Gray matters

Sky Sports' saturated Premiership coverage goes thermo-nuclear tomorrow at Old Trafford. And central to it all will be football's favourite pundit, Andy Gray. He spoke to Liam Mackey.

YOU READ it here first: it might not be too long before you see Andy Gray back on the pitch at the highest level, perhaps challenging Rio Ferdinand for the ball in the tough, no-nonsense style that made him such a fearsome striker for Aston Villa, Wolves, Everton and Rangers back in the '70s and '80s. But this time, Gray will be going about his business in the virtual world. And his weapons will be words and images not boots and elbows.

The Sky Sports football analyst and co-commentator has found himself working at the cutting edge of television technology since he joined the channel in 1991. First there was the Telestrator and the magic pen, then Replay 2000 (tracing the speed and distance of a shot) and that massive touch screen. And there's more to come. Somewhere not too far down the line is the virtual pitch. He saw the technology in its infancy in Holland some years ago and relishes the idea that some day he might be able to walk right into a slice of Premiership action to provide the most intimate footballing analysis to date.