Caretaker boss David Gray speaks of 'difficult week' at Hibernian

David Gray spoke of a “very difficult week” at Hibernian after he found himself as caretaker boss for the second time this season following Shaun Maloney’s departure.

The Hibs coach took over temporarily when Jack Ross left Easter Road in December before the former Belgium assistant boss was installed in the hot seat.

Gray was called upon again this week after owner Ron Gordon called time on Maloney after only 19 matches in charge, the latter two being successive derby defeats to Hearts which left the Easter Road side in the bottom half of the cinch Premiership – seventh with 38 points – and out of the Scottish Cup.

Former Hibs defender Gray, who famously scored the winning goal against Rangers in the 2016 Scottish Cup final, will take charge for the remainder of the season with support from Eddie May and Jon Busch, with the first of five post-split fixtures against St Mirren on Saturday.

Gray said: “Understandably it has been a very difficult week for various reasons.

“It is never nice when people lose their jobs.

“It has been difficult for everyone involved at the football club and it is up to us now to try and put that right as quickly as we can.

“It is always a shock when things like that happen but we also recognise – as a club – that results have not been good enough and unfortunately managers carry the responsibly for that.

“Results have not been good enough, no one is shying away from that.

“Every single person involved has to take responsibility, players and staff individually. Can we do more?

“I think everyone will agree that we shouldn’t be in the position we are in but ultimately the league doesn’t lie and we are where we are.

“We want to finish the season as well as we possibly can.

“The objective is to finish seventh and accumulate more points than the team who finish maybe in fourth. We will stay in the same position but we need to look at that.

“If we can get as high as we can in terms of our total points tally, that has to be the objective – to end the season as positively as we can.

“We will take one game at a time. We have an opportunity away to St Mirren which will be a very tough game.”