David Gray says he wasn’t given any sort of ultimatum by the Hibs hierarchy after being given more time to turn things around.
The Easter Road side are rock bottom of the Premiership with just eight points gained from 12 games. Gray was appointed permanent boss in the summer but he’s struggling to get his team motoring.
Hibs released a statement to fans two days after losing to St Mirren last time out explaining that Gray will be given more time, despite acknowledging results have been unacceptable.
Gray says the message was to start winning and quickly and not to reach a certain number of points across the next period of games.
David Gray confirms no Hibs ultimatum
He told the press ahead of Hibs facing Dundee on Saturday night: “No, no sort of ultimatum. It was pretty self-explanatory for me, which is you need to start winning quickly, we know that; I’m well aware of that.
“It’s not a case of one game, two games, three games, how many points it could be over the course of that.
“The position we find ourselves in at the moment as a football club isn’t good enough and we need to change that as quickly as we can and we’ve got an opportunity to try and do that at the weekend.
“If we win at the weekend, you go one point behind Dundee who are currently seventh in the league, so that’s how quickly that can change again.
“As I say, I’m not looking past that because I know the fine margins we’re dealing with at the moment.”
Gray did not ‘fear’ Hibs sack
Gray was asked if he had a feeling he was going to be sacked after losing to St Mirren, to which he replied: “No, I don’t think so.
“I was asked that even before the St Mirren game, I was asked the question about fearing for my job. I don’t think fear is the right word.
“I fully understand it’s not good enough, what I’ve delivered – and I’m responsible for the results after the number of games I’ve had.
“So, as I said after the game and I still stand by, I fully understand why people would ask the question and the noise would be there, 100 per cent, fully accept that.
“But I also believe I can turn it around and I still feel that way, even having the last two weeks on the grass with the players, the feeling I get from them is about how quickly things can change.
“But I also know that you don’t just get an endless amount of time. The statement clearly said as well that they’ve got support in the manager – but things need to improve.
“I need a reaction from the first-half performance especially, which we got in the second half against St Mirren.
“I know we didn’t go and score to make it 2-2, but the reaction was then clearly there for the players, players that came on to the pitch made a difference, the togetherness is there, so some of the players that came on hadn’t been playing but they’re still massively part of it.
“You can see that with the way they performed, so there is a real togetherness still here. I still feel it all the time and they’re doing that every day in training, and I know that a lot of the players have come out and said what they’ve said and how they feel about it.
“But that also gives me the confidence knowing that there is still a real togetherness there and a desire to change it and I believe that we will.”