David Gray Eyes Hampden After Hibs' League Struggles

David Gray knows exactly where he stands. Two league defeats on the spin, a European chance tossed away, and a support already restless. The noise around Hibernian is loud, but the manager is looking at something else entirely – Dingwall, a League 1 opponent with Premiership habits, and a direct route to Hampden.

Beat Ross County on Saturday and Hibs are in the last four of the Premier Sports Cup. The first semi-final of Gray’s reign as head coach. A badly needed foothold in a season that has started with more questions than answers.

This is the early stretch of his third campaign in charge, yet the spotlight feels sharper than ever. Back-to-back Premiership losses to Heart of Midlothian and St Johnstone have darkened the mood, while a golden opportunity to reach the Conference League slipped away. The margins have not been kind, but the judgement is simple.

“That’s the life of a football manager,” Gray said. “You’re judged on results and that doesn’t change. If I’d won three or four games in a row, I’d still put pressure on myself to be better every day.”

He refuses to dress it up. The scrutiny is real, the criticism inevitable. What has changed is the context around him.

When Gray first stepped into the role, Hibs won just one of his first 15 league matches. The board held their nerve. The club, he says, was in a very different place.

Malky Mackay had just arrived as sporting director, the structure was shifting, and Easter Road was deep in a transitional phase. Patience, then, was part of the plan.

Now? Not so much.

“Would I have expected [criticism] to come on quicker now because we’re a bit more settled and we’ve had time to do things? Naturally,” Gray admitted. “I’m not averse to criticism, I’m not shying away from it.

“I’m certainly not put off by it in terms of feeling sorry for myself. If anything, it’s the opposite.”

The tone is defiant rather than defensive. He is not asking for sympathy, only for his team to deliver when it matters most. And this weekend matters.

Hibs have not reached a semi-final since November 2023, when they lost to Aberdeen in this same competition with Gray still part of Nick Montgomery’s backroom staff. That memory lingers. So does the sense that this cup run cannot simply drift away.

“When we spoke about challenges and objectives at the start of the season, getting to Hampden was right at the very top of the list,” he said.

The stakes are clear. A win in Dingwall would not erase the stumbles of August and early September, but it would change the temperature around the club. A semi-final brings occasion, belief, and time. A defeat to lower-league opposition would bring the opposite.

Gray knows the narrative that would follow. That is why he talks about blocking out the “noise”, not because he is unaware of it, but because he has lived through turbulence before.

“If I allow the noise to affect what we’re doing or distract me in any way then you just go under in that situation,” he said. “I’ve been through adversity before and the focus is simply that we need to make sure we win.

“The form and everything else doesn’t matter this weekend. It’s about making sure everyone knows the job in hand, which is a real chance to get to Hampden.”

That “job in hand” is anything but straightforward. The badge may say League 1, but Ross County are operating like a club determined to climb straight back through the divisions.

Relegated from the Championship, they stayed full-time, held on to their core and built around it. They are unbeaten in the league and carry a cutting edge in veteran striker Brian Graham, whose nine goals already include one in a draw with Dundee in the group stage of this competition.

Gray is under no illusion about the scale of the threat.

“They’ve stayed full-time and kept their core together,” he said of the Highland side. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they found themselves back in the Premiership again with the infrastructure, players and management team they’ve got.

“They’ve started the season really well, they’re used to winning games and they’ll be playing with confidence. That adds to the challenge we’ve got.”

So the picture is set. A top-flight club trying to steady itself against a lower-league side that has forgotten how to lose. A manager under pressure walking into a ground where the home team smell opportunity, not upset.

For Gray, it is not about soothing the critics or rewriting the past few weeks. It is about one game, one result, and one destination.

Win in Dingwall, and Hampden awaits. Lose, and the questions around Easter Road only get louder.