Michael Gray
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- For other people named Michael Gray, see Michael Gray (disambiguation).
| Michael Gray | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Gray | |
| Date of birth | August 3, 1974 (age 32) | |
| Place of birth | Sunderland, England | |
| Playing position | Full-back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Blackburn Rovers | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| up to 1992 | Sunderland A.F.C. | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1992-2004 2003-04 2004- 2005 2007 |
Sunderland → Celtic (loan) Blackburn Rovers → Leeds United (loan) → Leeds United (loan) |
363 (16) 7 (0) 64 (0) 10 (0) 1 (0) |
| National team2 | ||
| 1999 | England | 3 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Michael Gray (born August 3, 1974 in Sunderland, England), sometimes known as Micky Gray, is an English football player who plays for Blackburn Rovers as a full-back. He wears the number 33 shirt for the club.
An experienced player, he started his career for Sunderland at the beginning of the 1992/93 season, shortly after his 18th birthday. He played in various positions, including as a striker, left winger and left back before fading slightly from first team affairs. It was not until 1996-7 he came to the fore, as a regular for Sunderland on the left side of midfield as they got relegated from the Premiership. He gained unwanted attention a year later, however, missing a penalty during a penalty shoot-out in the First Division playoff final after a 3-3 draw (4-4 after extra time) with Charlton Athletic, which may have taken Sunderland back into the Premiership.
As a First Division player, he was picked by Kevin Keegan to make his international debut for England as a substitute in the match against Hungary on April 28, 1999. Sunderland finished first in Division One and won promotion to the Premiership. In June 1999 Gray also played for England against Sweden and started the match against Bulgaria. He was the last outfield player to playing outside of the English top-flight to appear for England until 28 March, 2007 when David Nugent of Preston NE scored on his début against Andorra (goalkeeper David James played for England in 2003 whilst playing for West Ham in the First Division).
However, as his next season was plagued by injury, he failed to make the England squad for Euro 2000. This did not affect his domestic team's form, however, as they finished in seventh place in the Premiership, a feat repeated in 2000-01.
In the 2001-02 season, Sunderland struggled, and with their dip in form came a dip in form for Gray, and for the next two seasons, he was constantly rumoured to be moving elsewhere including to arch-rivals Newcastle United. Relegation came for Sunderland at the end of the 2002-03 season, and two games into the 2003-04 season Gray finally left, joining Celtic on September 1, 2003, on a four month loan. However, having failed to make an impact, and generally finding himself out of the squad lists, he moved to Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer on January 1, 2004.
He made his Blackburn debut against Chelsea in a 3-2 defeat, but constantly performed well for the team as they avoided relegation. In February 2005, he joined Leeds United on loan until the season's end. He then returned to Blackburn and in his first season back there he helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup, having established himself as a first-team regular. He has now recently rejoined Leeds United on a loan spell in a bid to save them from relegation.
Gray was involved in a fracas with Wayne Rooney in 2006 following a disagreement in a restaurant. Reports suggested that Gray had repeatedly insulted Rooney's fiancée Coleen McLoughlin (including a suggestion that they 'share' Coleen for the night), resulting in Rooney punching Gray and Gray getting a black eye. [1]. Michael was later ejected from the restaurant.
[edit] External links
| Blackburn Rovers F.C. - Current Squad |
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1 Friedel | 3 Khizanishvili | 4 Todd | 5 Tugay | 6 Nelsen | 7 Emerton | 8 Savage | 9 Nonda | 10 McCarthy | 11 Bentley | 12 Gamst Pedersen | 13 Enckelman | 14 Reid | 15 Mokoena | 16 Henchoz | 17 Jeffers | 18 Gallagher | 19 Dunn | 20 Ooijer | 21 Samba | 22 Warnock | 23 Brown | 25 Berner | 27 Derbyshire | 28 Fielding | 29 Treacy | 30 Roberts | 31 Peter | 32 Nolan | 33 Gray | Manager: Hughes |
