Malky Mackay exclusive: Why Hibs appointed David Gray

The end, of course, being the conclusion of a long apprenticeship, and the beginning of his journey as Hibs head coach. The 36-year-old Scottish Cup-winning former captain has served on the backroom team under four different bosses - also the number of times he was asked to play caretaker as Hibs fell into a vicious cycle of constant managerial upheaval.

When Nick Montgomery was dismissed on May 24, Gray was among 50 'serious' applicants to become his successor. Hibs announced the appointment of Malky Mackay as sporting director the same day Montgomery departed, and he led the search to find the next man. The process was gradual, with numbers cut from 50 to 20, down to 12 and then five, before a final two competed to make the role theirs. As the pool of candidates shrunk, Mackay had lunch with several of them before settling on the final five-man shortlist.

"You get a different side to them than when they’re standing presenting to you," said Mackay. “You get a bit of the real person. It doesn't matter how good someone is at their job, the relationships have got to work."

But Gray's decisive moment came when he was given the floor to set out exactly why he believed his time to manage Hibs had finally come. During those four spells as interim, he had often tiptoed around the subject of a permanent appointment. Last month, though, after games against Motherwell and Livingston, there was a subtle but definite change of tact. Gray didn't outright declare that he wanted the position now, but he did make clear that he felt absolutely capable of doing it.

How an alternative appointee would have dealt with knowing that ambition was simmering away in a key backroom figure, we'll never know, but Gray had reached a juncture where he could either go all-out to get the job, or potentially face his immediate future being away from Easter Road. He chose the former, and after making the final shortlist he presented for two-and-a-half hours to Mackay and an assembled panel of interviewers. At the end, the floor was opened up to questions, but Gray had covered so many bases that one interviewer didn't have any to ask him.

"David's been here a number of years, but he had to earn his spurs in the interviews," said Mackay. "He really, really nailed the main one. I really enjoyed the fact that he knows every fabric of the club. He can eat, sleep and breathe it. Obviously, we need to deal with recruitment, but we’re hitting the ground running because we’ve got somebody who already knows the whole building, the staff, the players, and what he thinks he would change. One of the interviewers didn’t have any questions to ask him, because he’d covered everything. I really liked that. By the end, in my head, I was going: 'you've absolutely nailed this'.

READ MORE: Hibs reveal retained squad list for 2024/25 season

"What stood out? I loved his attention to detail. We went through his career and his journey, his learning under the four managers and the things that he took from them.  We watched him coach. We saw clips of him coaching in the times where he had taken over, and saw things that he would do in training that were then happening on the pitch. You could see him coaching it, then seeing it when someone’s playing against you in the Premiership. I liked that.

“There was also his attention to detail with the players – who they are, and what we might need to do going forward. The attention to detail around the building, what he thinks needs to be better, and what he thinks has gone well. There was two-and-a-half hours of attention to detail that built up."

Gray ticked several boxes that Mackay considered key, impressing with his knowledge of the game, ability to coach under pressure, and his qualities as a 'people catcher'. The club were also struck by Gray displaying a level of desire to make himself a success in the role that did not come across half as strongly in some of his direct competitors.

"He's got the aura here having been the captain, the leader, someone people gravitate towards in his role as first-team coach the last couple of years," Mackay said. “There’s a seriousness about him, but he has it about him that people want to come and talk to him. He doesn’t push people away. Now, is he going to add to all that? He has to, of course he does. This is just day one on the journey.

"I was there once. That was me at Watford when I was first-team coach and I’d been a player there. I put the same level of work in to get the Watford job. Fortunately, people at the club recognised that at the time. With David, I can smell the absolute desire to want to be the manager of this football club. Some of the candidates, they wouldn’t have minded being the manager, they’d have quite enjoyed it – but with David, I see a completely different thing."

The events of May 21, 2016 ensure Gray will forever be loved and revered at Easter Road, and his ascension to head coach was met with a wave of genuine goodwill. There is a feeling that Gray, despite this being his first management role, may prove to be exactly what Hibs need at this moment in time - a galvanising figure who can help repair the disconnect between club and fans.

Rightly, though, the emotional resonance that comes with having a genuine club icon become leader hasn't washed away scrutiny over how Hibs reached a decision that cannot be understated in its importance. Five sackings in five years is already far too many, and after a disastrous 2023/24 campaign, some supporters wanted to see a significant reset. That Gray had a backroom role in the previous four failed regimes has seen him labelled guilty by association. Mackay, though, feels this is unfair.

"What I would say is that a good coach should give an opinion, then follow the manager," he said. "They shouldn’t rebel, shouldn’t cause anarchy. For example, you ask me ‘what do you think?’, and I say ‘I think we should turn left’, and you say ‘well, I’m thinking of turning right’. I’ll say ‘OK, that’s fine, but I think we should turn left’. But if you say we’re turning right, I’ll follow you. That’s how it should work. You give an opinion - you don’t not speak - but then you follow the manager in whatever he wants.

"In the investigations I’ve done, the things I’ve looked at, the people I’ve spoken to concerning the football club these last few years, I’m led to believe that’s who David has been. I’ve also had character references from people that know him – the good pro, the man that drives standards and is a thinker about the game who is serious about his work on the pitch. All of the above led us to David as the candidate we wanted."

The other lingering accusation, one that Mackay is well aware of, is that Hibs have plumped for the easy, in-house option. That perception was, perhaps, not helped by the fact Gray's candidacy became an open secret while other names in the frame were very much kept under wraps. Mackay, though, is adamant that there is no sentiment or convenience about the decision, and that Gray simply proved himself to be the outstanding candidate. 

“I didn’t know David," Mackay points out. "I didn’t have any baggage with him, or any need to say that I think he should get the job because of who he is and what he’s been at the club. That cuts nothing with me, because I’m coming into this club to do my very, very best from the present day onwards.

“There’s no sentiment attached to anything I’m going to do here. He proved, in amongst a lot of people, an absolute ability as to why we should hire him. That was something that I spoke to the board about when I presented to them – ‘these are the reasons’. It was cold and calculating, I’ve had no prior knowledge of, or allegiance to, David.”

Hibs hope to confirm the the shape of Gray's backroom team before the end of this week. What that should look like has been the subject of debate, and there's a prevailing train of thought that Gray absolutely needs experience alongside him. But Mackay is less concerned about age than he is about dynamics, and how the right characters can bring about the balance that Gray will need to steer a steady leadership course.

“We’re nearly there with that," said Mackay. "Like with anything, people can be in other posts, so there’s conversations going on, and we’re nearly there. David has to feel comfortable with the people round about him, and it’s something I’m very conscious of. I’ve seen before at clubs I played at, and it’s interesting, that sometimes when young managers are brought in, they’re then shoehorned into bringing in grey hair without actually knowing the person, or it’s been put upon them because somebody at the club believed it was a good idea.

“I also don’t advocate just bringing your pal in with you, because it really doesn’t work. There needs to be a skillset in the people around about you, there needs to be a trust level, and they need to hold you to account. But that also can’t be holding you to account every day in life to the point where they’re diametrically opposed to everything you say. There’s a balance to it; you need someone that challenges you but is also on the same wavelength.

“It’s amazing how much I’ve seen it over the years, where you walk in somewhere and think ‘that looks quite good’, but once you start watching you find out they don’t even speak to each other, or it’s just constant arguments. I’ve also seen scenarios where someone has been brought in because he’s a pal and, quite quickly, the players find him out because the guy can’t coach. He quickly becomes the 'bibs, balls and cones' guy. I don’t want to be paying for that either. There has to be reasons why people are brought in, and David is not far away on it."

Whether it was to be Gray or anyone else, the all-encompassing aim for Hibs now must be to break this miserable cycle of hiring and firing coaches. It's one of the key aspects of his new job upon which he will ultimately be judged, but a process he says requires a collective effort. To return success to Easter Road, Mackay is adamant that everyone - from club staff to boardroom - must be pulling in the same direction

“Stability is not a word used much in modern football, but sustained stability brings success eventually," says Mackay. "You get good people, you build over time, everyone’s accountable, there’s a process, a plan, a strategy, and everyone applies work ethic to that. In general, when everyone works in the one direction – players, staff and management buy into that.

READ MORE: Alan Stubbs exclusive - Hibs icon on the job facing David Gray

“Fans jump on that bandwagon in two minutes, as well. It’s not a coincidence that in the times success has happened in my career has been at the end of a happy time at a club. The year we were promoted at Norwich City, everyone was quite clearly moving in the one direction. It happened at Watford. When I took the Cardiff team, everyone was pushing in the one direction. You can see staff and players really tight. When we got top six at Ross County, it was a really good group of people. You see management, up to board level, drawn to that tightness between staff and players.

“Fans will get behind it if they see work ethic and everyone pulling in the same direction. It’s not rocket science that that is when reasonably good things happen. We need to get that back at the club again, that there is a stability. That’s part of my role, making sure there’s stability here at HTC, and accountability to the various heads of departments, knowing everyone’s roles and making sure it all feeds in to give the manager the best chance with the first team on a Saturday.”

Read part two of our interview with Malky Mackay tomorrow, as the sporting director looks ahead to a crucial summer transfer window.