David Gray Sacked as Hibernian Head Coach After Poor Start

David Gray’s 12-year Hibernian story is over. The club’s Scottish Cup hero has been sacked just six games into the new Premiership season, his tenure as head coach cut short after a bleak run at Easter Road.

Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to bottom side Kilmarnock proved the breaking point. Another flat home display, another loss. Six league games played, six points on the board, ninth in the table – and a sixth successive home defeat stretching back into last season. The stands have felt it. So has the board.

Hibs confirmed that assistants Liam Craig and Craig Samson have also left, with John Potter stepping in to take charge of Saturday’s home match against Aberdeen.

Executive chairman Ian Gordon underlined the weight of the call but made clear the board felt cornered by the spiral in form.

“Ultimately, this is a decision that we have not taken lightly, but unfortunately, one as a board we had to make due to the recent downturn of results and performances,” he said, framing the move as a response to a slide they no longer believed Gray could halt.

For many around Easter Road, this will sting on a deeper level than a standard managerial change. Gray is not just another name on the office door. He is the captain who climbed the Hampden steps in 2016, the defender who flung himself at a stoppage-time cross and headed Hibs into Scottish Cup immortality, ending a 114-year wait for the club’s third triumph in the competition. That goal rewrote history and bound him to the club in a way few managers ever are.

Signed in 2014, Gray played 177 times for Hibs before hanging up his boots in 2021 and moving straight into the coaching staff. He became the go-to firefighter, stepping in for three short interim spells whenever the club needed a steady hand, before finally being handed the job outright in May 2024 after Nick Montgomery’s departure.

His permanent reign began in turbulence. Just one win in his first 15 league matches left Hibs staring at a grim campaign. Then came the twist. The team surged, hauling themselves up the table in a late-season charge to finish third. It felt, for a while, like the start of something sturdy. Last season’s fifth-place finish seemed to back that up: not spectacular, but solid, and far removed from the chaos that has often stalked the club.

Across 107 games in charge, Gray delivered 43 wins, 35 defeats and 29 draws. The numbers tell of a coach who brought a measure of consistency, but they also underline why a fresh slump, especially at home, set alarm bells ringing again in the boardroom.

Gordon paid a warm, personal tribute to a figure who has been central to Hibs’ modern identity.

“Dave has been an inspirational figure at the club during his time here, and he has been a true friend and fantastic colleague to so many,” he said. “On behalf of my family, I would like to personally thank him for everything he has done for us since we joined the club.

“As a person, he constantly set the standard with his attitude, professionalism and general work ethic and he will be sorely missed around the building by all the players and staff.

“On the pitch, he has delivered some incredible moments for our fans, and brought a level of stability and consistency that we haven't reached in recent years.”

That is the tension Hibs must now live with. They have dismissed the man who gave them one of the greatest days in their history and who, as a coach, dragged them to respectable league finishes – yet they felt they had no choice as the atmosphere at Easter Road darkened and the defeats piled up.

Potter’s task begins immediately, with Aberdeen arriving in Leith on Saturday and the home crowd demanding a reaction. The board has drawn a hard line on standards. The question now is whether this brutal call sparks a revival, or opens up a new period of uncertainty for a club still chasing the stability Gray once seemed to offer.