David Gray braced for 'difficult' next Hibs challenge and has say on Derek McInnes Hearts appointment

Hibs secured third place in the William Hill Premiership for only the second time in 20 years and the fourth time in the 21st century.

No side other than Celtic and Rangers has finished in the top three in back-to-back seasons since Aberdeen under Derek McInnes in 2017 and 2018, but Gray is braced for the challenge of trying to build on last term’s foundations.

“It’ll be difficult, because everybody’s going to try and improve,” the Easter Road boss told the PA news agency. “I think that’s the challenge now, is clearly expectation and everything else that goes with last season.

“But when you look at the league last year, how tight it was, how tight it is every single year, to be honest, and then you look at the league this season, the teams that are coming up from the Championship are going to be very competitive.

“There’s a lot of new managers in the league as well, so they’re going to have fresh ideas and there’s some investment in the league as well, so I think it’s going to be challenging.

“The challenge for us is can we improve as a group and can we improve as a squad? And I think that’s my focus and my challenge from day one.”

Hibs managed to finish third despite winning only one of their opening 14 league matches, so Gray is hoping the fact things are more settled this summer will ensure they are better equipped to hit the ground running.

“It’ll certainly help if we can start quickly when you think back to how we started the season last year,” he said. “The off-season was good for me in terms of reflecting on my first season as a manager, going over how the season went and what we can do differently.

“I think back to how pre-season went and how we started, but it was a new group last year, it was a new way of working with myself, new players coming in, (sporting director) Malky Mackay coming in, a new structure being put in place last season.

“But that (level of change) is not there this year. The plan’s in place, people have been in place for a while now. There’s a feel-good factor around the club and that momentum’s there. But we need to make sure we don’t rest on our laurels and we keep progressing and keep improving.”

Hibs took seven points from the three Edinburgh derbies last term, but Gray is ready for a fresh challenge from new Hearts boss McInnes.

“I think it’s a fantastic appointment for Hearts because they’ve got such an experienced manager,” he said. “He’s been very successful in Scotland and been a very successful manager for a very long time.

“He knows the league, he knows what Scottish football’s all about. He knows what the derby will be all about. There are three or four new managers coming into the league and it’s going to be very competitive.”