Frank Gray

Football player infobox
playername = Frank Gray
fullname = Francis Tierney Gray
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1954|10|27
cityofbirth = Glasgow
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub = Basingstoke Town (manager)
position = Left-back
years = 1972–1979
1979–1981
1981–1985
1985–1989
1989–1992
clubs = Leeds United
Nottingham Forest
Leeds United
Sunderland
Darlington
caps(goals) = 193 (17)
081 0(5)
139 (10)
146 0(8)
085 0(8)
nationalyears = 1976–1983
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 032 0(1)
manageryears = 1991–1992
2005–2006
2006
2007–2008
2008–
managerclubs = Darlington
Farnborough Town
Grays Athletic
Woking
Basingstoke Town

Francis Tierney 'Frank' Gray (born 27 October 1954 in Castlemilk, Scotland) is a Scottish football manager and former footballer.

Gray has previously managed Darlington, Farnborough Town, Grays Athletic and Woking.

On the 5 May 2008, Gray was announced as the new manager of Basingstoke Town. [ [http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?&newsmode=FULL&nid=49841 BASINGSTOKE APPOINT GRAY] , nonleaguedaily.com]

Club career

Leeds United

Frank Gray was one of the new generation of Leeds United players of the mid-1970s charged with the task of maintaining the club's success after the Don Revie era.

Gray, younger brother of Eddie, joined the club under Revie as a 17 year old midfielder and made his debut in 1973, scoring a goal in his first start. Revie had lost regular left back Terry Cooper to an horrific broken leg the year before and needed to find replacements, and Gray was given his chance as a left-back as a result.

He didn't stay in the side, with a reshuffled defence allowing Trevor Cherry to take the left back spot for the business end of the season which consisted of two Cup finals (the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup) both of which Leeds lost. Revie did, however, invite Gray to travel with the squad to Wembley and he sat next to his manager during the defeat to Sunderland.

Gray was similarly spared regular football in the first team at such an early age the following year, with Cherry settled into the left back role. Leeds won the League championship thanks to an unbeaten start to the season of 29 games. Gray only played three times and didn't qualify for a medal.

He got his chance the following season though, making 18 appearances in the League and usurping Cherry for the No.3 shirt in the European Cup final in Paris, which Leeds lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich. As the Revie team disbanded due to age - Revie himself had quit for the England manager's job the year before - Gray found himself tagged as one of the bright young things who would maintain the work of the previous team, alongside the likes of Gordon McQueen and Joe Jordan.

Nottingham Forest

It never quite worked like that, with Leeds diving into comparative mediocrity for the rest of the 1970s. He left Leeds in 1979 for £500,000 and joined Nottingham Forest, whose manager Brian Clough had been clearly impressed with what he'd seen of the defender during his infamous 44-day spell in charge at Leeds four years earlier.

Gray slotted into the team and played in his second European Cup final in 1980, making him the first player to appear in the final for two different English clubs. This time he was successful as Forest won 1-0 against a useful Hamburg SV side which included Kevin Keegan. Gray also finished on the losing side earlier in the season when Forest were beaten in the League Cup final by Wolves, thanks to a single goal from unrelated fellow Scotsman Andy Gray.

Return to Elland Road

Despite his success, Gray never fully settled at Forest and accepted an invitation in 1981 to return to Leeds by former team-mate Allan Clarke, who was now manager. It was a cut-price £300,000 deal which got Gray back into Elland Road, but in the first season of his return Leeds were relegated.

Clarke was fired from Leeds after the drop and Gray's brother Eddie took over. The younger Gray played for four years under his brother's stewardship but Leeds couldn't regain promotion and Gray left for Sunderland in 1985, this time never to return. His tally for Leeds stood up at 396 appearances and 35 goals.

International career

Gray made his debut for Scotland in a 1-0 win over Switzerland in 1976, and won more caps in late 1978, having missed out on a place in the squad for that summer's World Cup in Argentina.

Gray was selected for Scotland's World Cup squad for the 1982 tournament in Spain, and he played in all three of the group games against New Zealand, Brazil and the USSR, though Scotland didn't progress further.

His international career had ended in 1983 after 32 appearances and one goal.

Management career

He returned to Leeds after his stint at Forest and played under his brother's management before moving up to the north-east where he helped Sunderland gain promotion from Division Three. Helped Darlington into the Football League as assistant to Brian Little in the 1990s and took Farnborough Town to the Nationwide Conference South play-offs in 2005–06. Moved to Grays Athletic with assistant Gerry Murphy last season to replace Mark Stimson, but his stay was short-lived. Was brought to Woking by Football Technical Director, Colin Lippiatt, in May 2007 with the aim of taking the Cards into the Football League.

Gray was appointed manager at Woking on 3 May 2007 on a two-year deal, replacing Glenn Cockerill. However he departed by mutual consent on 8 April 2008.

He is now managing Basingstoke Town in the Blue Square South.

Family Football Links

His son Andrew Gray, a striker, came through the ranks at Leeds and later played for Nottingham Forest, Bury, Preston, Oldham Athletic, Bradford City, Sheffield United and Sunderland and now plays for Burnley. He has also won one full international cap for Scotland

His nephew Stuart has represented Celtic and Reading as a full-back.

Honours

As a player

Leeds United
*FA Cup runner-up: 1973
*European Cup Winners' Cup winner: 1973
*First Division Title winner: 1973–74
*FA Charity Shield runner-up: 1974
*European Cup runner-up: 1974–75

Nottingham Forest
*European Super Cup winner: 1979
*Coca-Cola Cup runner-up: 1979–80
*European Cup winner: 1979–80
*European Super Cup runner-up: 1980
*Intercontinental Cup runner-up: 1980

Sunderland
*Third Division winner: 1987–88

Darlington
*GM Vauxhall Conference Title winner: 1989–90
*Fourth Division Title winner: 1990–91

Managerial stats

References

External links

*soccerbase|3042|Frank Gray
*soccerbase (manager)|439|Frank Gray