Scottish Cup hero David Gray hopes he can keep playing for the entirety of his new four-year deal at Hibernian, but is thrilled the club have laid down the foundations for his future off the pitch.
Gray has been joined by fellow defender Darren McGregor is penning a bumper long-term contract that does not expire until 2023.
Included in their agreements are formal roles for both as ‘club ambassadors’ and for player mentoring duties that will help them make the move into coaching.
About to turn 31 a week on Saturday, Gray has two years on McGregor and the former Manchester United trainee is keeping his fingers crossed he can stay in favour at first-team level for as long as possible.
%image('9749465', type="article-full", alt="David Gray celebrates his winning goal against Rangers in the 2016 Scottish Cup final")
READ MORE: David Gray, 30, and Darren McGregor, 33, vow to repay Hibs for four-year deals
However, the full-back, who joined the club after relegation to the Championship in 2014, is conscious of the need to prepare for life beyond playing and has welcomed the extra responsibility his new deal brings.
He said: “It was absolutely a no-brainer for me. It’s been a fantastic five years since I’ve been at the club, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
“It’s a real good place to be at the minute, an exciting time for Hibs, and there’s a lot of good young boys coming through as well, which is important. I think the club’s in real good shape at the moment.
“What’s driving me at the minute is the hunger to play football and as long as I’m able to do that, and the manager sees me in his plans, I’ll do everything I can to be as good as I can every week, for as long as that may be.
“Hopefully it’s for four years and I can play at the top end, but at the same time I’m not stupid enough to think I’m going to go on forever.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity we’ve been given and it’s a really exciting time to be involved. First and foremost from a selfish point of view, it’s fantastic to have the security and to be able to play and be at a place where you’re wanted. That’s one of the most important things to feel wanted by everyone involved.
%image('9749467', type="article-full", alt="David Gray lifts the Scottish Cup")
READ MORE: Christophe Berra confident Hearts can get back on track before Scottish Cup final
“And I think the most important thing for me is, as your career gets towards the end, you automatically think about what you’re going to do next. But we’ve actually got a stepping stone here, where we can really give back a bit of value to the club, and see where we go from there.”
McGregor, meanwhile, is fully aware the duo will come under the microscope of manager Paul Heckingbottom to ensure they do not ease off with the comfort of such a long-term contract.
The 33-year-old, who turns 34 in the first week of the new season, said: “First and foremost, we’re first-team players and we want to contribute week-in, week-out for the foreseeable future. But there will obviously come a point when that transitional period will happen – probably a bit sooner for myself than David, because he’s 30 and I’m getting on a bit!
“I think there was a wee bit of apprehension from the gaffer, and rightly so, that we would maybe take our eyes off the ball, and he said he’s going to scrutinise us a wee bit closer.
%image('9749468', type="article-full", alt="Darren McGregor keeps a close eye on Odsonne Edouard on Sunday")
READ MORE: Celtic fail to inspire in Leith sunshine but eight in a row might be days away
“That’s fine. You’ll only see in the coming months and years what stand-up guys we are and we’ll give everything to the cause.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here