Caretaker boss David Gray unsure how long he’ll remain in charge of Hibernian

Posted Sunday, December 12, 2021 by PA

David Gray admits he does not know if he will still be in the hot seat for Hibernian’s league match with Dundee on Tuesday night.

The former club captain took caretaker charge for their 1-1 draw against St Mirren at the SMISA Stadium following Jack Ross’ sacking on Thursday, with Josh Campbell’s opener for Hibs cancelled out by a late Joe Shaughnessy equaliser.

Hibs are heading into a big week with the Premier Sports Cup final against Celtic looming large next Sunday, and Gray says he will continue in the role alongside coaches Eddie May and Craig Samson until the club’s board tells him otherwise.

He said: “I have no idea if I’ll still be in charge for Hampden. The foreseeable future to me is until someone tells me to do something different.

“Me, Eddie and Sammy will continue preparing the team to the best of our ability. We’ve got Dundee before the cup final and that’s the most important thing now.

“Everyone involved has to stick together and get ourselves ready for Tuesday now. That becomes the biggest game of our season. We’ve got an opportunity to catch up with a game we’ve missed and try to get three points and move up the league.

“Will I be in charge on Monday? I’ve no idea. There’s always tomorrow first. And then we’ll go from there.”

Gray was disappointed his players were unable to close out the game at St Mirren having led for most of the second half.

He said: “I thought the players managed it really well in difficult circumstances, on and off the pitch.

“We started well, created enough chances in the first half and their goalkeeper was easily the busier one. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get over the line in the end.”

St Mirren have now not won in their last nine games but manager Jim Goodwin was happy to settle for a point after Shaughnessy struck three minutes from time.

He said: “The draws are killing us this season but today was a decent one.

“The draw with Ross County when we had 27 goal attempts felt like a defeat. This game, because of the manner we came back, the heads never went down and kept believing, so it’s another point on the board.

“We have to take the positives from it.”