In the end, the writing was on the wall for David Gray. An insipid 1-0 home defeat to Kilmarnock on Tuesday night proved to be his final act as Hibernian’s head coach.
Losing in such meek fashion to a Killie side who sit bottom of the league, and who finished the match with ten men, had a distinct end-of-days feel to it.
All the more so given that, had the visitors won by more than just a solitary goal, Hibs could have had few complaints.
It marked a sixth successive home defeat at Easter Road, a run stretching back to the end of last season – and a sequence not witnessed since 1920.
It also left the club ninth in the Premiership table with six points from their opening six matches of the new campaign.
In the aftermath, Gray was defiant, saying: ‘I believe in this group. We know it’s not been good enough.
‘I have been through adversity before at this football club and I’ll continue doing my job until someone tells me otherwise.’
He sounded like a man at the end of his tether. In football, there are times when it becomes plainly obvious that a manager’s time is up.
Scottish Cup legend David Gray has left his role as head coach at Hibernian
There was a feeling that the Hibs board might have allowed Gray to take charge against Aberdeen on Saturday.
One last chance to finally engineer some kind of reaction and a result, with the international break then allowing them to assess the lie of the land.
But he never made it that far. He ran out of ideas and he ran out of road, with the club releasing a statement yesterday to confirm Gray had been relieved of his duties.
The board, through chairman Ian Gordon, spoke of a downturn in results and performances that could no longer be ignored.
Gray’s assistants, Liam Craig and Craig Samson, have also departed, with John Potter taking interim charge for the match against Aberdeen.
There was a running joke at Hibs for a while that they would have to fire up the Bat signal and send for Gray any time a manager had been sacked.
Incredibly, he had taken charge on an interim basis on four occasions before finally landing the role full-time following the departure of Nick Montgomery in the summer of 2024.
Gray’s numbers across more than two years at the helm – 43 wins from 107 matches – were solid enough.
A third-place finish in his first full season brought European football. Fifth place last term secured it again.
There was a long unbeaten league run, a new contract, and periods when the side looked coherent and genuinely competitive.
Only a few weeks ago, Gray became the first Hibs manager in history to guide the club to three wins over Rangers at Ibrox in as many seasons. That’s no mean feat.
Hibs also came within six minutes of reaching the group stage of the Europa Conference League, only for their progress to be halted by Gent.
In the fullness of time, that will surely be viewed as the sliding doors moment; the concession of two late goals against the Belgians which knocked Hibs out.
But, beyond the victory at Ibrox, the domestic form has been a major concern. So much so that a parting of the ways felt like it had been in the post.
There was a 3-1 loss to Hearts in the derby at Easter Road a couple of weeks ago, followed by another tame defeat to St Johnstone.
The 1-0 loss to Killie was merely the final straw. The scrutiny intensified partly because Gray had raised the bar over these past couple of years.
The club were patient with him after a nightmare start to his tenure which saw Hibs mired at the bottom of the table in his first season, only to then go on a record-breaking run at the turn of the year to clinch third place.
There will be some fans who feel he deserved time to try and turn it around again. But the dire nature of their recent performances was hard to ignore.
As plenty of managers in the past would testify, patience is often hard to come by in football, even to those whose status as a club legend is beyond dispute.
And that much is beyond doubt. Gray remains a figure of genuine substance at Hibs. His legacy will forever be secure.
The famous header at Hampden that clinched Scottish Cup glory against Rangers in 2016 – ending 114 years of pain – is the defining moment of the club’s modern history.
In total, he made 177 appearances as a player, and held the captaincy through promotion and into Europe.
David Gray celebrates after scoring the winning goal in the 2016 Scottish Cup final
The various rescue missions he had to perform as interim boss, the memories, sticking with the club through good times and bad, these form an outstanding body of service.
Gordon’s statement acknowledged as much. Gray will be welcomed back. Thanks to his Hampden heroics, he will never have to buy another drink in Leith for the rest of his days.
The deeper questions concern the structure around Gray. Malky Mackay arrived as sporting director at the same moment Gray was made permanent boss.
Mackay oversaw a thorough recruitment process that settled on the internal candidate after examining dozens of options.
He spoke of Gray’s understanding of the club’s fabric and backed him through the early turbulence in those first few months in the job.
Recruitment, however, is a shared responsibility. When results deteriorate, the manager becomes the visible point of accountability. The processes that supplied the squad should also invite examination.
Over the past year or so, the fact that Hearts have been in rude health has only sharpened the contrast between the two rivals.
As is always the case in a city with such visceral rivalry, one club’s progress amplifies the other’s shortcomings.
Hibs supporters looking across Edinburgh see organisation, ambition and upward trajectory.
Their own side eventually turned stale. That disparity increases pressure in ways a league table cannot fully capture.
Hibs will now be looking for their seventh permanent boss in seven years, going all the way back to when Neil Lennon left in 2019.
Paul Heckingbottom, Jack Ross, Shaun Maloney, Lee Johnson, Montgomery, and then Gray.
The only two of those managers who can claim to have made a decent fist of it were Ross and Gray.
But, nonetheless, the rate at which Hibs continue to burn through managers is quite astonishing.
Gray offered a form of continuity over these past two years – a club man who knew the place intimately and delivered European qualification twice.
What he could not deliver was the sustained upward movement that would have silenced the doubts.
The decision to sack him is understandable on results alone. It also carries the risk of restarting a cycle that has already proved costly in both financial and cultural terms.
Gray leaves with his status as a Hibernian legend intact. The Scottish Cup final moment, the years of service, the dignity with which he conducted himself through both success and difficulty – these things endure.
The chapter closes with the mixture of gratitude and regret that accompanies the departure of someone who belonged to the club more deeply than most.
The next appointment will be judged against the same expectations that ultimately undid him: to turn periods of competence into something more sustained.
It remains an extremely demanding brief.
