On a Saturday night in late November, as the rain teemed down at Dens Park, Hibernian players trooped off the pitch reeling from a 4-1 annihilation that kept them anchored to the foot of the Scottish Premiership.
They had taken an early lead, then capitulated to rampant Dundee. Jordan Obita was sent off. Elie Youan, infamously, performed keepy-ups on his own while David Gray reorganised his depleted team. Goalkeeper Josef Bursik dallied in possession and had his pocket picked for a truly calamitous goal.
Hibs hadn’t just hit rock bottom, they’d gone practically subterranean.
Back then, in a time of slapstick defending, frequent red cards and constant late concessions, it already felt like Gray’s job dangled by a thread.
The rookie head coach had won one of his first 13 league games at the helm. Had Hibs not rattled through managers so prolifically of late, and had Gray not been a cup-winning club totem, the owners might have pulled the trigger.
Wind the clock on five months and the striking contrast would have quantum physicists scratching their heads.
On Sunday afternoon, Hibs obliterated Dundee 4-0, equalling a club record unbeaten run that has stood for nearly 80 years and strengthening their grip on third place.
Relegation fears, thoughts of sackings and proclamations of doom have given way to euphoria, feelgood and passport hunting in anticipation of a European adventure.
With Hibs, it’s seldom dull. But seldom quite this bonkers.
