Martin David Gray (born 17 August 1971) is an English professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played 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 Sunderland,

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

, Fulham,

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

and Darlington, and managed in the Football League with Darlington and

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

Playing career

Born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, Gray's main position was in midfield, but he played in all outfield positions during his career. He signed as a trainee to Sunderland in 1990 and stayed with them until 1996 when he made a £100,000 transfer to

. Darlington agreed to end his contract so that he could retire from his playing career, in order to focus on coaching with the club.

Managerial career

Beginnings

David Hodgson was suspended as Darlington manager on 30 September 2006 while an inquire was carried out into his contacts with another club, leaving Gray and

Neil Maddison Neil Stanley Maddison (born 2 October 1969) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and co-commentator. He is the academy ambassador and player welfare officer at Middlesbrough. As a player, he was predominantly a central ...

as joint caretaker managers. Hodgson was subsequently dismissed shortly after. Former

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

manager

Dave Penney David Mark Penney (born 17 August 1964) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, Penney entered professional football at the relatively late age of 21. He had been working as a bricklayer and ...

took over manager on 30 October 2006, with Gray as his assistant. Gray took over as caretaker manager again on 30 April 2009 after Penney took the managerial role at

. With Darlington in administration, he was released on 7 May 2009, along with other members of the club's staff. He joined up with Penney again as his assistant at Oldham on 26 May 2009. Gray took over as caretaker manager for the final match of the 2009–10 season after Penney left the club on 6 May 2010. Gray left Oldham on 2 June 2010 after being unsuccessful in his application for the full-time manager's position.

Darlington

On 28 May 2012, Gray was appointed as the manager of Darlington on a two-year contract. In his first season in charge, Gray guided the club to win the Northern League Division One. In his next season, Darlington finished as

Northern Premier League Division One North The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

runners-up, but they lost in the play-off semi-final to Ramsbottom United. In the 2014–15 season, Gray guided the club to another second-place finish in the division, and they then secured promotion by winning the play-off final, beating

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

2–0. Darlington won the 2015–16 Northern Premier League Premier Division title. The club finished in fifth place in the 2016–17 National League North, but were unable to participate in the play-offs due to ground grading issues. Gray resigned from his post as manager on 1 October 2017, with the club stating, "He (Gray) believes he has taken the club as far as it can go, given the current club structure and funding".

York City

He was appointed manager of newly relegated

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on 1 October 2017, with Penney assisting him as sporting director. He left the club on 19 August 2018 when the club opted against renewing his contract, with the team eighth in the table five matches into the 2018–19 National League North.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a manager

Darlington * Northern League Division One:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Northern Premier League Division One North play-offs: 2014–15 * Northern Premier League Premier Division: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Martin 1971 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Sunderland A.F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Darlington F.C. managers Oldham Athletic A.F.C. managers York City F.C. managers English Football League managers Northern Football League managers Northern Premier League managers National League (English football) managers Darlington F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff