Under-pressure Hibs boss David Gray accepts that his legendary status at the club WON’T keep him in a job if he doesn’t turn their fortunes around.
The Easter Road side currently sit bottom of the Premiership table after eight games and face an Edinburgh derby against Hearts this afternoon. Rookie gaffer Gray, who was appointed in the summer, is under pressure to start delivering results. He’s confident that he’ll get it right and that he’ll get the time to do so from the club’s owners. But the 36-year-old also knows that being a club icon will count for nothing if he isn’t cutting it as manager. Ahead of the derby clash in Leith today, Gray – who scored Hibs’ winning goal in the 2016 Scottish Cup Final – said: “I would be a lot more concerned if I didn’t see a win coming at any time or if I didn’t really know which way to go.
“But there has been enough progression in the games so far to make me think we’ll get there. I’m confident in myself. In terms of the time I’ll get, I understand that club and the noise that’s around it all the time. Sometimes what gets labelled at me is because of what I did previously as a player.
“But that’s irrelevant now. I knew the challenge here and what I was signing up to. I wasn’t given this job as a quick fix. I went through a proper process to get it and I take a lot of belief from that. That belief doesn’t change overnight.
“We have a lot of new players gelling together and there have been a lot of different factors at the start of the season. But I’m not using that as an excuse. I know where we need to improve and we have an opportunity to do it quickly.
“I know how the season has gone so far. It’s been about small margins but things can change very quickly. I believe it WILL change and we can start this weekend.”
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football.