Kevin John Gray (born 7 January 1972) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who played as a defender in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

(on loan),

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

, Carlisle United and Chesterfield.

Football career

He started his career at

signing as a trainee in July 1990 and had a successful four-year period at Mansfield. In 1994 Gray joined

at the newly built

Galpharm Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league s ...

and played there for eight years and played just under 300 games for Huddersfield and he played one game on loan at

in 2000. While at Huddersfield, Gray tackled

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

striker Gordon Watson in February 1997, the sliding tackle broke Watson's leg in two places and left his career in tatters. Out injured for 16 months, Watson was never the same player. Watson successfully sued Gray for negligence and was awarded £50,000 in interim damages. as well as a latter £900,000, the bulk of which was to compensate for the loss of anticipated earnings. Then he joined

in 2002 where he had a nightmare spell playing just 18 games in 16 months. He scored once during his spell at Tranmere; his goal being the winner against former club

. In November 2003, he joined Carlisle United where he had a successful spell, playing a major part in the Conference and

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

successes and captaining the club. He was released in May 2007. Gray was signed for

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

in July 2008 but didn't play any competitive games after he picked up a knee injury. Gray left at the end of the season after which he retired from football.

References

External links

* *
Kevin Gray's Carlisle United factfile at News & Star

on Gordon Watson's damages claim {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Kevin 1972 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Mansfield Town F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players