There wasn't the slightest hint of hesitation in David Gray's agreement that another bottom six finish for Hibs is 'unthinkable'.

A first-time manager might reflexively recoil from a term that easily finds its way into headlines, but he's been around Easter Road long enough to know that what happened last season can't happen again. An eight-placed finish in the 2023/24 Premiership was enough to catalyse major behind-the-scenes changes, the result of which was to entrust recovery to one of the most revered figures in the club's history.

That process starts on Sunday in Paisley, at the same venue Gray first took interim charge back in December 2021. His role that day, and on the three other stints that followed, was to hold the fort. Now, this is his team, as is the onus to deliver a return to the European places.

"That’s the expectations and demands of this football club," said Gray. "They haven’t changed since I joined and it’s a demanding place to work. Rightly so because of the infrastructure, the facilities, the fanbase, and the club in general. 

“It’s a huge club in the Scottish game. We’ve had that conversation with the players talking about the demands, expectations and standards we set every single day. We’re driving towards that. 

“The aim has to be European football. It’s going to be harder this year with the coefficient dropping but we have to finish as high as we can in the league and have the opportunity to win a trophy. Those are the goals that have always been set since I joined and I want to take them forward this year. "

The scorer of perhaps the most important goal in Hibs history, few have proven they can handle the expectation quite like Gray. But the same cannot be said for several of those who have come after him. It's hard to attribute last season's bizarre tendency for self-destruction to anything other than psychological frailty, but with many of those same players about to play for him, too, Gray has to find a way of changing things. The narrative around 'demands' and 'standards' at a football club are often framed as inevitably becoming a burden on players, but the new head coach wants to shift that perception towards something more positive.

“You want to play in as many big games as you can," he said. "The big games come from being successful, cup semi-finals and finals at Hampden. There should be an excitement to test yourselves against the best to get to the highest level you possibly can.  You might have someone coming into the first team now as a young boy who has aspirations to get into the Premier League in England, or an international call-up. Everyone’s situation is different.  It’s about framing it so that it’s all about trying to not be scared ever going onto the pitch and worrying about the expectations."

So far, Gray's messaging appears to be getting through. Hibs remain a work in progress, but in a mostly positive Premier Sports Cup group stage campaign, his players seem clear with what he wants from them. Hibs look more direct on the ball, and more aggressive without it. Having filled the emergency stop-gap role so many times, Gray is clearly relishing the freedom to implement his own ideas. The jump from assistant coach to being called 'gaffer' can be a tricky one, in terms of existing player relationships and perceptions, but their response to his work so far has bred confidence in Gray that they now see him 'in a different light'.

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“Very much so," said Gray when asked if he's been satisfied with the team's response to his instructions. "Even the players who know me, who I’ve been coaching and some I played with, and the newer players are slightly different because they’ve only ever seen me in the role.

“In the interim period, I only had a short period of time to be able to do anything and it was slightly tweaking things here and there because I only had maybe one or two days on the training pitch before a game. Unfortunately, it was always during a period of adversity as well when you’re trying to pick the players up. It was more the motivational side rather than the way I wanted the players to play.

“Even players who have been here before, like Joe Newell and Lewis Miller, probably now see me in a different light. And there’s the new staff showing how we want to play and what we expect from the players. To see things coming out in games shows the buy-in we’re getting from everyone. It’s something we want to push on with. We’re in a really good place. We need to take that feeling into the first game of the season and make sure it’s a positive day."