Andrew Mullen Gray (born 30 November 1955) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

broadcaster and former player. He played as a forward for

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, Everton,

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

(on loan),

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, Rangers and Cheltenham Town. He won 20 caps for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He also had a season as Ron Atkinson's assistant at Aston Villa when he retired from playing, juggling that role with his Sky Sports duties. He decided to go into broadcasting full time in 1993. Gray was the lead football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

(since it began its broadcast of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

in August 1992) and was the channel's co-commentator for nearly 19 years (often working alongside

Martin Tyler Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English Association football, football commentator. He worked as a commentator for Sky Sports from 1990 to 2023, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and inte ...

) until his dismissal in January 2011, following multiple allegations of

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

. Gray, along with former Sky Sports anchor Richard Keys, then signed for

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

in February 2011. They both now work for beIN Sports in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

; since June 2013 they have been the main presenters of Premier League and UEFA Champions League match broadcasts within the Middle East and North Africa region.

Club career

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and with a mother from the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis () or simply Lewis () is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The t ...

, Gray started his professional career as a player with

, where he scored 36 goals in 62 appearances He also played for Dundee United in the 1974 Scottish Cup Final finishing on the losing side as

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

ran out 3–0 winners. In October 1975, at the age of 19, he moved south to

(newly promoted to the First Division) for £110,000 and was joint winner of England's golden boot with Arsenal's Malcolm Macdonald in 1976–77. His 29 goals helped Villa to a fourth-place finish and victory in the League Cup, and earned him the

PFA Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year (often called the PFA Young Player of the Year, or simply the Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the ...

and

PFA Players' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Men's Players' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Men's Players' Player of the Year, the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is ...

awards, a double matched by

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

in 2009 and

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, and the Wales national ...

in 2013. At the time he was the youngest player to earn the Players' Player of the Year award, and the first player to win more than one of the official three player of the year awards in the same season. Gray moved to Villa's local rivals

on 8 September 1979. His signing was announced to the fans and media prior to The Wolves kick off at home to Crystal Palace, as a pre match celebration at the Molineux for an English record transfer fee of £1.49m. After scoring the winning goal for Wolves in the 1980 League Cup final, he remained with the club through their relegation in 1982 (despite interest from Manchester United) and promotion a year later. Gray moved to Everton in November 1983 for £250,000. He spent two seasons with the Merseyside club, winning the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

in May

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. Gray scored in the final against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

in controversial fashion by heading the ball out of the Watford's goalkeeper's hands. A year later, he won the League Championship and

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

, also scoring in the final of the latter. He also reached another FA Cup final, but this time he was on the losing side as Everton were defeated by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. Then came the arrival of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

striker

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

from Leicester City in the 1985 close season. Despite angry petitions from Everton fans wanting to keep Gray at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

, he left the club on 10 July 1985, returning to Aston Villa in a £150,000 deal. Despite starting the decade on a high as league champions in 1981 and

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

winners in 1982, Villa had now declined to mid table mediocrity and the return of Gray was unable to turn things around as his arrival at Everton had done. He scored five goals from 35 league games in 1985–86 as Villa narrowly avoided relegation to the Second Division, and the following season he didn't score in 19 league games as Villa fell into the Second Division. He began the 1987–88 season still with Villa, but was transferred to their local rivals West Bromwich Albion in September 1987 having not featured in a first team game for Villa that season. His spell at Albion lasted less than a year, and was uneventful as they narrowly avoided relegation from the Second Division. In mid-1988, he joined Rangers. He spent one season at Ibrox, helping them win the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

title – the first of nine successive titles they would win. He dropped into non-league football with

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

club Cheltenham Town in summer 1989, and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 home win over

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

on 21 October 1989, before retiring in 1990.

International career

Gray's ''Player of the Year'' accolades in England were surprisingly not enough to convince

manager Ally MacLeod to select him for the 1978 World Cup squad. Gray won 20 caps for Scotland, scoring 7 goals for his country. He also won four caps at Under-23 level and played at schoolboy level. The 20 year-old's full international debut came on 17 December 1975 in a 1–1 draw with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. He was not selected for any of Scotland's World Cup squads during his playing days. His final senior appearance for Scotland came on 28 May 1985 in a 1–0 win over

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in a 1986 World Cup qualifier. This had been his first cap for two years, despite him scoring twice in his penultimate appearance for the national side on 19 June 1983 in a 2–0 friendly win over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and him excelling on the club level for Everton after his transfer to the

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

club later in 1983.

Coaching

After retiring as a player, Gray entered coaching as an assistant to

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

at Aston Villa before focusing full-time on his television work.

Commentary career

Gray appeared as a pundit on ITV's World Cup coverage in 1978 and during the mid-1980s he appeared fairly regularly on the BBC's coverage, including at the 1986 World Cup. Towards the end of his playing career, he worked as a pundit on STV in Scotland, where he worked alongside Andy Melvin, the producer who would eventually take him to

. After leaving coaching, Gray became a football commentator, pundit, and analyst on

, serving as a Scottish facet of its

coverage since its inception in 1992, most notably alongside studio anchor Richard Keys and lead match commentators

and Ian Darke. In addition, he reported for Sky from

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

in Portugal, although Sky did not have broadcast rights for the games. He commentated for

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

in the 2002 World Cup and for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

in Euro 2008. Gray also provides betting tips for

Betfair Betfair is a British Gambling, gambling company founded in 2000. Its product offering includes betting exchange, sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in London, alongsi ...

, and also provided commentary for the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

's ''

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

'' of video games along with John Motson and

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

in '' FIFA: Road to World Cup 98'' (being replaced with

Mark Lawrenson Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After ...

in the following game) and Clive Tyldesley and Martin Tyler from '' FIFA 06'' to '' FIFA 11'', until being replaced in ''

FIFA 12 ''FIFA 12'' (titled ''FIFA Soccer 12'' in North America) is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2011 on consoles for PlayStati ...

'' by Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith. In January 2011, Gray was forced to apologise for comments he made about a female assistant referee, Sian Massey, in a Premier League match. Believing that his microphone was switched off, Gray commented to co-host Richard Keys: "Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don't know the offside rule." Keys replied: "Course they don't." The comments were criticised by Sky Sports, football fans and

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

. On 24 January it was announced that both Gray and Keys would be banned for one game. On 25 January 2011, it was announced his contract was being terminated for unacceptable behaviour. Barney Francis, Sky Sports' managing director, said Gray was dismissed "in response to new evidence of unacceptable and offensive behaviour in an off-air incident that took place in December 2010". ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' suggested that the Sky statement refers directly to a clip of Gray and Charlotte Jackson in rehearsals for the Sky Sports Christmas Special. While Jackson is attaching a microphone pack, Gray lifts his belt and says: "Charlotte, can you tuck this down here for me?" In late 2011 Keys and Gray appeared in ''Smash It!'', a show designed for the corporate hospitality circuit. The title of the show came from sexual remarks that Keys had made to Jamie Redknapp. An earlier theatre tour in 2011 had to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales. He previously presented a Friday evening

show with sidekick Richard Keys. Since June 2013, Andy Gray, alongside Richard Keys, has been presenting the Premier League football coverage on beIN Sports. Gray's former teammate at Everton Peter Reid suggested that Gray's dismissal may have been connected to a legal battle between Gray and the former title ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

'' (both it and Sky were owned by News Corporation at the time) over phone-tapping. On 25 January 2014, Gray returned to commentating on British television on

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

for an FA Cup match between

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

and Everton. His appearance occurred three years to the day since his dismissal by Sky. He then commentated alongside Darren Fletcher for the Arsenal v Liverpool match in the next round.

Personal life

Gray has five children.Exclusive: Randy Andy Rat It Again.. With Best Mate's Wife
The People, 2 April 2006; accessed 4 October 2006 Gray is a supporter of former clubs Rangers FC and Everton FC.

Career statistics

International appearances

International goals

''(NB scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first)''

Honours

Aston Villa * League Cup: 1976–77 Wolverhampton Wanderers *League Cup: 1979–80 Everton * Football League Division One: 1984–85 *

: 1983–84 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

: 1984–85 Rangers *

: 1988–89

References

External links

International stats
at Londonhearts.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Andy 1955 births Living people Men's association football forwards Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Everton F.C. players First Division/Premier League top scorers Notts County F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Scottish association football commentators Scottish Football League players Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Glasgow English Football League players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Scottish league football top scorers