. But I honestly believe it will turn because of what we're doing.

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“And the pressure won't go away if we win two or three games. It's always going to be there.

“I think that's something that I think I'll benefit from in the long term. Having gone through adversity so early in the start of this, sticking together and working on the things we do, I think I'll benefit from it.”

Gray is a regular at monthly board meetings, a new experience for a coach who filled a variety of backroom roles under a whole series of different Hibs managers during a very short period of time. Offering his own insight into his conversations with the higher-ups, including sporting director Malky Mackay, he admitted: “I think it's pretty clear that the concern is the league position. You can't keep saying performances are good if you're not winning games of football.

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“I think that's something I've said, regardless of what people say above me. I know the position we find ourselves in. I know that needs to change.

“I also believe in all the things we are doing and understand the circumstances behind it all. I know the data backs up what I'm saying, but there comes a point where you can't, if you keep doing the same thing, get the same results. There is that balance, I'm aware of that.

“My full focus is on where we can get better, which is, I do believe, in the final third. It's about giving the players the belief that we're not doing a lot wrong. 

“It's not as if I need to rip it all up because everything we're doing is wrong.”

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Asked how receptive his superiors are to that message, Gray insisted: “Very much so. I think everyone understands the position.

“Naturally, the noise and everything that comes around with it, I think the position we find ourselves in is 100% normal and I fully expect that. The biggest thing for me is that the conversations I have are always around how can the team get better and why are we doing what I'm doing and the justification in it. 

“I'm always open and enjoy the conversations when people ask me questions on it, purely because I like people to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. If anyone else wants to ask me a question on it, I'm quite comfortable in that environment. And it's something that has obviously happened over a number of weeks. 

“I think with Malky being in the role he's in, there's regular conversations every single day around about what I'm thinking of doing, probably a lot on reflection, how we see the game, decisions I made in the game, how that goes. That's something you do as a coach anyway, automatically.

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“You look at the result firstly, try not to be too high or too low off the back of that. The emotion straight after the game obviously dictates that but then looking at it calmly and saying: ‘Right, well, did I get that right? Was that bit wrong? In hindsight, would I have done that differently?’ And really assessing myself first. Myself and the staff do that a lot.

“From there, it's about what the message is to the players and on the areas where we need to do better, what let us down, how we can improve on that. I think that's kind of my process that I go through at the minute.

“So it’s always looking at what I've done first and then how can I help the players. To stop doing the things they're doing wrong - but also give them the confidence and belief that what we are actually doing will turn if we can rectify the areas where we’ve let ourselves down.”

The fact that Hibs have been so chaotic in their hiring and firing over managers over recent seasons, with Gray the sixth ‘permanent’ gaffer to hold the post in just over five years, obviously must get considered by anyone – up to and including Ian Gordon – assessing the current situation. After all, no-one who was part of the decision back in June could possibly think another change of manager was going to be a quick cure-all for every crippling weakness exposed year after year, right?

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Gray, to his credit, hasn’t once sought to use the problems he inherited as excuses for lowering sights, saying: “Of course there's been a lot of change - but the expectation in football clubs is always the same. Ever since I joined the club, at the start of every season, it’s where can we get to? 

“You want to be as successful as you can. Top six, finishing in Europe, win the Cup, they're all the challenges and expectations and ambitions of the club that are achievable. With a group of players, with the infrastructure in place, the facilities, the fan base, the club itself.

“So I know all that and, as I say, that's part of the pressure. So when we find ourselves in the position we are at the moment, of course there's going to be noise, of course there's going to be pressure. 

“But I can't allow that to distract me on what I'm doing and how we get to where we need to get to. Because the noise won't go away if we win two games. And then you lose a game, it's still the pressures of football management.

“Every single manager knows when they sign up to it that, yes, it's a bit of a cut-throat business. But everybody knows that when they sign up to it - and I'm certainly no different.”

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