Stephen "Stevie" Gray (born 7 February 1967 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

;Former Dons winger Gray found dead at age of 42
, ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', 22 September 2009. died 19 September 2009 in

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...

) was a Scottish professional

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 le ...

who played as a

right winger 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 ...

. Gray made 85 appearances in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and Airdrie between 1985 and 1993. Gray also represented Scotland at under-21 international level. He won the

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

with Aberdeen in 1985, and then broke into the first team managed by

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

, winning the 1985 Scottish League Cup Final. He left Aberdeen in 1989 to join second-tier Airdrie for a fee of £70,000, where he was part of the team managed by

Jimmy Bone James Bone (born 22 September 1949) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a striker. Following his playing retirement he moved into coaching and has managed a number of Scottish League clubs. Playing career Early career ...

which achieved promotion to the Premier Division in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, but he dropped out of the senior game in 1993 to sign for Highland League team

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

. After Gray's death, former teammate

Stewart McKimmie Stewart McKimmie (born 27 October 1962) is a Scottish former professional Association football, footballer, who predominantly played for home town club Aberdeen F.C., Aberdeen. He played in Defense (sport), defence, primarily as a Defender (assoc ...

commented that Gray had perhaps lost his way after Ferguson left Aberdeen in 1986.

References

External links

*
Profile and stats at ''AFC Heritage Trust''
1967 births 2009 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Scottish footballers Association football wingers Aberdeen F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Huntly F.C. players Scottish Football League players Highland Football League players Scotland under-21 international footballers {{scotland-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub