New Hibs mantelpiece required but David Gray knows how Rangers would put it 'right up there'

Awards and plaudits continue to come thick and fast for the Hibs head coach these days. His team are currently on a 15-game unbeaten run and sit third in the table with seven games to go. While Aberdeen, Dundee United and potentially Edinburgh rivals Hearts will have something to say about it, the Easter Road men are favourites to finish best of the rest.

That is down to some incredible work since December 8, 2024 – the last time Hibs tasted defeat in the league. That reversal came at Celtic Park when they were turned over 3-0. Almost exactly four months later, they are back in Glasgow for an assignment with Rangers as their long sequence gets put to the acid test.

“Right up there,” was Gray’s response to where a win over Rangers on their own patch would rank. “It is a very difficult place to go. 2018 was the last time we won there in the league, so it is a huge challenge. It's one that as you come and play for this club, these are the games you want to test yourself, and these are the games I used to love playing in.

“When you go to Ibrox on the big stage against a top team, it is a game we will try to go there and win. We can't go into the game in any better frame of mind with the positivity around the group, but it certainly doesn't make the challenge any easier.

“It'll be a difficult game, we know that, but it's a great game to look forward to.”

Gray was on the playing staff the last time Hibs won in Govan more than seven years ago, although he was ruled out by injury and watched on as John McGinn and Jamie MacLaren netted in a 2-1 victory. It was Hibs’ second storming of the Ibrox fortress in the 2017/18 campaign, when Vykintas Slivka also netted a winner under Neil Lennon in a 3-2 thriller. Since then, it has been slim pickings.

Hibs did themselves justice earlier this season when they played at Ibrox in October, back when their form was at its most dicey. Mykola Kukharevich missed a penalty and Dwight Gayle fizzed a header inches the wrong side of the post in a 1-0 defeat settled by a wonder strike from Rangers’ Tom Lawrence. But Hibs played well that day, simply lacking the conviction to get the job done.

Gray has won – and even scored – at Ibrox before. He knows what is required to come out on top. “I think you need to start the game well,” he explained. “That's clear. And I know every game is not the same.

“But I think when you're at a place like that, when it's a hostile environment, a volatile environment, you need to try to get a foothold in the game as early as you can. And try and quieten the crowd down. And try and almost turn them against them, if you can.

“Now I know that's not easy. But we have to try to frustrate people. To do that, you need to be brave on the ball. You need to be able to play. You need to be able to play under pressure. And then when the chances do come along, you need to take them. I know that's self-explanatory. But I think they don't come along as often in these games.

Hibs ‘very hard to beat’

“Rangers will have spells when they're going to have a lot of the ball. So you need to be able to defend. You need to be structured. Organised. And as I've already said, every player needs to play to the best of their ability. But if we do that, we know we're a really good side. And if we can get to that level, we're very hard to beat.”

Rangers are a slightly different beast to the one Gray last faced in January – a 3-3 draw at Easter Road – in that manager Philippe Clement has vacated the premises and Barry Ferguson is in interim charge alongside his coaching team of Billy Dodds, Neil McCann, Allan McGregor and Issame Charai. Being a club legend himself, Gray knows just what Ferguson – who is steeped in all things Rangers – brings to the party.

“One thing he does do, the same as myself at the football club, is understand what it means to play for the club, the ins and outs of it,” noted Gray. “He's a very passionate man, you can see that in the way he coaches at the side of the pitch.

“There will always be slight differences within that, the new manager coming in, and the staff he's brought in with him, a lot of experience, a lot of experience in Scottish football. His two assistants as well, they've both been managers in the top league, and obviously Barry knows exactly what it means to play for the club, to captain the club, the expectation and the demands of such a big football club.

“So with that he brings all the passion that he has, you see that even at the side of the pitch, the way he gets right behind his team, so I think we're fully expecting that. Going to Ibrox, the atmosphere is always fantastic anyway. We need to be at the very top of our game because Rangers are a good side.”

Rangers have lost their past four matches at Ibrox – against Queen’s Park, St Mirren, Motherwell and Fenerbahce – and Gray will surely hope that they have one eye on Thursday night’s Europa League quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao. A win or even a draw would make sweet 16 for Hibs in their quest for their big prize.