'You and I have got a problem' -The shock outburst that forced an Aston Villa hero to leave
| Published date | 28 March 2021 |
| Date | 28 March 2021 |
| Publication title | Birmingham Mail: Web Edition Articles (England) |
Gray has been gone 30 years, was forced out by two legendary managers and wrecked his body for the claret and blue cause for little or no thanks. So when he still refers to Villa as 'we' during a compelling interview with Birmingham Live's Claret & Blue podcast it just goes to show the love and respect the 65-year-old retains for the football club that put him on the map.
Not that he had the faintest idea where Aston Villa was when he asked his mother Margaret to locate a road atlas after a life-changing phonecall in 1975.
"I'm signing for Aston Villa, can you find me a map" -Andy Gray on his move to Aston Villa
Gray was a big deal in Scottish footballing circles having burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old at Dundee United, whose legendary boss Jim McClean warned him of his impending sale at the start of his third season, telling him: 'I don't think I can teach you any more. In all honesty if I don't sell you I'm holding you back because you're too good for this league.'
German club Schalke enquired about Gray and it later emerged that Rangers, the boyhood club where he would eventually lift the Scottish top flight title 13 years later, were also interested. But it was when he was called to answer the landline at his mum's Glasgow home that his fate became clear. McClean told him Dundee United had agreed a fee with Aston Villa -and to get to the airport sharpish.
"I put the phone down and, I'm ashamed to say this, I thought 'Where the fg hell is Aston Villa' Seriously. Villa had been down in the dumps a lot hadn't they That was their first season back in the big league. I'm thinking I know where Liverpool and Everton and Manchester United and Leeds and Newcastle and the London clubs are. I said to my mum, 'I think I'm going to sign for Aston Villa, can you get me a map to look it up' -and I found out it was actually in Birmingham! Off I went, flew down and never came back!"
The youngest of four football-mad boys, raised by a morally strong mother after their father left home when he was two, Andy carried the sporting hopes and dreams of the Gray family. Dumped in goal during kickabouts with his big brothers, Gray got bored with not touching the ball during a 13-0 first half rout one day at the age of eight and instead decided to emulate his idol Denis Law at the opposite end of the pitch.
He was a natural, going on to score the winning goal as his Drumchapel primary school lifted the coveted Glasgow Cup and continuing to shine through secondary school and for the Boys Brigade's team. Playing most Saturdays and Sundays, a rare window of free time one weekend was filled when a pal asked him if he fancied a game for Clydebank Strollers, as a 15-year-old. He took his boots and promptly scored a hat-trick, was signed him there and then and it was in a cup final for the Strollers at Clyebank's Kilbowie Park that a match-winning double caught the eye of a Dundee United scout.
At the time Gray was at school doing his A-Levels, staying on more for the guarantee of regular football rather than any quest for academic excellence, having already told his school careers advisor that there was 'nothing in that folder telling me how to become a professional footballer and that's what I'm going to be.' He was right. A 'job for life' in the civil service, a slight interest in computers or emigrating to Canada to join his brother James were the fallback options -not that he ever needed them.
He was snapped up by the Tannadice club at the age of 17 and gave himself a four year deadline to 'make it'. Within four months he was a regular in the Scottish top flight, testing himself against the likes of Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibernian -but more importantly testing, really testing, opposing defenders at those clubs. Impressing with a goal in a reserve team win he was called into the first team squad for a weekend clash against Aberdeen and got his first taste of action.
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"It was scary," he recalls. "You might not believe it but I was a really shy boy, except when I played football. I had no real belief in my own ability. Suddenly from playing against boys my own age I'm now playing against full grown men. I was really skinny and very frail in those days. I'm only what 5ft 10-and-a-half, so I wasn't imposing physically. But I knew what I wanted, I knew I liked winning, I knew I hated losing and I knew I liked scoring goals. That drove me through all the shyness. Football gave me the confidence that I came through with later in life."
The natural progression for the cream of Scottish football was to play in England, following in the footsteps of Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Sounness, Alan Hansen and Co, and that's exactly what Gray did when Villa came knocking. Moving into a semi-detached house in Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, with one of his brothers and a pal from Glasgow, Gray knew he had joined a club on the up, hitting it off with emerging talents like Brian Little and John Gidman and being made to feel at home by the Scottish set including captain Ian Ross, Charlie Aitken, Jake Findlay and Bobby MacDonald.
His first experience of Villa Park in all its glory was a 2-1 derby victory over Birmingham City, with Little scoring the winner in front of a crowd of 53,782. Gray grins: "I thought I'll have some of this! I'd played at Dundee United in front of maybe 10,000. Suddenly, I walked out at Villa Park from the corner to the touchline, the hairs on the back of my neck just stood up and I thought 'wow'. The atmosphere was sensational. I thought to myself I'm going to have to play well to get in this team."
Play well he did. But for the horrific knee injury that ended Keith Leonard's Villa career, Gray's might never have begun. It was to be the 20-year-old's sliding doors moment and he jumped at the chance. Jumping at chances was his thing. He was not the tallest, but was blessed with immaculate timing, be it runs to get across...
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