Melancholy mood at Hibs - but no montage or crying together

“Every day at this football club I've been here, he's been here,” said Newell, the Hibs captain. “Genuinely every day in the building. It's never nice when anyone loses a job, but knowing someone for that amount of time, knowing how hard he worked, knowing what effort he put into each role he's had at the club, his status at the club, all these things, it's obviously tough.”

Hibs have lost a person who is woven into the fabric of the club. A former club captain, the man who scored the winning goal to end an 112-year wait for the Scottish Cup, Gray went on to be a coach, an interim manager and then the boss in his own right.

It is why there was a sense of melancholy at Hibs’ East Mains training facility on Friday. This wasn’t the way anyone wanted it to end - although it’s telling that not many have openly criticised the decision.

Gray’s time at Hibs had run its course. Finishing third in his first full campaign in 2024/25 and chalking up a 17-game unbeaten run in the process was always hard to top. A fifth-placed finish last season was acceptable as it brought Conference League qualifiers. Two years in a row, Gray so nearly guided Hibs through them. But recent results and performances have been poor and with a three-week international break on the horizon, now was the time to act.

Newell got to know Gray during their long association together at Hibs. “Good, good guy, good friend,” he said. “Didn't play as much golf as we would have liked as soon as he became manager. He didn't have much time for that and neither did I, actually.

“I can't speak highly enough of him professionally, but then away from that, you know, a real good person who genuinely cares about his players. And I think you see that through players' performances for him over the spell.

“It's extremely tough, honestly.”

Even amidst the genuine sadness, Hibs have no time to feel sorry for themselves. They are ninth in the Premiership and face Aberdeen at Easter Road on Saturday. If they lose, it will be the first time in the club’s history that they have tasted defeat seven times in a row at home in the league. That in itself should be motivation for the players.

“So, we could sit in here and have a montage for half an hour of the gaffer’s finest moments,” opined Newell. “We could all cry together. But that's going to do no good for anyone. We've got a game.

“Obviously, we've had recent poor run of form performances and results. The main thing is a reaction. The main thing is to try and get back on winning terms, but a performance that the fans can kind of get behind and hopefully we'll do that.”

Potter takes team for Aberdeen

It is down to John Potter, who was the assistant under Jack Ross who gave Gray his shot at coaching, to guide Hibs towards a positive result. The 46-year-old returned to the club this summer - and was brought back in by Gray.

“Thursday was difficult, to be honest, but it always is,” said Potter. “I've been in slightly different situations. I've been the guy coming in and I've been the guy that's away as well. Thursday, for me, was very much a day about coming in, having a chat, doing what we needed to do in terms of physical preparation for the game.

“David, Liam and Craig are good guys, they're friends of mine, they're friends of a lot of the staff and the players ... but again, what I spoke about this morning with the players was, yes, that is a difficult time, but their jobs are to try and go and win games of football.

“It's up to us to prepare properly and the players and the staff that are there on a day to go and try and win that game, and that's what we'll do.”

Regardless of what happens against the Dons - and what happens with his own future - Potter believes Hibs are in a strong position to be successful again. “Hibs are a brilliant club and we want to be towards the top of the league,” he said. “We want to be winning, getting finals and semi-finals and we want to get European football. That's where Hibs always want to be and in the last few years, a lot of those things happened.

“But things can change very quickly and in the modern world, if you've been a manager for a couple of years things can move quite quickly. I think when everybody looks back at Dave's time here, he was really successful. After the club had went through a difficult period, a difficult two or three years that David was part of and seen all that.

“But when he came on the job himself, I think everyone will tell you in terms of his training ground, the feeling about the place, the type of guy that he was, the work that he did. He's raised standards in this place again and it's a good place to come and work. I think everybody in this building will tell you that.”

Newell was asked what direction he and the players want the club to go in - and he met it with a politician’s answer. “I’m not in charge of them decisions, obviously, but I think the main thing for me is, with where Dave has taken the club over the last couple of years, with the kind of consistency and stability, I would just like to see that continued,” added the 33-year-old.

“We’ve had some amazing memories over the last couple of years, some real good achievements, so you just want to carry that on now. There’s no crisis in terms of we’re still early in the season. There’s only been six league games so we’re in a position where we can turn it around quickly and still a very successful season can be had.”