Former Preston North End and Plymouth Argyle man lands manager's job after Sheffield United figure sacked

Former Preston North End defender David Gray has landed himself the role as a manager of a top-flight club.

The 35-year-old has been appointed as the interim head coach of Hibs after they decided to part company with former Sheffield United midfielder Nick Montgomery. Montgomery had only been in charge since September after taking over from Lee Johnson, but he was unable to guide them a top-six finish and at the weekend, the Edinburgh club lost 4-0 to Aberdeen, dropping to ninth.

Explaining their decision to part company with Montgomery, the Gordon Family who run Hibs said: “As a board, this was not a decision we made lightly but felt it a necessary one to move the team forward. Although Nick and his coaching team worked tirelessly, their efforts didn’t deliver the results we had hoped for."

Gray now finds himself in the position of caretaker for the second time this season and for the fourth time in his coaching career. He's been with Hibernian since 2014 and made 177 appearances for them, winning the Scottish Cup in 2016 and then the Scottish Championship the following year.

Gray retired from playing in 2021 and became their first-team coach, and has worked under various different managers such as Jack Ross, Shaun Maloney, Lee Johnson and most recently Nick Montgomery. Edinburgh-born Gray played for Preston North End between the years of 2010 and 2012, joining when Darren Ferguson was in charge.

He made a total of 52 appearances during his time at Deepdale before moving on to Stevenage to reunite with Graham Westley. The other clubs that he played for in his career included Plymouth Argyle, Royal Antwerp, Crewe Alexandra and Burton Albion, whilst also starting his career at Manchester United, where he made one senior appearance.