Former Hibernian winger Jamie Murphy has backed David Gray to be a success as head coach of the Easter Road side - and revealed Gray's team talk ahead of the 2021 Scottish League Cup final during his first spell in interim charge is one of the best he's ever heard during his career.

Murphy, now at Ayr United, was speaking as part of an appearance on the Open Goal podcast, and reflected on his time at Hibs, whom he joined initially on loan in 2020 before signing a permanent deal. Injuries limited him to 50 appearances in all competitions across a season and a half, while he featured under two permanent managers in Jack Ross and Shaun Maloney, and Gray during his first spell in interim charge of the Scottish Premiership side.

"I've not got fond memories of Hibs because of the hamstring injuries," Murphy admitted. "I think I injured it in my second game and was out for a month, then I was back for a couple of months, then out for six weeks and at the end of that season - I'd done my hammy in March - in my first training session back, I did it again. 

"I remember saying to the physio Tommy [Scanlon], 'I'm going to have to chuck it, I can't keep doing this'. But he told me to stick with it and I managed to get myself fit for the cup final and I was on the bench when we lost to St Johnstone."

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Murphy spoke warmly of his relationship with Jack Ross and John Potter - 'brilliant guys' - and revealed their dismissal in December, mere days before the League Cup final, was 'gutting for everyone'. 

"We finished third and got to the Scottish Cup final, then the next season we reached the League Cup final but Jack lost his job like a week before the final," Murphy continued.

"I think we'd maybe lost five or six games but I think that just happens sometimes in the Scottish Premiership. So we'd won the semi-final and then a week before the final, Jack was sacked. Couldn't believe it. Everyone was gutted, everyone loved the gaffer. You always get one or two who he hasn't played who might not be happy but him and John Potter were brilliant guys.  You could sit and talk to Jack about anything, or he could come to you. Same with John. The impact of them going was gutting for everyone."

Gray was placed in temporary charge of the team and tasked with leading the side into a national cup final against Ange Postecoglou. Murphy started the final and reflected on the pre-match build-up. 

"Dave took over for the final and gave what I think is the best pre-match team talk I've ever heard. He spoke about scoring the winner in the Scottish Cup final in 2016, how it changed his life and what it meant to him, and how he wanted that feeling for us. He told us that he'd never get that again because his playing career was finished, and it was our chance to get that feeling and be remembered.

"We took the lead in the game and I remember thinking, 'We're going to win' - and then 30 seconds later they scored, straight from kick-off. You couldn't really see anything because of the smoke from the pyro. If we'd kept it 1-0 for another ten minutes... but when they scored you kinda felt they would score again."

Asked if he could see Gray as a future manager even during his first caretaker stint in charge, Murphy replied: "I think it was always set that way, wasn't it? They call him 'Sir' David Gray at Hibs - someone with that nickname at a club is always going to get a job at some point! But he was really good, and his coaching was really good. I think he'll do well. Hibs is a hard place to do well but he's certainly got everything about him."

Murphy featured regularly under Ross but found starting opportunities limited when Maloney was brought in as his successor in late December. Despite that, he rated the current Wigan boss during his brief stint in charge at Easter Road.

"I really liked Shaun. The way he had us training and the way he wanted us to play was completely different to anything I'd had before. He'd be talking about false full-backs and 'if they go there, we go here'. I think he took a lot from Roberto Martinez," Murphy added.

"But we were in almost every day training. Most teams don't do that so that took a bit of getting used to. Sometimes when we were in, we were only on the pitch for half an hour and the other part was the meeting."

After four appearances off the bench under Maloney, and one start in the Scottish Cup against  Cove Rangers, Nigel Clough - under whom Murphy had played at Sheffield United between 2013 and 2015, and again at Burton Albion during a loan spell from Rangers in 2020 - came calling once again. 

"I thought Shaun's training was really good - he just never played me. I was on the bench, I was coming on every game but I never started a [league] game from when he came in," Murphy explained. 

"I'd even come on and scored but I knew I was out of contract at the end of the season so I went to him and said, 'I need to know what your plans are; are you going to keep me around?' And he was humming and hawing and I knew then. I could have sat there for the next three or four months and played sporadically and then left, but Nigel Clough wanted me down at Mansfield."

Murphy was firmly of the opinion that Ross was sacked too soon - and felt the same about former Scotland colleague Maloney. 

"I thought Shaun got sacked far too early as well. He only lasted what, three months? If you're introducing a new way of playing and trying to explain it to someone who hasn't played it before, you're not going to do that in a month. It's going to take time."