By John Greechan

Copyright scotsman

Whether he was working under his guidance as a young Hearts player, still a slightly shocking episode in the young career of a man who would become such a Hibs legend, or sharing a place of honour with his old coach at a glitzy dinner, David Gray has always enjoyed spending time with John McGlynn. Tonight at Falkirk Stadium? Well, that’s just business. “I know John very well, he’s a very good coach,” said Hibs boss Gray, ahead of this evening’s Scottish Premiership showdown. “He actually coached me as a youngster, so I think it shows you how experienced he is. “When I was a youngster growing up, coming through at Hearts, he was one of the coaches. It was a while ago, so it shows you how long he’s been doing it, which is obviously a testament to him and how much he loves the game; he’s been in it for such a long time. “I think he’s very enthusiastic about the game. I think that’s something that even when I went to a dinner at the end of the season last year and sat beside him, we were just talking about football the whole time. So you’re in there, in that environment, you can tell he just loves football. “He’s been doing it for that long now as well. The way his team plays, they always want to control the ball, lots of rotations. “I think he’s benefited as well from his time at Celtic as well, so he’s probably learnt a lot from what he’s doing to the other side and I think that’s something he’s always done. He’s adapted and changed and he’s very experienced. “That’s something that, for myself, looking at someone like that who’s been in the game for such a long time, it’s a good test for me and my coaching team to come up against someone as experienced as that.” Impressed with how McGlynn’s Falkirk like to take opponents on, Gray said: “Yeah, they’re very brave. I think you’ve seen that even a few times even when they were in the Championship, going to Celtic Park and really having a go – and I think that’s something they always do. They always want to try and play football. “There are a lot of rotations, and they always want to play attacking football as much as they can. So that’s something we need to be ready for, what we will be ready for, we already know that. “But the biggest focus from our point of view is making sure that we approach this game with the right level of intensity and with our qualities. And if we can do that we know we’re a very good side as well. Obviously every single week you have to look at the strengths and weaknesses of every single team and Falkirk is no different. “Falkirk have a team that have not been in the Premier League for a couple of seasons. It’s good to have them back, because they’re certainly adding to it. “I’m fully expecting a really tough night, and an atmosphere that will be exciting, because I know we’ll take our numbers through and sell that out, and I believe Falkirk fans will do the same, so it’ll should be a good game.”