Andy Gray

[Ollie d]

One of my many idols as a young lad so I bear no malice at all . What a range of strikers we had during that mid 80's period- Sharp, Heath, Grey and Linekar all within a few years.

 

[daza_1973]

He basically did for us in 83/84 what Cantona did for Utd in 1992.

 

[Connor mcloud]

The eighties, still fills me up watching these old clips

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Howard Kendall ?

Howard Kendall route to manager of Everton first time round had a very different journey than Grey's had he taken the job with us, and I suppose which tenure of Everton management of Howard Kendall do we compare to his playing, first second third, or all three.

 

[everton fan number one]

He's always very positive about Everton these days, a bit biased even.

 

[Catfish Blues]

The fact that, bar, I think, a short time on the coaching staff at Villa, he's never worked at a club except as a player, suggests he knows he'd be crap at it, and is better suited to chatting wham on the telly.

If he'd gone on to manage elsewhere, then I'd probably feel differently, but, as it is, I just remember his days playing for us, and can't possibly hate the bloke.

 

[Cork Evertonian]

Are people still angry about the whole managers job thing?I think it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway.The working conditions were not there at Everton, to achieve success and he had no managerial experience.I think people should leave the whole sexist comment thing slide as well.I mean like Stan Collymore is a woman beater.Yet people act like that never happened.Andy Gray was a great player for Everton, end of story.Oh and that interview after the Bayern Munich game.By god we showed them that we can play a bit.

 

[AsiaAsia82]

Great player so it’s all fine with me

(Through gritted teeth due to that “you beauty” line....)

 

[degsy]

Time to forgive and forget?

I can't be bothered writing an article but his relationship with Everton went sour when he declined to manage Everton following interviews with Peter Johnson. Andy Gray had his name tarnished and accused by fans of being after a pay increase at Sky.

We ended up getting rid of Peter Johnson. Maybe there was something in that interview that he didn't trust?

Is it time to forgive, and welcome him like we do with the other players in that team?

His version...well it would...Gist - Johnson was all in favour until Gray told him how much he would need to spend, then it was right, thanks for coming in, but obviously we have other people to see. He waited for the phone call. Sky then came to him with a not quite 'you need to sign this now'. Then Johnson got back to him but he'd was committed to Sky.

Given Agent Johnson's dubious nature and using the...' always go with coque up over conspiracy' I'd side with Gray...
but who really knows?

 

[München Blue]

That

3rd goal was a thing of beauty.

Was in the main stand, it was absolutely brilliant. Did not want to leave the ground. Unbeatable, and now I live in Munich, I always have a buzz off the Bayern fans andover Hoeness "that's not football Mr Kendall"

 

[Daytripper]

He did great for us, can’t knock him for that

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Brought Sharpie on a tonne.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Brought Sharpie on a tonne.

He certainly did. Sharpie's book is a bit sad in that respect - like a mills and boon bromance for a lost love, these current players are rubbish because none of them can tan the bevvy like Andy Gray.

Fans on the warpath over Andy Gray not becoming manager is LOL now in hindsight, but they were hard times. Prem was a different league and we were at a low ebb, so people were desperate for some sort of inspiration.

 

[Cameron Manning]

There were plenty of people back in the day who properly turned on him for not taking the job at the time. In all honesty it wasn’t until a few years later that it turned out the place was poisonous at the time.

A lot of it was made that Gray turned his back on the club and was more interested in drawing a wage from Sky. I dread to think where we would of ended up if he’d taken it - the lack of offers after all but clarified that.

Do you think he would have been worse that season, than the man who did take the job? If so you are absolutely right to have that dread.

 

[zzr45]

Do you think he would have been worse that season, than the man who did take the job? If so you are absolutely right to have that dread.

I reckon so. As washed up as Kendall was then, at least he had some experience of the nuts and bolts of coaching. For Gray to have come in and learned on the job with the squad and the club the way it was at the time was a recipe for disaster.