| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stuart Gray[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1960-04-19)19 April 1960 (age 65)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Withernsea, England[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Fulham (assistant manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Withernsea YC | |||
| 1978–1980 | Nottingham Forest | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1983 | Nottingham Forest | 49 | (3) |
| 1983 | →Bolton Wanderers (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 1983–1987 | Barnsley | 120 | (23) |
| 1987–1991 | Aston Villa | 106 | (9) |
| 1991–1993 | Southampton | 12 | (0) |
| 1994 | Bognor Regis Town | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 298 | (35) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2001 | Southampton | ||
| 2002 | Aston Villa (caretaker) | ||
| 2004 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (caretaker) | ||
| 2007–2009 | Northampton Town | ||
| 2010–2011 | Burnley (caretaker) | ||
| 2011 | Portsmouth (caretaker) | ||
| 2013–2015 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| 2015 | Fulham (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Stuart Gray (born 19 April 1960)[2] is an English former professional footballer and manager he is the current assistant manager ofFulham. He has previously managedSouthampton,Northampton Town andSheffield Wednesday as well as working as caretaker manager for a number of teams. He has beenFulham's defensive coach since 2016, in which time they have earned three promotions to the Premier League.
Born inWithernsea,East Riding of Yorkshire,[2] Gray began his professional career withNottingham Forest, emerging from the youth system with players such asSteve Hodge andColin Walsh. He joinedBarnsley in 1984 and continued to build a reputation as a steady and versatile player, scoring eleven league goals in the1986–87 season. He moved toAston Villa in 1987 and won promotion the following year and runners-up in the First Division in 1990.
Gray joinedSouthampton in September 1991 for a fee of £200,000 as one ofIan Branfoot's first signings. Initially, this appeared to be a useful signing for the club as he could play either at left-back as cover forMicky Adams or in midfield, but a seriousAchilles tendon injury sustained in an FA Cup match against former club Bolton Wanderers ended his playing career.[3]
Earlier in that FA Cup run, Gray scored his only goal for Southampton, in a replay againstManchester United atOld Trafford. Micky Adams hit a probing left-foot pass which dropped betweenPeter Schmeichel andPaul Parker. Gray nipped between the goalkeeper and defender to stroke the ball home from just outside the area. Southampton eventually went on to win the game in apenalty shoot-out after scores were level 2–2 afterextra time. This was the first ever such shoot-out involving First Division sides.
After his playing career was finished, Gray joined the coaching staff atThe Dell before moving toWolverhampton Wanderers in June 1994 as reserve team coach.[4] His family were unable to settle in the West Midlands at this time, so he returned to Southampton, initially working in the community office, before becoming reserve team coach underDave Jones in July 1997, moving up to first team coach in November 1998, a role he retained after the appointment ofGlenn Hoddle as manager in January 2000.[4]
When Hoddle was lured away toTottenham Hotspur in March 2001, Gray initially took over ascaretaker manager, before taking on the role permanently in June,[4] as Southampton moved to their newSt Mary's Stadium. Early results were poor and chairmanRupert Lowe panicked about the effect on the club's investment in the new stadium and Gray was sacked after little more than three months in charge, to be replaced byGordon Strachan. During his brief tenure as manager, he broke Southampton's transfer record, signingRory Delap for a fee of £4 million.[5]
He has since coached successfully at a number of football clubs. These includeAston Villa, where he andJohn Deehan acted as joint caretaker managers after the departure ofJohn Gregory. Stuart Gray moved briefly toCrystal Palace to assist caretaker manager,Kit Symons. He then joinedDave Jones atWolverhampton Wanderers in the capacity of assistant manager. The two had previously worked together at Southampton. After the dismissal of Jones from Wolverhampton, Gray remained as assistant manager toGlenn Hoddle, once more acting as caretaker manager after Hoddle's departure; he had served as a caretaker for a month between the departure of Jones and arrival of Hoddle.[6]
On 2 January 2007, Gray was appointed as the manager ofNorthampton Town after accepting a2+1⁄2-year contract; he replacedJohn Gorman who had resigned on 20 December 2006.[7]
Gray was sacked as Northampton Town Manager on 8 September 2009, following relegation from League 1 in the 2008–09 season and being 16th in League 2 after six games in the 2009–10 season.
On 19 January 2010, Gray became the first-team coach forBurnley.[8] On 30 December he was appointed caretaker manager following the departure ofBrian Laws.[9] Gray left Burnley on 13 May 2011 as part of a restructuring after the club failed to achieve even a play-off place in the season just ended.[10] Gray became first-team coach atPortsmouth but was made redundant in April 2012 as part of cost cutting due to their financial difficulties.[11]
In December 2012, Gray was hired by his formerSouthampton colleague,Dave Jones, as a member of the coaching staff atChampionship clubSheffield Wednesday.[12]
Following the departure of Dave Jones from Sheffield Wednesday at the end of November 2013 Gray took over as caretaker manager with a view to taking on the managerial role permanently, and as of 8 February had led Wednesday to a run of eleven unbeaten games in all competitions.[13]
Stuart Gray was appointed as head coach of Sheffield Wednesday following the 2–1 win over Rochdale in the FA Cup on 25 January 2014.[14]
In his one full season in charge of the club, he secured their highest finish for six years, finishing 13th in a Championship campaign that also saw Wednesday equal their clean sheet record for a season.
Following a takeover at Sheffield Wednesday by Thai businessmanDejphon Chansiri, Gray was sacked in the summer of 2015[15] and replaced by head coachCarlos Carvalhal.[16]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Nottingham Forest | ||||||||||||
| 1980–81[17] | First Division | 14 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 18 | 1 | |
| 1981–82[17] | First Division | 33 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 38 | 2 | ||
| 1982–83[17] | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||
| Total | 49 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 59 | 3 | ||
| Bolton Wanderers (loan) | 1982–83[18] | Second Division | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | |
| Barnsley | ||||||||||||
| 1983–84[17] | Second Division | 17 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 18 | 8 | ||
| 1984–85[17] | Second Division | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 0 | ||
| 1985–86[17] | Second Division | 36 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 38 | 3 | ||
| 1986–87[17] | Second Division | 40 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1[b] | 1 | 47 | 14 | |
| 1987–88[17] | Second Division | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 24 | 2 | |
| Total | 120 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 135 | 27 | ||
| Aston Villa | ||||||||||||
| 1987–88[19] | Second Division | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 20 | 5 | ||
| 1988–89[19] | First Division | 35 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 41 | 4 | |
| 1989–90[19] | First Division | 29 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4[b] | 2 | 38 | 5 | |
| 1990–91[19] | First Division | 22 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4[c] | 0 | 33 | 1 | |
| Total | 106 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 132 | 15 | ||
| Southampton | 1991–92[20] | First Division | 12 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| Career total | 287 | 35 | 19 | 4 | 29 | 4 | 13 | 3 | 348 | 46 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Southampton | 30 March 2001 | 21 October 2001 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 031.6 |
| Aston Villa (caretaker) | 24 January 2002 | 5 February 2002 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 000.0 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers (caretaker) | 1 November 2004 | 7 December 2004 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 042.9 |
| Northampton Town | 2 January 2007 | 8 September 2009 | 135 | 44 | 39 | 52 | 032.6 |
| Burnley (caretaker) | 29 December 2010 | 16 January 2011 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 050.0 |
| Portsmouth (caretaker) | October 2011 | November 2011 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 050.0 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 1 December 2013 | 12 June 2015 | 84 | 30 | 25 | 29 | 035.7 |
| Fulham (caretaker) | 8 December 2015 | 27 December 2015 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 000.0 |
| Total | 261 | 88 | 73 | 100 | 033.7 | ||
Individual