Why Hibs are perfect for Malky Mackay and 5 stakeholders David Gray must satisfy at club

Malky Mackay is quite happy to let someone else patrol the dugout. Never say never, but it feels like the 52-year-old has done his time as a frontline manager. This time last year, Mackay was preparing Ross County for the 2023/24 campaign having just escaped the drop via the play-offs. He and the Staggies parted company last December and Mackay took time to mull over his next move. The sporting director role that he started this month at Hibs ticked all of the boxes for him. Managerial spells in Dingwall, Wigan, Cardiff and Watford were broken up by a four-year spell as performance director with the Scottish Football Association between 2016 and 2020. It gave him exposure to the business side of football and while he was able to use some of that in the Highlands, his latest job puts full focus on bridging the gap between the football department and the board room at Easter Road. He will also have a big say on recruitment and squad modelling. Speaking to the Sunday press, he seems excited and relaxed about what is ahead of him. “Very much so," said Mackay when asked if this is the perfect job for him. "I really enjoyed the role at the Scottish FA – helping build the association and the performance department. It was something Roy [MacGregor] asked me to help with at Ross County and I probably wouldn’t have stepped back into again if there wasn’t that involvement. I was proud to be the manager of Ross County but, at the same time, I like to have that ability to go in and help build a football club.

Malky Mackay is relishing his new role as Hibs sporting director. | SNS Group

“When this came about, I had a long conversation – about nine-and-a-half hours of talks in seven days, but it was done very quickly and efficiently – with [chief executive] Ben Kensell where he explained what the club were looking for. I thought about it for a few days, met him for two hours and he opened up on the role. We had a three hour Zoom with himself and Ian Gordon [director], then another with the Black Knights Group. “Off the back of that, Kit Gordon [director] flew in from Washington and I had two hours with her and my family. I had a really good feeling about the people that were behind this football club, the caring nature of what they’re desperate to do well. “The Gordon family are desperate for this club to do well in Ron’s legacy, and there’s a real passion for it, but also an intelligence and willingness for the club to do well. When I see the infrastructure, the stadium is terrific. “I know the club so well, a lot of the youngsters came through my Scotland squads. Half the staff were hired to go away with the Scottish FA teams. I’ve played against the club probably 10-12 times in the last three years, I’ve analysed the squad with my opposition analysts. We’ve been beaten, beaten or drawn over the last three years. “I hadn’t been at the training ground for a number of years, so it was nice to get up and have a look at it. It’s another training ground that, while needing a lick of paint, is as good as anything in Scotland. “And it’s a team that, as we know, have underachieved – they’re in the bottom half of the league when they shouldn’t be. It’s a club that is crying out for success." Mackay is steeped in Edinburgh football culture. His family is based in the capital, his home when he took the role at the SFA eight years ago, and his father-in-law is a Hibs fan. He is fully aware of what potential can be unlocked. "I moved back up here for my job," continued Mackay. "I was working at Oriam. The four years I was in Edinburgh I was around both clubs, Hibs and Hearts, concerning club academy Scotland, auditing both clubs and going to games, so I know the city and the club really well. "My father-in-law was actually a Hibs fan, albeit he's followed me the last 20 years in my football career. I've got the fabric of the place. I know the ins and outs of Scottish football and know everyone in it - boards, chairmen, owners, staff members from hiring people at clubs. Having that grasp of it and having the grasp of the actual structure of what this role entails meant it was a really good conversation I had with the family concerning where they want the club to go back to it. It was something that just fitted and clicked. "I was in talks with another club to do the same role and this one just fitted."

David Gray and Mackay speak to the media. | SNS Group

His biggest role to date was appointing David Gray as head coach after the axing of Nick Montgomery. Having been promoted from caretaker boss to manager at Watford, Mackay had some experience of what Gray was going through. The 36-year-old won his sporting director over with an excellent interview. "I had been asked to be the player/coach under Aidy Boothroyd [at Watford]." recalled Mackay. "I finished my career when I thought I was going to keep playing so a lot of similarities. When he was sacked, I was interim manager. "You kind of think at that point you might get the chance to get the job. I didn’t get it because another young manager came in and got the job, who was Brendan Rodgers. He was secure enough in his own skin to keep me with him and I worked in a manner that I wanted to do everything for him. "When he left, I was interviewed again and I got the job. I look back on that and if I had been given the job the first time instead of him I would not have been ready. "In the second time I knew everything about the club, more experienced working under two managers who were huge influences on my career. Having had that time as interim manager, you’ve got to deal with the players, staff but also the supporters, the ownership and the press. Those are your five stakeholders. You can be a coach as long as you want but until you’re actually in those shoes as a manager, you don’t know if you would like that, is it too much hassle? "You are dealing with staff problems, the press, you don’t really have that as a coach. All of a sudden you are at that point where with those five stakeholders you have to manage it all the time.

Mackay's last management job was at Ross County. | SNS Group

"That is the thing that David has done three or four times now to the point where he realises that I’m fine, I’m comfortable in my skin with that. "That was all part of that two-and-a-half hours where I’m looking at him, you can live, sleep and breathe the club, I know you understand everything about the players and the fabric of the football club, but he’s also had the time where he’s been in charge in turbulent situations. "He’s had three or four different managers with styles. He has carried himself well through those times, that’s a big thing as well. Because you are not really able to put your own personality across if you have a humility about you and you don’t openly go out there and charge on as if, I want this job, and I’m the man. People are saying, ‘hold on a minute, you are just the interim manager’. "That was important because other people I’ve seen embarrass themselves at that point. It’s hard, you’ve got to make sure you say the correct things as the ambassador of the club. You can’t really impart what you want too much on it because quite quickly another person comes in. I thought he did that really well over the period he was there. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people within this football club in the last month and getting under every stone, and you see that David has got that sense of purpose, he has got a way of carrying himself. He is clearly well thought of at the club because of the way he was with his professionalism as a player and a coach. "Also having given his advice or opinion to various managers, that’s an important thing because a coach should give his opinion to a manager and if a manager decides to do something else you should follow and that is a good soldier so to speak. “’I think we should turn left’, and you give your opinion as to why you think that. If the manager says ‘we’re going to turn right’, you turn right with the manager and keep quiet. That’s what he’s done every time here, and it’s of great credit to him.” Now it's about making sure Gray has the best team possible on the pitch. So far, goalkeeper Josef Bursik and defenders Warren O'Hora and Marvin Ekpiteta have joined. More will follow, with Ross County striker Simon Murray on the club’s radar - although Mackay cautions that the squad remodelling job will take more than just one transfer window. “It won’t be next summer because there’s 15 out of contract," smiled Mackay when it was put to him that Hibs' squad is currently too big. “We’ve done a fair amount of housekeeping in the last week or so. Five or six of our young development group have gone out on loan - that’s a different thing, that’s about them and they’re journey to become footballers. “But, the main squad at the moment is one that’s unbalanced both in terms of positions and finance. So, there will be squad remodelling but that can’t happen in one transfer window. If someone’s under contract, very well paid, nobody’s in for them and they’re maybe not going to start our games, then we have a situation. “We’ll be looking where we can change that. Then we’ll look at it in future transfer windows moving forward, where you get to a situation where you have starters, covers and development players and there’s a banding as to how much these guys are on in their different areas."