Michael Gray (footballer)

For other people named Michael Gray, see Michael Gray (disambiguation).

Michael Gray

Personal information
Full name	Michael Gray
Date of birth	3 August 1974 (1974-08-03) (age 37)
Place of birth	Sunderland, England
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Left back Wide midfielder
Youth career
1988–1990	Manchester United
1990–1992	Sunderland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–2004	Sunderland	363	(16)
2003	→ Celtic (loan)	7	(0)
2004–2007	Blackburn Rovers	64	(0)
2005	→ Leeds United (loan)	10	(0)
2007	→ Leeds United (loan)	6	(0)
2007–2009	Wolverhampton Wanderers	41	(4)
2009	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	4	(0)
2009–2010	Sheffield Wednesday	39	(2)
Total		534	(22)
National team
1999	England	3	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:05, 4 June 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Michael Gray (born 3 August 1974), sometimes known as Micky Gray, is an English former footballer who mostly played at left back, or left wing.

Career

Sunderland

On leaving school in 1990, Gray had trials with Manchester United but decided against signing a contract at Old Trafford and signed as an apprentice with Sunderland instead. He broke into the Sunderland first team, aged 18, at the beginning of the 1992–93 season, shortly after his 18th birthday. He made his senior debut on 21 November 1992 in a 1–0 win at Derby County in Division One (the first season after the creation of the new Premier League).

He played in various positions, including as a striker, left winger and left back before fading slightly from first team affairs. It was not until 1995–96 that he came to the fore, starting every game for Sunderland, invariably on the left side of midfield, as the team won promotion to the Premier League as Division One champions. Gray was also the scorer of their first Premier League goal, scoring the seventh-minute opener in a 4-1 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on 21 August 1996.^[1]

Gray continued to be a regular in the side in 1996–97, but the club was relegated after just one year in the top flight. Gray gained unwanted attention a year later, in May 1998, when he missed the decisive penalty during a shoot-out in the First Division playoff final after a 4–4 draw with Charlton Athletic, which could have taken Sunderland back into the Premier League.

Sunderland finished first in Division One the following season and won promotion to the Premiership, with Gray an ever-present for the campaign. As a First Division player, he was picked by Kevin Keegan to make his international debut for England as a substitute in the match against Hungary on 28 April 1999. In June 1999, he also played for England against Sweden and started the match against Bulgaria. He was the last outfield player from outside of the English top-flight to appear for England until David Nugent in 2007 (goalkeeper David James played for England in 2003 whilst playing for West Ham in the First Division).

However, he failed to make the England squad for Euro 2000. This did not affect his domestic team's form, however, as they finished in seventh place in the Premiership, a feat repeated in 2000–01.

In the 2001–02 season, Sunderland struggled, and with their dip in form came a dip in form for Gray, and for the next two seasons, he was constantly rumoured to be moving elsewhere including to arch-rivals Newcastle United. Relegation came for Sunderland at the end of the 2002–03 season, and two games into the 2003–04 season Gray finally left, joining Celtic on 1 September 2003, on a four month loan. However, having failed to make an impact, and generally finding himself out of the team, he moved to Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer on 1 January 2004.

Blackburn Rovers

Gray made his Blackburn Rovers debut against Chelsea in a 3–2 defeat, but constantly performed well for the team as they avoided relegation. In February 2005, he joined Leeds United on loan until the season's end. He then returned to Blackburn and in his first season back there he helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup, having established himself as a first-team regular. He later rejoined Leeds United for a second loan spell in a bid to save them from relegation, which ultimately failed as the club plunged into the third tier in 2007.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves completed the signing of Gray on an initial 12-month contract in July 2007, reuniting him with his former Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy.^[2] After spending the early part of the season in his more traditional left-back role, he was switched to left midfield in February 2008, which immediately saw him score his first goal in almost six years, and led to a run of three goals in five games. He signed a further one-year deal to keep him at the club for the 2008–09 season,^[3] but featured only sporadically for the first team during a campaign that would end in promotion for them.

Sheffield Wednesday

Largely out of Wolves' first team plans, he joined fellow Championship side Sheffield Wednesday on a 30-day emergency loan on 9 January 2009.^[4] This was made into a permanent deal on 2 February 2009, when he signed a contract until the end of the season.^[5] On the same day, he was also voted Wednesday's player of the month for January. He scored his first goal for Wednesday in a 2–2 draw with Barnsley on 8 August 2009.^[6]

The 2009–10 season ended with relegation to League One after the club could only draw 2–2 in their final fixture with relegation rivals Crystal Palace. Three days later it was announced he would not be offered a new contract,^[7] which led to having announcing his playing retirement.^[8]

Personal life

Gray was involved in a fracas with Wayne Rooney in 2006 following a disagreement in a restaurant and was later ejected from the restaurant.^[9] Gray also writes a blog for the BBC.^[10]

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Gray joins Wolves
3. ^ Gray signs one-year Wolves deal
4. ^ A Gray Owl
5. ^ Gray to stay with Owls
6. ^ "Sheff Wed 2–2 Barnsley". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 8 August 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8186388.stm. Retrieved 11 September 2009. 
7. ^ "Irvine reveals retained list". swfc.co.uk. 5 May 2010. http://www.swfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10304~2044277,00.html. 
8. ^ "Owls ace calls it quits". swfc.co.uk. 11 May 2010. http://www.swfc.co.uk/articles/20100511/owls-ace-calls-it-quits_2264101_2049474. 
9. ^ "Rooney and Gray row in restaurant"
10. ^ Michael Gray's BBC blog

External links

• Michael Gray career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC Blog

Preceded by Steve Bould

Sunderland captain 2000–2003

Succeeded by Jason McAteer

Persondata
Name	Gray, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 August 1974
Place of birth	Sunderland, England
Date of death
Place of death