David Gray repaying Hibs debt to 'wonderful' people he wants rewarded for avoiding the easy decision

Daily Record

6 days ago

The capital outfit picked up a 1-1 draw on the road at Midtjylland as they bid to make full use of home advantage in the return
David Gray has watched the Gordon family pile their money into Hibs and now he wants to reward them with an extended European run.
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The capital side got a 1-1 draw with Midtjylland last week and are looking to make full use of home advantage going into Thursday's second leg Europa League qualifier.
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The late Ron Gordon bought the club back in 2019 and although he passed away in 2023 his family, including his wife, Kit, and son, Ian, continue to bankroll the Leith outfit.
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The Gordon family has had very little in return in that time until Gray led them to third last season and back into Europe.
Gray said: 'Absolutely. It's the rewards for the hard work and the effort that they put into it and the backing, and the togetherness - and it runs right through the club.
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'The whole Gordon family. Kit, the passion she shows, they're really good people as well, that's the big thing.
'Wonderful people that are desperate to be successful and want to move this club forward all the time.
'They're brilliant people to work for from that point of view as well.'
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The Hibs legend also knows he owes a debt to the Gordon family, which he hopes he is now paying off.
He is well aware that they could have pulled the trigger when his team were sitting bottom of the table.
They refused to panic and are now reaping the rewards.
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Gray stated: 'Yes, I think it's something that I've spoken a lot about, the support since the Gordon family took over the football club, even from afar when I haven't been the manager - every single manager being backed under the ownership in terms of financial and everything that comes with it.
'I've certainly felt it in a short period of time, even just the backing during that difficult time.
'It would have been really easy, with my record that I had early on in the season, for there to be a change.
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'Because I wasn't delivering, to the point that it was acceptable for the club, I knew that.
'So I thank the ownership for that, for sticking with me through the periods.
'This is the reward off the back of that.
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'European football is where he always wants to bring the club, he always wants to take the club forward and he wants to see his team play at the highest possible level.
'European football is certainly the next step for that and then we want to try and compete at this level, which is another challenge that we're working towards every single day.'
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Hibs are riding the crest of a wave and although Gray might get a lot of the glory it is very much a team effort with everyone in it together.
The head coach confirmed: 'Yes, I think that's it and that comes down to the group, the individuals.
'But the biggest thing and what I put the success a lot down to last season was yes, you need good players. You need good players that are buying into what you're doing, players that want to improve.
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'But I had good characters, I had good types in there all the time that drove standards every single day and then the togetherness that comes off that, if you can work hard and stay humble during the highs and make sure you keep, every time you step on the training pitch, trying to improve - I think that's something that we definitely benefited from last year.
'I think one thing that was very consistent with last year was I always believed in the group.
'I always believed in what we had and what we were doing and the thing that kept me going was the players.
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'The players kept me going because I never ever felt for one minute that they weren't all into what we were doing.
'I wasn't seeing things that made me doubt that it would turn, so having that belief and then having the support from above to trust in that, I was able to demonstrate why I believed it would turn.'
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Hibs fans are longing for their first taste of European group stage football. If they can shock Midtjylland again then they would take on Norwegian side Fredrikstad.
If not they would drop into the Conference League where they would be likely to face Partizan Belgade who are 2-0 up on Oleksandriya.
Gray knows Thursday against Midtjylland has the makings of another special European evening.
Gray excitedly added: 'Absolutely, they're the nights that players will remember, fans will remember, sell-out crowds, European football.
'Anyone I've ever spoken to, I was even speaking to wee Gav (kit man Gavin Gillies) earlier today, he talks about European nights under the lights being what he remembers as a Hibs supporter.
'He says they're the best nights he's ever been involved in in football so to bring the nights back would be special - if you've got an opportunity to be successful.'