Under-pressure David Gray has insisted he won’t walk away and believes he still has the backing of his Hibs players.
The boss watched another horror show as his rock-bottom team were dumped 4-1 at Dundee. The club legend has only led his team to one league win this season but he is adamant he can turn things around and will continue to try and do so until he is told differently. Hibs play Aberdeen on Tuesday and it remains to be seen if he will still be in the Easter Road hot seat. He stated: “I one hundred percent want to be here.
“That’s a decision for the powers that be at the football club. Until someone tells me otherwise, I’ll do everything I possibly can to turn this around. I know the players are still with me, one hundred per cent. I know they’ve still got that desire to try and turn this around.”
Gray is adamant that Hibs’ issues are not down to a lack of effort but costly mistakes. That was shown as they collapsed after going 1-0 up and then Jordan Obita got sent off and they gifted too many goals.It was their fourth ordering off in six games.
Gray stated: “I have no complaints (about the red card). There was no malice in it, you see it regularly in football where someone takes a bad touch and then you lunge into a tackle. But you can’t do that.
“The red card was a big turning point in the game. They’re giving absolutely everything. They’re hurting in there at the moment because of the effort they’re putting in. But it’s just too many individual errors and at key times it’s costing us.
“So until anybody tells me otherwise, I’m going to do everything I can to turn this around. We know the areas we’re letting ourselves down in. I can’t sit here and defend it because I’ve said it too many times now, so I understand that as well.”
Gray went to the fans at the end and they are the ones he feels for. “The reason I applauded the fans is because of the effort they’ve made,” he confirmed.
“I understand the frustration from the supporters. I understand the frustration and the pain. The appreciation that they show towards the team during difficult periods.
“We had 1,500 of them or so, making the effort to come up here tonight, which is incredible when you consider the weather conditions in Edinburgh and around the country today. The effort that was made to come and support the team, which has been here forever since I’ve been at the football club.
“The fans always have stuck by us. They’ve travelled in the numbers everywhere we’ve gone and I totally understand the frustration.”
Gray believes it is good they have a game on Tuesday. He said: “We need them to be right behind us all the time because they’re going to be a massive factor on Tuesday night.
“When we play Aberdeen, we need them to be there, like I’m sure they will be, in supporting the team like they always do. The full focus now will be on recovery to get ready to go again.
“The position we find ourselves in you’ve got no time to feel sorry for yourself because the games are coming quick and fast. We need to stick together. Confidence doesn’t just come, you have to keep working hard at it. You need to double down on the areas in which you feel you’ve let yourself down.”