How David Gray 'nailed' Hibs interview as Malky Mackay offers glimpse inside process

Malky Mackay has offered a glimpse inside David Gray's Hibs interview as the new boss wowed the panel.

The Easter Road club announced their former captain and first-team coach as manager last week as Nick Montgomery's successor was secured. Despite being the only candidate named publicly after taking over on an interim basis at the end of last season, the 36-year-old did have competition.

Some supporters have reacted with concern over Gray's lack of experience as the main man, especially given the task at hand in order to get the Hibees back where they belong in Scottish football, with a squad rebuild ahead. But sporting director Mackay insists the 2016 Scottish Cup hero was the outstanding candidate thanks to his attention to detail at interview.

"David's been here a number of years, but he had to earn his spurs in the interviews," he told Hibs Observer. He really, really nailed the main one. I really enjoyed the fact that he knows every fabric of the club. He can eat, sleep and breathe it.

"Obviously, we need to deal with recruitment, but we’re hitting the ground running because we’ve got somebody who already knows the whole building, the staff, the players, and what he thinks he would change. One of the interviewers didn’t have any questions to ask him, because he’d covered everything. I really liked that. By the end, in my head, I was going: 'you've absolutely nailed this'.

"What stood out? I loved his attention to detail. We went through his career and his journey, his learning under the four managers and the things that he took from them. We watched him coach. We saw clips of him coaching in the times where he had taken over, and saw things that he would do in training that were then happening on the pitch. You could see him coaching it, then seeing it when someone’s playing against you in the Premiership. I liked that.

“There was also his attention to detail with the players – who they are, and what we might need to do going forward. The attention to detail around the building, what he thinks needs to be better, and what he thinks has gone well. There was two-and-a-half hours of attention to detail that built up."

Another accusation thrown the club's way is that Gray was perhaps the easy or cheap option since he was already in the building, or that it was a decision based on sentiment given his standing in Leith. Mackay points out he had no prior relationship with him so his decision was an objective one.

“I didn’t know David," Mackay points out. "I didn’t have any baggage with him, or any need to say that I think he should get the job because of who he is and what he’s been at the club. That cuts nothing with me, because I’m coming into this club to do my very, very best from the present day onwards.

“There’s no sentiment attached to anything I’m going to do here. He proved, in amongst a lot of people, an absolute ability as to why we should hire him. That was something that I spoke to the board about when I presented to them – ‘these are the reasons’. It was cold and calculating, I’ve had no prior knowledge of, or allegiance to, David.”