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.

"I've always been keen that what I'm given is not a gimmick but something that actually enhances what the viewer's watching," he says.

"And if you ask me if the technology has gone as far as it can, the answer is absolutely no chance."

In Ireland to promote his autobiography, 'Gray Matters', the affable Scot is someone who bridges a footballing generation gap. To young fans, he's the bloke on the telly talking the talk and operating the hi-tech wizardry; to greybeards, he's a reminder of a time when live matches on the box were rare, pitches were muddy and the game was an intense physical battle.

In his book, he writes that his first experience of a Birmingham City-Aston Villa derby was of being chinned off the ball by an opposing centre-half called Joe Gallagher.

"I felt a tap on my shoulder and - bang," he recalls.

Football has changed radically since, and ironically, it's Andy Gray and other television watchdogs who are often charged with having played a role in sanitising the game. Gray demurs.

"The thing that happened to me that day - my introduction to English derby football - would never happen now. Joe Gallagher would never get away with it. There are cameras at virtually every game. But I'd be horrified if I thought we were sanitising the game. It's a less physical game but I don't think television has caused that. I think that's the powers that be. Before the 1998 World Cup in France, Platini was preaching that he wants football to be a non-contact sport - that horrifies me. I believe there's a happy medium somewhere between what I was used to and what we have now, where tackling is almost frowned upon."

With Manchester United and Arsenal about to renew their rivalry tomorrow, and in the light of Alex Ferguson's recent comments about their controversial clash last season, it's timely to ask Gray to reflect on Sky's coverage of the conclusion of that game at Old Trafford, when some pushing and mocking of Ruud Van Nistelrooy by Arsenal players was slowed down and replayed so many times that it began to assume the proportions of a silver screen mafia bloodbath, as lovingly directed by Martin Scorsese. Arsenal chairman David Dein, for one, was angry at the coverage, insisting that Sky had over-dramatised the events.

"I don't think we did," Gray says.

"I think the dramatic recreation in the press for days after that was as guilty of fuelling the fires. I was there on the day and, although nobody punched anybody, it was unacceptable behaviour in the modern game, and I thought Arsenal's reaction was way, way over the line. I spoke to David Dein in the summer in Portugal about it - (Sky presenter) Richard Keys and I had lunch with him - and I said, 'what were we supposed to do, turn the cameras away from the incident?'

"And there have been times when Sky have been very sympathetic to certain Arsenal players where we could have shafted them, for want of a better word. There are plenty of things that might happen off the ball that I've seen and the producer says 'do you want this?' and I'll say no because all I'll do is get someone a suspension, when nothing's really happened that's gonna make the headlines. And David knows this. And it's not just Arsenal or Manchester United, it's Bolton, Southampton, all the clubs. It's an across the board opinion, I don't just save it for the big teams."

Okay, how then does he respond to the more general charge that Sky Sports tend to hype all their games, even the worst ones?

"I've heard that from day one and I would argue against it. Of course there are games that are awful, I've commented on hundreds of them over the years. If anything, I give the supporters the credit they deserve - they know more about their team than I do. And they have a good knowledge of the game in general. I would never insult them by insinuating that they didn't. But in 14 years doing the job I've never once been told by a producer, 'make this sound good'. Yes, accentuate the positive - and why not? There'll always be something in even the worst game to excite me. Even if it only happens once. It doesn't stop me saying this is a poor game but I'll try to explain why it's a poor game rather than just slag it off."

Gray is following in a long line of Celtic soul-brothers who have taken to the mic after hanging up their boots. Try Hansen, Strachan, Nicholas, Graham, Quinn, Beglin, Houghton, Moran, Stapleton and Townsend - just for starters. What is it with the Scots and the Irish and their ability to talk football?

"Dare I say we're better?" Gray laughs.

"But I have noticed this and it's been noticed at Sky too. With the majority of their viewers being English, they'd obviously like an English voice. And they've been looking and searching. I guess the best new English one would be Alan Shearer, who we unfortunately lost this year to the BBC, but who we nurtured quite well over the last couple of years. I think he's grown into, certainly, a more rounded performer - good in studio and he's getting better behind the mic. And he has credibility as a modern footballer."

So, leaving aside his Sky colleagues, who's the best?

"I like Jocky (Alan Hansen), I think he does a good job. I also used to think Trevor Brooking was excellent. Trevor was much maligned but I think he analysed things pretty astutely. I also think Andy Townsend does a good, in-depth job for ITV. I know him well, he's a neighbour of mine and a good lad, and I've talked to him a lot about the job."

Although he knows both John Giles and Eamon Dunphy ("I'm seeing Eamon later," he cheerfully confides) and says he's aware that they had a "big falling out over Roy Keane", Gray is not familiar with their work on RTÉ.

On being informed that an exasperated Dunphy once threw a biro across the studio live on air, he grins and says "I can't see Keysie doing that".

Come to think of it, it's hard to imagine the same toothy Richard being tired and emotional in front of the camera either.

Gray himself is the consummate modern tv pro: sharply turned out, articulate and always eager to learn more. Hard-working too. Over the course of a season he'll do 66 league games, 30 European nights, the odd FA Cup tie and international games.

"It probably adds up to around 125 days a year," he computes, "which, in television terms, is a lot."

And in terms of football fatigue for the general viewer - too much even?

"Probably for the first time in 14 years I would concede that there might be. But I would also qualify that by saying we, as a sports channel, also understand the on/off button - people still have the ability not to watch it, if they don't want to. We definitely have choice, that's for sure, but there might be a little bit of over-saturation at the moment."

And yet, for the true football nut, there's probably no such thing as too much. Take Gray himself. Absolutely, he says, he has to take a break now and again. Indeed, as we speak, he notes there is a game coming up on the box which he might miss simply to buy some personal time.

Then he pauses and laughs: "Mind you, I might just tape it, just in case it turns out to be a classic!"

Like all former pros, Gray says that, while he loves his job, it's no substitute for the thrill of playing.

"I used to get more nervous before big games - mouth dry and all that - than I would be in television. Now, I get excited about big games rather than nervous. Manchester United versus Arsenal - I'm excited about that."

So what's his expert take on the big battle?

"I think Rooney coming through and Rio Ferdinand coming back are massive factors in how United's season is going to open out from now. But I think they need a goalie. Arsenal? I can't fault them. They're on the brink of going 50 games unbeaten. There's not a lot that surprises me in football but I sometimes have to pinch myself at that. Can United stop them? We'll find out soon enough."