Malky Mackay has explained the key decisions and factors in assembling David Gray's backroom staff.

The new Hibs head coach appointed Eddie May, Liam Craig, and Craig Samson to assist him the dugout, and sporting director Mackay has been pleased by how quickly the trio have 'gelled' with each other, and the wider staff at the club. 

He says the club wanted to allow Gray to surround himself with people he is comfortable with, while also holding talks with him to ensure his picks would bring the required 'balance' to the roles. May previously assisted Gray during caretaker stints, Craig is a former team-mate with coaching experience at St Johnstone, Arbroath and Queen's Park, while Samson returns to the club for a second coaching spell.

“It’s a really important blend," Mackay told Hibs TV from the club's Netherlands training camp. "There has to be trust. The guys have to tell him what they feel, and have the ability to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear, but at the same time when the manager makes his mind up on something, they follow. That has to be there.

“There has to be reasons why they say what they say, and they back it up with something, and sometimes make a statement that he is not expecting to hear.

“And there has to be a balance that they think similarly. It’s not an easy balance to strike sometimes. You have to have guys around you that feel secure in telling you what they think without fear of spoiling the relationship.

“There needs to be someone who can connect with players and staff, someone with a tactical mind to help David in coaching, and a calm head that can whisper in his ear and keep an eye on everything.

“All of these factors come into it. Having spoken to David in bringing in Eddie, Liam, and Craig, we had that conversation as to the balance that he would need. He’s a new head coach, and needs people around him he’s comfortable with.

“It was important that we didn’t put someone with him that we decided on, it’s important the coach is comfortable with the people he’s around, instead of forcing him into something we thought might have been good.

“These guys also have to have an impact, they can’t just be your friends. If they are, situations fail quite quickly for a manager, and it’ll never be right. There has to be a reason for the person coming in and David spoke about that really, really clearly at his interview. Since then, when we spoke to the clubs about releasing the guys, there was a good reasoning behind it and I was able to speak to the board about why we did that.”

May, Craig, and Samson have all been titled 'assistant coach', with no hierarchy involved. Samson, for example, will take on goalkeeping coach duties, but Mackay says Hibs did not want to limit his remit when they felt he had much more to offer. The sporting director insists it was always imperative to ensure these senior staff appointments would provide a link to the wider staff, and that they were the right characters to help create a positive atmosphere around the training ground.

“All of them will be assistant coaches," said Mackay. "And that’s important – there isn’t a pecking order there. Craig Samson is an assistant coach, not just a goalkeeping coach because there’s so many more strings to his bow than that.

“The work that we did in terms of him, Liam, and Eddie, I’m pleasantly surprised by how quickly it’s gelled together quite well. I’m really delighted with the ambience of the training ground since they came in.

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“It’s important that staff at the training ground feel they can talk to the senior staff, be able to chat, have dialogue and work with them without being snapped at. Over a period of time, that’s something I’ve looked at and seen, that in the past, now and again, there’s a senior member of staff who overstepped the mark slightly with staff at our training ground.

“That doesn’t make for a good atmosphere. I spoke to all the staff at the training ground about being positive, proactive, and enjoying your work.

“Having a work ethic and being low maintenance – because there’s enough high maintenance footballers! But, at the same time, actually being able to relax and enjoy your work without fear of being snapped at.

“On that, I’m really happy with the blend of guys David has brought in. They’ve immediately come in, and there’s a good atmosphere around the training ground, and it’s transported here to the Netherlands."