Andy Gray: Player who never lost touch with the dressing room

(REUTERS)

Born in the Drumchapel district of Glasgow, Andy Gray enjoyed a highly successful football career – at Dundee United, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton – before turning his hand to punditry where, as one of Sky Sports' leading analysts, he became a television personality of equal renown.

Gray hung up his boots in 1990 and became assistant manager at Aston Villa under Ron Atkinson (who would also later be sacked from television work for controversial comments made when he thought the microphone was off).

He moved into television in 1992 – the year of the Premier League's inception – and has anchored the Sky Sports football coverage since.

He quickly became famed for his super-analytical style, painstakingly dissecting tactical decisions using a series of on-screen arrows and slow-motion replays. This over-complex critique, combined with his status as a self-appointed expert, made him unpopular with some viewers.

But despite his willingness to scrutinise and pillory managerial decisions, Gray was reluctant to get back into the game himself.

In 1997 he applied for the vacant managerial position at Everton and was offered the job by the then-chairman Peter Johnson. But Gray made a last minute U-turn and decided to stay with Sky where until yesterday, he was paid £1.7m a year to comment on up to four Premier league games per week.

At the time he explained his reticence by saying: "To take the job and then let the supporters down would have been too much to bear.

"Sky has also held a unique place in my life. At the end of the day, the desire to continue my broadcasting career with them made it impossible to leave."

Away from football, Gray's personal life has been much reported by the press. He has five children by four different women and has been the subject of tabloid exposés.

In 2006 it was alleged in newspaper reports that he had slept with his friend's wife. The same year another woman complained to a Sunday tabloid about her disappointing fling with Gray. And in 2007 he was reported to have made insulting remarks to women in a hotel while on holiday in Spain.

But none of those alleged indiscretions proved fatal for Gray's status as the face of the Premier League. It was not until last weekend, at Molineux, the home of his former club Wolves, that his Sky career came to an inglorious end.