The Easter Road squad’s flight from Edinburgh was help up as they made their way to Denmark for Midtjylland clash
David Gray wants to make more Hibs history by leading them into the European group stages for the first time., writes Scott Burns in Denmark.
As a player, he scored the winner in 2016 that took the Scottish Cup back to Easter Road for the first time in 114 years.
Now as a manager, he and his squad have their sights set on getting Hibs into the group stages of Europe for the first time.
Gray, who will lead his side out against Midtjylland in Thursday’s Europa League opening qualifier, acknowledged: “Well that is the challenge, that’s the challenge to the players.
“It’s never been done so can we do it.
“Last season we spoke a lot about recreating history in a positive way, we’ve done a lot of that and I think this is just the next stage for that.
“As I’ve just touched on, that is one of the genuine goals and ambitions of this group of players in a club and the staff is to try and be the first team to do that.
“I think if we can do that, again, it’s just something else we can add to the list and then we can keep moving forward.
“We believe we can do it, we believe we’ve got a squad that’s good enough to do it.
“It’s going to be tough, we know that, but we’ve got a fan base, we’ve got an ownership and we’ve got the players all pulling in the one direction, all desperate to be successful.”
Hibs’ journey nearly didn’t get off the ground. They had a problem with their plane and had a long delay before it was fixed and they were able to fly to Denmark on Wednesday.
Gray stated: “That is the benefit of coming the night before. Our flight was delayed, everybody knows that.
“It changed our scheduling and our arrival time. That is why we put plans in place, so if anything does come up then we have time to react. The boys have prepared, they are ready and Thursday night takes care of itself.”
Midtjylland go in as heavy favourites but Gray is confident his team can upset the odds and certainly to keep things alive, going back to Easter Road next week. There will be more than 1,000 Hibs fans in the MCH Arena to cheer on their side.
The Hibs head coach added: “That’s the challenge to the players, it’s a real tough draw, we know that.
“I think in terms of how well Midtyjlland have done in Europe, you think about the Champions League team, last season they were runner-up in the league narrowly right at the very end of the season so we know they’re a very good side.
“They’ve got Champions League players experienced at the level but we also demonstrated that if we can play to the best of our ability, we’re a very good side and that has to be the mindset of the players.
“The game tomorrow night is over two legs so it’s not as if we go a goal up in the game early or a goal down for that matter, there’s a lot of football to be played over the two games for the complete tie so it’s about making sure that the players remember that, they stay calm in the chaos and the enjoy it because this is something that they’ve all worked hard for, the rewards from last season.
“I keep saying it, these are the rewards from last season, it’s a tough tie but one that every player should be looking forward to and certainly come off the pitch with no regrets and if we can do that I’m sure we’ll be in a good place.”
