Hibs head coach, David Gray, has set his sights on qualifying for Europe for the third successive season and also progressing in both domestic cup competitions.
Speaking ahead of the 2026/27 season, Gray said that participating in European football fans competing at the top of the table are big selling point in attracting quality players to the club.
So far Hibs have signed Jason Kerr, Callum Wright and Azeem Abdulai with potentially more on the horizon.
Injury victims Joe Newell and Josh Mulligan are both fully fit and raring to go and the only absentee will be Rocky Bushiri whose injury against Motherwell in the last game of the season denied him a place at the World Cup.
When asked what will be a successful season for Hibs, Gray said: “The first thing for us was European football again, so that needs to be the aim and the ambition again for the Football Club.
“Can you be the team to then go three years in a row? So can we recreate history in a real positive way? I say it all the time.
“I challenge the players with that incentive to try and do that, so that’s something, and then the cup competitions are something that we’ve looked at in the last couple of seasons, and you can feel sorry for yourself or feel unlucky about some of the draws and things, but we’ve already demonstrated that on our day with a complete performance we’re as good as anybody at the time, so I think a real strong cup competition is what we’re looking for.
“Coming to this Football Club, I’ve been very fortunate to experience it myself. You can play at a very high level and have a really successful career but never actually win anything in your career. I’ve been very fortunate to have done that, but they’re the greatest days to be involved in, and it is a genuine opportunity at the Football Club.
“It’s a difficult thing to do, an extremely difficult thing to do, but something that you need to strive towards, and if you believe in it and we put in a level of performance, we know we’re a good side, and it’s a genuine opportunity to try and do that.
“We want to try and get back to Hampden, we want to try and be competing in the latter stages of competitions, and that’s where we need to try and make sure we have strong cup runs, I think, with the European stuff, but we’ll just take one game at a time and put absolutely everything into it, and alongside that this is what you’re preparing for.
“You’re preparing for Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, and Sunday at the start of the season. All the players need to be fit and ready to go, but that’s the selling point for this Football Club. If you’re trying to attract players, if you’re trying to motivate the players, and to be competing at the top of the Scottish Premiership, this Football Club is a great place to be when things are going well. It’s a fantastic place to be.”
Credit: Ian Jacobs
