Current Hibernian. head coach, thirty six year old David Gray has been linked (we ask for caution on this) to the same role at Swansea City. We have already profiled Gray and he has had an extremely down then up season, however now in a controlled manner he speaks on this Swans link.
Gray has taken Hibs to third place in the SPL (Scottish Premier League) this season with a flurry of positive results after calls for his head in mid December. The Hibees support was extremely unhappy with him, and made their feelings known. Fan quotes were harsh and very negative even at the end of November going into a defeat against Celtic in early December.
It was a club in freefall and only looking like they were going in one direction. Gray, not unlike other young managers, and especially the last two at Swansea City was suffering from the same old symptoms. A lack of concentration, late goals, too many errors and key players hiding on the field of play. Now, since that December 7th defeat to Celtic he has gone from absolute zero to untouchable hero. Since these connections with the Swans he is exalted as the man to take the club forwards. He can do no wrong, and Swansea can keep their hands off this mercurial young head coach.
His last ten games reflect an incredible upturn in form.
And it stretches longer than that as well.
We ran a profile on Gray yesterday.
Now on hearing this news in Scotland we see comments such as,: "He’s not going anywhere. He wants to win things with Hibs.” Another, "You leave Sir David Gray where he is thank you very much”. A far cry from the dislike and attacks on his managerial style and tactics of twelve weeks ago. You can of course understand this after such an incredible turnaround. For us he is nowhere near the quality the Swans require, he hasn’t been a full time manager for longer than eight months. In that time he has displayed very poor strategies on the field of play and of course this remarkable revival which is eye catching. Hibs fans are right, they need him in Edinburgh. The Swans don’t need another project.
⚽️ The Hibs Observer report Gray’s reaction to these links with Swansea City.
The Easter Road boss has led his side to a 15-game unbeaten run, with just one defeat in their last 18 games in all competitions. They travel to Celtic on Sunday for a Scottish Cup quarter-final meeting but earlier this week, Gray was mentioned as a possible candidate for the Liberty Stadium job, following the departure of Luke Williams last month.
Asked in his pre-match press conference about the rumours, Gray said: "I am ambitious, but it's just a funny game, isn't it? You think back to this season on the whole and where we've been, and the line of work we're in, with people speculating about whether I'm going to stay in the job and how quickly things change when you put a good run together. Now there are other people talking about my job in another way, in a positive way. Listen, nothing changes in my point of view. I'm 100 per cent focused on what I'm doing, because I've got the hardest thing in the world to try and do at the weekend, which is to try to get a game plan to go to Celtic Park and win, and that's all that's on my mind at the minute. I'm fully committed to what I'm doing here and I'm 100 per cent behind what we're trying to do moving forward."
Gray doesn’t deny the link, nor though does he bang on about his agent and who to speak to making a rod for his own back. He turns the conversation round to Hibernian FC and the next game away at Celtic. This young head coach has experienced some of the low points in management and is now on the crest of a wave. The thing the Swans need to analyse and supporters will most certainly want to know is ‘Do we take the gamble?’ Is Gray another Des Buckingham or the new Graham Potter ? Can he move from a far weaker league overall in Scotland to a very competitive forty six game a season Championship ? Has he the experience to gain the respect of this Swansea squad ? And what happens if he goes on the same run he did when the season started at Hibs ? Too many possibles and maybe’s for us at this moment time. Overall he feels like a manager who could bring you success but could also bring relegation.
However, you may have a differing view ?