Following the relegation of Sheffield Wednesday, and the club’s decision not to retain him, Mickey Gray has ended his playing career. He retires from the game with our appreciation and best wishes …
Mickey Gray served his own club of birthright and choice, Sunderland, extremely well.
Don’t remember the penalty shoot-out, forget all about the decline in his game in the time immediately before he moved on.
Salut! Sunderland, with thanks again to A Love Supreme for the old photo, wishes Mickey success in whatever he decides to do – beyond spending more time with his football club – now that he has retired from playing.
With Allan Johnston, Mickey gave SAFC fans some of the most exciting play down the left flank they are ever likely to see in our stripes. It has become a cliche to say it’s a tragedy Johnston’s premature departure meant we’d never see it in the Premier.
Plenty of SAFC fans enjoyed his BBC blog – which I have seen, too, even though I initially misremembered it as being on the Sheffield Wedensday club site – and it seems likely that he’ll now be popping up as a pundit here and there.
Good luck Mickey and thanks for some great memories. We hope fans of Leeds, Blackburn, Celtic, Wolves and Sheff Wed can also look back on some decent contributions from him to their teams.
In his younger days (towards the end of our time at Roker) I always thought of Mickey as a great left sided midfield player – industrious and skillful. He made the transition to full back easily and always looked comfortable there – unlike Kieran Richardson I’m sorry to say. He’ll always be remembered as a great servant of his local club and a part of the most exciting Sunderland team since the advent of the Premier League.
All the best Mickey – just be careful what goes in the Guinness!
Lovely article from a very fondly thought of one of our own,. Reading his blog on the BBC he said that he’s really looking forward to watching Sunderland more next season.
Best of luck to the lad with whatever he chooses to do.