Hibernian

We asked you what the one thing nobody is talking about in relation to Hibernian - good or bad.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Scott: Nobody but a small number of fans via blogs are talking about more involvement or takeover from Black Knight. Make it happen before we're relegated.

Andy: Where is the development squad? Hibs have signed a plethora of players supposedly for a development squad, there is a youth team that did well in Europe and a massively underperforming first team. Why are the first team not under pressure for their places? Just another dismal failure from Hibs' recruitment team?

Jason: All eyes where on what successes and fortunes we would have with the arrival of the Black Knight consortium. But we seem to be going more backwards than ever. Maybe it's time for all shareholders and owners to sit down and find a plan soon before relegation looms again at Easter Road. Surely we can afford a manager good enough.

David: Why is no one talking about the relationship with the Black Knight group? It has gone very quiet since the interview about getting into Europe and then eventually challenging for the league. Where has the finance and ambition gone and what are the Black Knight group thinking about the current state of affairs?

Grahame: As a club we have a rookie manager with inexperienced assistants, the director of football should be sourcing a experienced set-piece coach, someone like Austin MacPhee who is presently available after leaving Aston Villa and until recently the Scottish national team.

Ron: The discrepancy between the standards of the first team and the development squad/academy. We have a struggling senior team while the youngsters seem to be winning for fun. Time for youth to be given a chance - which always used to be the way at Hibs? Maybe their "desire" would help?

Image source, SNS

• Dundee have won just one of their last 16 top-flight meetings with Hibs (D7 L8), a 3-1 victory in May 2022 under Mark McGhee.

• Hibs have won four of their last seven top-flight away games at Dundee (D2 L1), more than their previous 12 beforehand (W3 D3 L6).

• Dundee have conceded 2+ goals in nine of their last 10 league games (21 total), including each of their last four in a row since a 1-0 win at Motherwell in October.

• Hibs have only won one of their last 15 away league outings (D8 L6), and are winless in seven (D3 L4) since beating St Johnstone 3-1 in April last season.

• Dundee have had more direct attacks (20) than any side in the Scottish Premiership this season, while only Celtic (94) and Rangers (94) have forced more high turnovers in the division this term than the Dark Blues (83).

It has been a dismal season so far for Hibs as they prop up the Premiership with an underperforming squad.

Novice manager David Gray is battling to improve the team's fortunes and avoid becoming the latest Easter Road boss handed his P45.

Amid all the turbulence, what is the one thing nobody is talking about regarding Hibs - good or bad?

Let us know., external

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

It's been all quiet at Easter Road since the statement from the board that gave their backing to David Gray.

But let's not beat about the bush. Gray and his backroom team know results must improve otherwise the next statement coming from the club could be announcing his departure.

The home loss to St Mirren will still be hurting and for the players the last 10 days or so should have been more than enough for them to digest the seriousness of the situation.

It is utterly unacceptable for a club the size of Hibernian to have only one victory in the league at this stage of the season.

As I have said on many occasions, the fans deserve better, and it's now time for the team to step up and show what they are capable of.

Dundee will be no pushovers however. Tony Docherty has assembled a decent squad that can at times play very attractive football.

But for Gray and his players this week it doesn't matter how Hibs perform. When you are down the bottom of the table the only thing that matters is a win.

Even if it comes from an own goal in the eighth minute of added time, no one at Easter Road will be complaining.

This weekend is all about travelling back home with three points that could lift the club off the bottom of the Premiership.

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, SNS

Bottom of the Premiership table, one win in 12 games and just eight points from a possible 36, it's been a miserable season so far for Hibs.

What are some of the bleak numbers behind this poor run of form, though? We've peaked behind the curtain and taken a look at some.

In front of goal, Hibs have found the back of the net just 11 times - only Ross County (10) have scored fewer. As a result, the Edinburgh side are greatly underperforming their xG of 14.68 so they're almost four goals worse off than they should be.

Their shot conversion rate is also poor, the poorest in the league in fact, at just 7.24.

To put that into perspective, top of the table Aberdeen have a shot conversion of over 17, while St Johnstone, who narrowly avoided relegation last term, are on 11.35.

While Hibs have unleashed 152 shots over their 12 matches so far, only 41 have been on target. They're third lowest in the league with fellow strugglers Hearts and Kilmarnock the only teams with fewer efforts on target.

At the other end, David Gray's side have made three errors leading to goals, that's the second highest in the top flight - only Dundee have had more.

At this point last season, Hibs were seven points better off having played one more game and recorded three wins and six draws.

This season, their one victory has been compounded by 11 points lost from winning positions - the highest in the top flight. The closest teams to that number are Dundee and Killie who have dropped eight points when they've been leading.

Conversely, Hibs have only picked up one point from a losing position, that is also the second worst in the top flight.

Little to be positive about down Leith.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Twelve games played, one victory, bottom of the Premiership table. No wonder the fans at Easter Road are questioning what is going on.

There was so much hope and expectation just a few months ago when David Gray was handed the job on a permanent basis.

A young manager who had done well in his numerous interim periods in charge, a club legend who will be forever remembered as the goalscoring captain who finally brought the Scottish Cup back to Easter Road after over a century of failures.

An experienced sporting director, Malky Mackay, who knew the Scottish game inside out, was brought in along with new shareholders, the Black Knight group, who have worldwide experience in football recruitment.

So why has it gone so wrong? I wish I knew the answer but as hard as Gray has tried he simply cannot get a tune out of this squad.

The players themselves have said they are to blame. Captain Joe Newell spoke to the media before the weekend defeat by St Mirren and told us Gray deserves so much more than they have been giving him.

Saturday's match was simply a repeat of what has been happening this season.

Hibs had 70% possession but St Mirren had 15 attempts on goal. That was three more than Hibs mustered in front of their own fans.

Gray has now received the dreaded vote of confidence from the board but they have also outlined improvements have to come quickly.

The club will have a major overhaul next summer when many of the biggest earners are out of contract and decisions will have to be made soon as to who they want to keep.

On current form there are not too many players the fans would be crying over should they move on.

The Christmas period of games is the busiest time in the calendar and with trips to Dundee, Celtic, Motherwell, Aberdeen and Tynecastle all to come before the end of 2024, the road ahead is looking increasingly bumpy for Hibs.

Hibernian are poised to recall Rory Whittaker from Spartans in January as they fear a lack of game time for the League 2 side is hampering the 17-year-old right-back's development. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Empoli midfielder Liam Henderson is hoping to remain in Italy beyond next summer, although no extension to his current contract has yet been dished out despite the former Hibs 28-year-old's 14 appearances for the Serie A side this season. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full.

BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions on Hibs.

Anon asked: Do we continue with David Gray and hope he turns the situation around or, as I suspect the board will do, throw him to the wolves? We can't afford to give this job to someone with no managerial experience. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but Neil Lennon is available.

Tom answered: Bottom of the league. Eight points after 12 games. It's disgraceful really. For a club as big and as terrific as Hibs, this is just unacceptable.

Compare what they were like under Lennon, when they were playing good football, scoring tremendous goals, giving the Old Firm a bloody nose from time to time. That was a different Hibs.

On the Lennon question, I don't know about that one, but the Lennon era can certainly be seen as the halcyon days compared to this rubbish.

Everybody's to blame at Hibs. The players, the manager, sporting director Malky Mackay, the board of directors, everyone. The recruitment has been terrible for a long number of years.

So it's not just on Gray, although he's carrying the can right now. It's on the decisions that have been made for years, decisions that were made in the summer. This team has cried out for competent, not really good, but just competent centre-halves for a long time.

Mackay has come in in the summer. He's in charge of recruitment among other things, so we're told. He is the guy bringing the players in. He signs Marvin Ekpiteta and Warren O'Hora, signs the goalkeeper Josef Bursik, and somehow makes them worse. They're just not good enough. Why have they been signed?

And then you could extend that around the team. They are in an awful, awful state, and Gray might pay for it with his job. Another one through the revolving Easter Road door.

And what might happen? Well, Mackay might come in as the manager. And we start again. You know, there's something really fundamentally wrong with that club. They are on a vicious cycle of making terrible decisions and until they start making good decisions, this is just going to repeat on a cycle, this Groundhog Day.

We asked for your views after Hibs publicly backed under-pressure head coach David Gray amid a poor start to the season.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Gordon: The worst state we've been in since the Gordon family took over, this was the final deplorable decision. To keep Gray on as manager when his periods of interim manager were, at best, average is completely beyond me. His team selections are poor, tactics even worse and all he seems to do is whistle from the dugout.

Kenneth: I don't understand the way Hibs are being run. Either the players are not good enough or it's the manager. We had a good manager in Jack Ross, constant top-six finish and two cup finals. We are going nowhere fast! My season ticket won't be getting renewed.

David: The board is backing the manager but without a strategic change, what's the point? The current squad talks a good game, but doesn't deliver. Players need to earn their place in the team, but poor performers keep appearing each week. Why? Where's the team cohesion? Where's the professionalism? Where's the drive to win?

John: Standing by the current manager is admirable but it will not accomplish anything as the team lack coordination, tactical awareness or motivation - that is the manager's responsibility. Change must happen or the Championship awaits.

Kris: I feel the club had to comment one way or another to avoid speculation over the international break. Appointing Gray was a mistake, the club needs a rebuild and an inexperienced manager was too big a gamble. I'm not sure what the answer is but on current form we will be relegated. The team shows no fight, how much of that is down management?

Dougie: Absolutely no point in sacking Gray. The best we can hope for is not to get relegated! Hibs has become the most un-investable club in the UK.

Matt: That usually means he's got three games left to sort this out, which is three games too many sadly. A great man who has been thrown under the bus by our board. If (when) he goes, the animosity from the fans towards the board will be as bad as we've ever seen.

Matty Fairnie
Fan writer

Hibs have come out and given David Gray a vote of confidence following an abject home defeat by St Mirren – a game that had all the hallmarks of a final nail in a struggling manager's coffin.

Hibs were such a shambles in the first half that Gray rolled the dice and looked to players that have, for much of the season, appeared to be on their way out. Rocky Bushiri, Harry McKirdy and Dylan Levitt featured along with Nicky Cadden, who is returning from injury.

It didn't look like a coherent plan, more a case of Gray's patience finally running out with the players who have constantly let him down this season.

In the week running up to the game, we heard from Martin Boyle and Joe Newell about how they had let the gaffer down. Rather than doing something about it, they let him down him again – though Newell and Boyle weren't alone in that regard.

This is a team in dire need of a lift from somewhere. Hibs' statement mentioned all departments being under pressure to deliver and working hard with Black Knight Football to do so.

They better do it fast otherwise this season is going to be catastrophic.

Matty Fairnie can be found at the Longbangers podcast, external

Bournemouth head of recruitment Garvan Stewart is expected to spearhead a rebuild of Hibernian's first team. (Mail), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish gossip

Hibs fans, what do you make of the club's statement to say they are standing by head coach David Gray?

Have your say on the current state of affairs at Easter Road., external

Since David Gray was appointed as Hibs head coach on a permanent basis in the summer, three of his four wins and 14 of the 26 goals scored came during the Scottish League Cup group stages.

These statistics do not include Gray's spells as Hibernian caretaker manager.

What would you like to ask Tom English about Hibs?

Our chief sportswriter is in the hotseat ready to answer your questions and offer his insight and opinion on your club.

Answers will be provided on Tuesday’s episode of the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast and on this page later in the week.

Put your questions to Tom here., external

Nicky Cadden is bothered by the notion that he is not deeply affected by Hibernian's recent woes. (Record), external

Cadden says the Hibs players "care probably as much as everyone else". (Edinburgh Evening News - subscription), external

Read Monday's Scottish gossip

Watch highlights of Hibernian's 2-1 defeat against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

(Available to UK audiences only)

We asked for your views on Hibernian's 2-1 defeat against St Mirren.

There were a lot of responses, here's what some of you said:

Malcolm: We are a team lacking belief, confidence and now desire. This is a rookie manager having no romance with his fate in this league. Played 12, won once and rooted at the bottom. Even the best manager would struggle to get us out of this now!

Ross: Worst performance of the season by far. Having the creative force of Dylan Levitt and Nicky Cadden in the second half improved things. Not deserved but unlucky not to sneak a point. Hopefully David Gray now realises three defensive midfielders won't work. He needs time, not pressure to get us back on track.

Scott: That first half was the worst 45 minutes I have ever witnessed at Easter Road, an absolutely feeble attempt to win a game of football.

Allan: Worst performance of the season and by some margin. Too many players didn’t turn up on a day that Gray needed them. That said, still some strange decision making from Gray in terms of personnel. We’re too defensive and it’s costing us. Levitt is the only player who knows how to take a forward first touch, move the ball quickly and offensively.

Les: Worst display of the season, Malky Mackay and Gray have to go. Defence are clueless, midfield soft and forwards misfiring. It needs to change very quickly or we are going to be relegated. Not one player looked up for it in first half, Levitt made a difference but the rest were useless with even simple passes over hit or misplaced.

George: Very poor first half. Changes made at half time were positive and we played better in the second half. If Martin Boyle had put away the penalty, who knows? But, where do we go from here? Reset and go again next week? Keep the changes and see if they can perform? Good Luck David, you're going to need it.

Mark: What a mess. I feel sorry for Gray, but he should never have been given the job without proving himself at another club first. As for those in charge at the club - bad appointment after bad appointment, an awful signing policy, mass overspending, the list goes on. The next manager HAS to be a solid, proven type like McInnes, or we are going down.

Rob: Groundhog Day. How do you stop this rot? Back to basics, aggression, competitiveness and big hearts. None of that on show week in, week out. That is one of the things hurting us most as fans and particularly season ticket holders who shell out thousands each year to witness no fight or desire. Who has pride to play for the club? Owners need to go.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

David Gray "doesn't deserve this" pressure or performance Hibs inflicted yesterday, according to Nicky Cadden.

Hibs fell to yet another defeat in the Scottish Premiership against St Mirren on Saturday, though Cadden thought he had nicked a point with a late double, though his second was ruled out after striking the arm of the offside Dwight Gayle.

"I'm not to sure [how to explain the performance] if I'm honest," he told BBC Scotland.

"It's simply not good enough. We find ourselves in a position and need to regroup and take it to the next game and hopefully we can change it.

"He doesn't deserve this. Since I came here to the club he has been really good with me. He is really good guy and a good person.

"I don't know and can't explain the form. He certainly doesn't deserve this or that performance.

"We just need to stick together and be together as a team and try to get out of this rut. Ultimately, we need to put in better performances as we know it's not good enough. We need to scrap for three points, fight for three points.

"It's hard to win a game of football so we need to try and change it show and this gaffer we want to play for his football club.”

Image source, SNS

• Hibernian have scored five goals via substitutes in the Premiership this season, only Aberdeen (six) have scored more.

• Hibernian attempted 502 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premiership this season.

• Hibernian have scored in their last six Premiership home games.

• St Mirren have conceded two penalties in the Premiership this season, only Kilmarnock (three) and Hearts (three) have conceded more.