Andy Gray, 1983 - 1985

[Little Ralphy]

I always liked Andy Gray, he has so much enthusiasm for everything he does. You can’t teach what he brought to that team. He never wanted to leave and I don’t think there were many fans at the time who wanted him to either. He tells the story like someone said earlier of finally feeling settled and then Kendall turns up and tells him he’s being sold. Saying that though, I remember meeting Lineker at the Bellfield open day just after he had signed, and he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. It’s mad when you meet younger people these days who hate both players because of their TV careers, because they never witnessed just how good they were as footballers.

Ratcliffe tells a good story about Gray in his after dinner speech. There was a corner, and the ball comes in and Andy Gray heads the back of Kevin Bond’s head, as if it was the ball. Bond’s head then heads the ball and it flies over the bar. Bond obviously goes down, clutching his head not knowing what’s happened. Ratcliffe can’t believe what he’s just seen, so he turns to Gray and says, ‘What was that all about?’ Gray replies, ‘I didn’t think I could get to the ball myself, so I tried to play a cannon off his head

 

[dholliday]

Sharp did it our way Cottee did it his way

What does that even mean? Cottee came on as a sub and poached two equalisers for us in that gloriously delirious 4-4 against Liverpool. Straight off the bench he seamlessly joined that never-say-die spirit the whole team had going on.

Cottee did it our way just fine too.

 

[dholliday]

I remember meeting Lineker at the Bellfield open day just after he had signed, and he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. It’s mad when you meet younger people these days who hate both players because of their TV careers, because they never witnessed just how good they were as footballers.

Ratcliffe tells a good story about Gray in his after dinner speech. There was a corner, and the ball comes in and Andy Gray heads the back of Kevin Bond’s head, as if it was the ball. Bond’s head then heads the ball and it flies over the bar. Bond obviously goes down, clutching his head not knowing what’s happened. Ratcliffe can’t believe what he’s just seen, so he turns to Gray and says, ‘What was that all about?’ Gray replies, ‘I didn’t think I could get to the ball myself, so I tried to play a cannon off his head

Ha!

Interesting contrast between the two: Lineker has always said he actively avoided too much heading off the ball during his playing career as he was wary it might cause future brain problems.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

What does that even mean? Cottee came on as a sub and poached two equalisers for us in that gloriously delirious 4-4 against Liverpool. Straight off the bench he seamlessly joined that never-say-die spirit the whole team had going on.

Cottee did it our way just fine too.

Need to watch that match. Got the VHS from Amazon and it's been in my "too watch" pile for ages. Still got "Best of the Big Match" Everton Special to watch as well. Not even finished Moyes 10 from 10 yet either. I need to stop buying DVDs/VHS' until I've watched the ones I already have

 

[steken1]

I always liked Andy Gray, he has so much enthusiasm for everything he does. You can’t teach what he brought to that team. He never wanted to leave and I don’t think there were many fans at the time who wanted him to either. He tells the story like someone said earlier of finally feeling settled and then Kendall turns up and tells him he’s being sold. Saying that though, I remember meeting Lineker at the Bellfield open day just after he had signed, and he was the nicest guy you could ever meet. It’s mad when you meet younger people these days who hate both players because of their TV careers, because they never witnessed just how good they were as footballers.

Ratcliffe tells a good story about Gray in his after dinner speech. There was a corner, and the ball comes in and Andy Gray heads the back of Kevin Bond’s head, as if it was the ball. Bond’s head then heads the ball and it flies over the bar. Bond obviously goes down, clutching his head not knowing what’s happened. Ratcliffe can’t believe what he’s just seen, so he turns to Gray and says, ‘What was that all about?’ Gray replies, ‘I didn’t think I could get to the ball myself, so I tried to play a cannon off his head

I know the games changed but two of those types would transform our side IMO.

 

[banno]

What does that even mean? Cottee came on as a sub and poached two equalisers for us in that gloriously delirious 4-4 against Liverpool. Straight off the bench he seamlessly joined that never-say-die spirit the whole team had going on.

Cottee did it our way just fine too.

Think what he is saying is that Cottee was more in it for himself rather than the team. Sharp was a scorer and team player. Think Sharp said this in his book also. Irrespective of the result of the game apparently Cottee would be gleaming about a goal he scored and if we won without him scoring he wasn't happy. I didn't have anything against Cottee but he obviously wasn't a great team player and was more interested in his own personal stats.

Back on Topic...Andy Gray was a part of our rejuveination. Great in the dressing room and 100% enthusiastic. Him and Reid got that team going.