Hibs captain Joe Newell paid tribute to ‘living legend’ David Gray this afternoon as he undertook his pre-match media duties ahead of our final William Hill Premiership game before the first international break of 2026/27.
Hibs host Aberdeen on Saturday for the final outing before a three-week break, looking to return to winning ways following the defeat against Kilmarnock last time out.
And they will do so with a new face in the dugout, with John Potter stepping up temporarily following the departure of Gray on Wednesday.
He said: “It’s always horrendous when it happens, so it’s been a tough week for everyone, not just the players, but everyone at the Club.
“Every day at this Football Club I’ve been here, he was here, genuinely every day in the building.
“It’s never nice when anyone loses a job, but knowing someone for that amount of time, knowing how hard he worked, knowing what effort he put into each role he’s had at the Club, his status at the Club, all these things, it’s been very tough on a human level.
“He was a man that’s done so much here, Liam [Craig] and Craig [Samson], who played a massive part in the recent history as well.
“I think when people lose their jobs, it’s never on the back of positivity, and it’s because we’ve been doing things right, so there’s always an element of blame for all of us.
“He took responsibility, and that’s something he’s always done, and he always protected his players, and it was always something I thought was really noble and summed him up as a man.
“I think it’s important that everyone at the Club remembers him for what he’s done, and I’m sure they will.
“His time in charge of the Club was a massive success, and I think the more time goes on, the more people will appreciate that.
“He’s not just a living legend, but he’ll go down in history at this Club, and he should be massively proud of what he achieved here.”
Despite the nature of a difficult few days, Newell says he and his teammates must pick themselves up quickly if they are to earn a first home league victory of the campaign.
While Hibs home form has been disappointing so far in 2026/27, the captain believes there is still time to turn the situation around and achieve their targets this season.
He added: ‘There’s no crisis in terms of the stage of the season, and we’re still early on in the season.
“There’s only six league games in, so we’re in a position where we can turn it around quickly, and still a very successful season can be had.
“It’s a game of football at home against a competitive team in the league, and we need to start winning, so that’s our focus.
“We’ve obviously had a recent poor run of form, performances and results, so the main thing is a reaction.
“The main thing is to try and get back on winning terms, but a performance that the fans can kind of get behind, and hopefully we’ll get it tomorrow.
“I think everyone focussing on their roles and ready to show the best version of themselves to make sure that the performance is better first and foremost, and then hopefully with that, a result comes.
“This is the best squad I’ve been involved in at the Club, so I’m massively confident that we can still achieve what we’ve set out to achieve this year.
“I’m full of optimism, full of confidence in the lads, and that’s the main thing.
“I know how good this squad is, so it fills me with more than enough confidence.”
