Hibs acted before atmosphere became more toxic - Sheridan

Cillian Sheridan points out that David Gray was close to building on his legendary status with Hibernian only for the club hierarchy to end his reign as head coach over fears the atmosphere in the stands would "become toxic". And the former Celtic striker thinks Gray will "probably look over it as a relatively successful time at Hibs" despite Wednesday's sacking. The former Hibs captain exited after Tuesday's 1-0 home defeat by bottom-placed Kilmarnock and Sheridan told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast: "Maybe the club didn't want them to get to the stage of where things became toxic. "They were so close to qualifying for Europe for the club's first time, which would have been another thing on his Hibs CV. "But you could just see from the game the other day, the highlights from the Kilmarnock game, the intensity of the booing and jeering that was coming from the crowd any time Kilmarnock had any sort of a chance or Hibs missed or messed up. "I just think his problem, and ultimately Hibs's problem, was when they're bad, they've been awful. Like they don't really know what they're doing on the pitch. "That's probably been one of the stories of his whole Hibs management career. When he got them playing and they're all following his instructions and doing what he wanted, They were good. They were a good team. "We saw that even this season they could go and beat Rangers away. Like you're saying, the cup win there against Ross County was a big result given how wrong that could have went. "I feel like David Gray was stability. You never really felt like Hibs were going to fall into a relegation battle under him."