What did David Gray learn from Hibernian’s first preseason game?

How much could Hibs boss David Gray take from his team’s first preseason game of 2025-26? And what’s the value of these games?

Transcript

00:00So what did David Gray learn about his Hibs team in their first pre-season friendly?

00:08Season 25-26 comes closer. Not a great deal, to be honest. He had to leave all his international

00:15players out of the squad entirely. They were scheduled to do a training session probably

00:20about now. It's still absolutely baking here in the Netherlands, trying to get some shade

00:28here in the rainforest. Yeah, listen, it was a 0-0 and it was very much a 0-0, not a great

00:35number of chances. There was plenty of endeavour. Young players looked decent. Jamie McGrath

00:42came on for a half hour, showed some glimpses. Nothing surprising there because we've seen

00:48him play for Aberdeen before that for St Mirren, so anyone who's watched Scottish football will

00:52know what he's going to bring. Alain Sanamani looked good second half. It was just an exercise

01:00and it's the horrible old cliches that managers use and we all use. We were joking about it

01:05with Malky Mackay afterwards and he said, what do you think of that? Good luck writing about

01:10that one. I was like, well, I think we may use phrases like minutes in the legs and credit

01:16set in the bank and things like that because it just is. This is really a training exercise.

01:22Even the guys that went off at half time or after an hour were then off running at the

01:27side of the pitch or on the next pitch. A really nice little setup they had at a local place

01:32here about 45 minutes from where Hibs are based. So these are things that need to be done in

01:39pre-season. You need to get minutes in legs. You need to get people up to speed. The young

01:46older guys know what's expected of them. Go out there, put in the shift, make lots of

01:50runs, lots of get the touch in again. Everything's building towards that Michelin match in the Europa

01:58League second qualifying round. They've got Ajax this weekend. Again, a closed doors game that

02:04will be on YouTube channel, I think, for Ajax. So you figure that one out. Who knows what

02:11that will be like. Who knows what Team Grey will pick. I'll pop out and see David Grey

02:16again tomorrow for a proper sit down. It's been really good again pre-season for things like

02:23that. Getting a chance to sit and chat with people and get a feel for the stuff that goes

02:29on behind the scenes. The hard work, the decisions, why decisions are made sometimes. And yeah, it

02:37was enjoyable out there today to actually sit and have a chat with Junior Hoylet. That feels

02:44like a big signing. Coming back, you know, getting Rocky Bashiri back, getting Junior Hoylet

02:50back there, getting the band back together from last season. And there's just one of those

02:57key members of the rhythm section left, isn't there? Nectar Trianus. That one might drag

03:01on a bit longer simply because Sunderland are about three, four weeks behind. You know,

03:07and Premier League clubs, they're not even thinking about their squads at the moment because

03:13of their pre-season programs just that little bit later. So that might take a while. That

03:19would kind of be the ideal. Yeah, so we'll keep in touch. Hopefully, there's predicted thunderstorms

03:28later that will break this sweltering heat. The players would love it. And then we move

03:34on to the Ajax game on Saturday.