Hibs' David Gray grateful for Lee Johnson's show of faith as he explains 'gang' approach to coaching

David Gray was given a rare outing in the Hibs press-room hot-seat ahead of Tuesday night’s cinch Premiership match against Dundee United and it was refreshing speaking to the coach away from being in interim charge of first-team affairs.

Hibs coaching team of Jamie McAllister (L). Adam Owens and David Gray (R) during a training session at East Mains.

Gray had two spells as caretaker manager last season in the wake of Jack Ross and Shaun Maloney being sacked during a tumultuous campaign. The 34-year-old only moved into the coaching game in June 2021, but was thrust into the dugout for a narrow Premier Sports Cup final defeat by Celtic and took charge of the team later in the term when the players were at their lowest ebb following failure to reach the top six.

While grateful to have clocked up such experiences so early in his non-playing career, Gray is glad of stability at Hibs. The Easter Road men are in a good place under current boss Lee Johnson, who decided to maintain Gray in his coaching set-up alongside assistants Jamie McAllister and Adam Owen. The former club captain is thankful for such a show of faith.

“Nothing surprises you in football, so it was nice to know that he wanted to keep me,” said Gray. “Personally, I was looking forward to the challenge of working with new people, but I also knew Macca from when we played together for a brief spell at Preston. I met him a couple of times before we started pre-season. He took the time to explain the way the manager wants to work and his philosophy. From day one, he’s involved me and I’m really enjoying the responsibility.

Gray took charge of Hibs on a caretaker basis twice last season, including the Premier Sports Cup final.

“Last season was disappointing from a footballing point of view, but selfishly for me it involved working with three top coaches [Ross, Maloney and Johnson] who are very good at what they do, so I’ve learned very quickly three different ways of doing things in my first year in coaching. I am thoroughly enjoying the new regime and how it is working. Adam and Macca have taken time to explain things and help. I hope I’m adding something to the mix as well. That’s what you need to be able to do as a coach. You need to adapt and learn all the time. Just like as a player, you want to better yourself and study different things.

“Lee is really honest with the players. He’s really clear in terms of what he is trying to achieve. He’s very much front foot and wants to try and win the ball back as high as he can and be aggressive in the way the team plays. He has said many times that he always wants to try and win all the time, which is great. That’s what players want.”

Gray was a tough-tackling, attack-minded right-back but he cannot take full credit for drilling Hibs’ in-form defence. “It’s general, across the board. It’s more of a gang approach, as the gaffer would call it,” Gray responded when asked about what part of the team he coaches. “He [Johnson] likes different voices rather than the same voice all the time with defenders or attackers. It is working well.”

Hibs, on a four-game winning run, hope to keep up the good work against United at Tannadice. A victory would move them five points clear in third place.