Eddie Gray (footballer)
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| Eddie Gray | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edwin Gray | |
| Date of birth | January 17, 1948 | |
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | |
| Playing position | Winger | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1965–1983 | Leeds United | 454 (52)[1] |
| National team | ||
| 1969–1977 | Scotland | 12 (3) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1982–1985 1986–1988 1988–1989 2003–2004 |
Leeds United Rochdale Hull City Leeds United (caretaker) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Edwin Gray (born January 17, 1948 in Glasgow, Scotland) was a cultured winger who was an integral member of the legendary Leeds United football team of the 1960s and 1970s, later twice becoming the club's manager.
Gray was a schoolboy international for Scotland, and signed professional forms for Leeds at the age of 16. He made his first team debut on New Year's Day 1966, less than three weeks before his 18th birthday, and would go on to play for the club for almost 20 years.
A winger in the classic mould, Gray was feted in world football for his ability to beat opposing full backs for pace and thought. As the Leeds team grew in stature and experience through the 1960s, Gray became a vital component of the team.
In 1968 he was in the Leeds team which won the League Cup and the Fairs Cup and then the League championship a year later. It was in 1970 that he made his most famous appearance in a Leeds shirt.
The team was chasing a unique "treble" of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup with Gray in sparkling form. He had already scored what many Leeds fans call the greatest goal ever by a Leeds player - a solo run past several Burnley players which involved flicks and backheels as he somehow got from the byline to a shooting position - when his day came at Wembley for the FA Cup final against Chelsea.
Gray's marking full back was David Webb, a steady but undistinguished defender whom, for the 90 minutes and extra-time period, Gray would duly torment. Webb was, time and again, left on his backside or looking the wrong way as Gray ghosted past him on countless occasions. The game still ended 2-2 and a replay was required - Gray had taken the corner which had allowed Jack Charlton to open the scoring. In the replay, Chelsea changed tactics and put the more uncompromising Ron Harris on to Gray and as a result, Gray's danger was snuffed out through a series of deliberate fouls which went largely unpunished. Chelsea won 2-1 and, in a final twist, it was Webb who scored the winner. Leeds lost the League championship race to Everton and the European Cup semi final to Celtic, thereby ended with nothing.
Gray's frequent battles with injury started, and he missed more than half of the 1971 season, during which Leeds again snatched League championship defeat from the jaws of victory but won the Fairs Cup again. He was in the team which won the FA Cup against Arsenal in 1972 and duly lost it a year later to Sunderland, but missed out on a title medal when Leeds finally won the League again in 1974 thanks to more injury woes. These had become so frequent that when Brian Clough succeeded Don Revie at Leeds United, he began his first team meeting by stating that if Eddie Gray had been a horse, he would have been shot long ago. [2]
Gray played in the team which reached the European Cup final in Paris in 1975 but lost, controversially, to Bayern Munich. Also in the team was his younger brother Frank, who had likewise come through the ranks at Elland Road. This was the swansong of the great Don Revie team (Revie himself had left a year earlier to take over as England manager) and Gray's team-mates started to leave the club. By the end of the 1970s, Gray was the only player from any part of the Revie era still at the club (although Peter Lorimer and David Harvey would later make comebacks).
Converted to left back, Gray prolonged his career and was in the side which was relegated under former team-mate Allan Clarke in 1982. Gray then took over as player-manager for two seasons, but finally left the club after being unable to regain promotion from the Second Division. His association with Leeds was severed in 1985 after 20 years, 561 games and 68 goals.
He managed Whitby Town, Rochdale(whom he saved from near-certain relegation in 1986-7) and Hull City before returning to Leeds as a coach in 1995. His work with the youth set-up nurtured a terrific generation of Leeds players such as Harry Kewell, Ian Harte, Alan Smith and Jonathan Woodgate, who all went on to become first team regulars. Gray was David O'Leary's Assistant Manager during his reign at Leeds.
When Peter Reid left Leeds in 2003, Gray was charged with the task of trying to preserve their FA Premier League status, something which under immense pressure, he could not do. Amidst all the notorious pontificating from ambitious, headstrong board members, a self-obsessed chairman and fly-by-night managers, it was left to a genuine Leeds man to try to stop the club from going to the wall. Gray parted company once again with the club after relegation. Gray is believed to currently hold a position at the club as football consultant and also is the analyst on 92.4FM Radio Leeds during Leeds' matchdays.
Gray's unfortunate injury record meant that his Scotland career was short and infrequent. He won just 12 caps and missed the 1974 World Cup through injury. In an era of hard men - Bremner, Harris, Smith, etc, Eddie also had the distinction of never being booked in his career.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Eddie Gray at Soccerbase
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