Wembley Hero On His Magical Wolves Moment

Andy Gray has used a rare visit back to Wolverhampton to speak with great pride about his part in helping Wolves become League Cup winners for the second time.

The Glaswegian became a serial winner by lifting the FA Cup, League title and European Cup Winners’ Cup with Everton but it was in the West Midlands – initially at Villa – that he started his trophy-laden time in English football.

He was part of the Ron Saunders squad who took the League Cup to Villa Park in 1977 and got his hands on the same piece of silverware three years later, this time as scorer of the winning goal for Wolves in the final against Nottingham Forest.

Gray appeared two nights ago with John Richards and Kenny Hibbitt at the latest sports evening at the Cleveland Arms near Willenhall and we trust those two double League Cup winners will allow the spotlight to be directed away from them on this occasion. The Scottish striker is seen much less frequently than them in these parts and reminded a big audience here of how he almost missed the showdown with Brian Clough’s team of serial champions through suspension.

John Barnwell’s alertness to the danger of being without his £1.49m signing on the big day led to him pressing for a rearranged game at Villa to be played five nights before Wembley so the ban could be served in a League fixture.

But the derby would go ahead on ther Monday only if West Ham and Villa didn’t draw their FA Cup quarter-final clash on the Saturday and need to meet again in the midweek.

“I was at Molineux to watch a reserve game that day and remember going down to one of the guest rooms ten minutes from the end when it was 0-0 at Upton Park,” Gray said.

“As the minutes ticked away, I resigned myself to there being a replay and me therefore missing Wembley. Then someone told me West Ham had a penalty in the last minute. Ray Stewart, who played for Dundee United a few years after I did, smashed it in and I was delighted and very relieved. I didn’t care who won….I just wanted a winner.

“I said then that I would score the winning goal at Wembley. One of the few games we saw live on TV in Scotland was the English FA Cup final and I wanted to play at Wembley, win at Wembley and score the winning goal at Wembley. I did all three with Wolves.”

So what was going through his mind when he set off in hopeful pursuit of the long forward punt from Peter Daniel at three-quarter time while Forest centre-half David Needham ran back towards his own goal and Peter Shilton advanced towards the edge of his area?

“Shilts didn’t like me,” added the man whose 1977 glory with Villa had come in a second replay at Old Trafford which he missed. “I didn’t think he was the best at gathering crosses into his area and I used to tell full-backs to put an early cross in to test him. I’d let him know I was there with a strong challenge, then help pick him up and say: ‘That’s the first of many you’re getting today, Shilts.’

“In that final, he came so far out that I thought: ‘Where the heck’s he going?’ I thought he was going for a pie and a Bovril.

“The mix-up left me with an easy chance and I just said to myself: ‘Don’t fall over!’ But I still didn’t trust myself to put it in with my right foot.

“It was terrific to beat that very strong Forest team but I remember Emlyn Hughes saying before the game: ‘I think we’ll be all right today….the referee (David Richardson) has just asked if he can have my shirt at the end of the game.'”

It is already nearly 14 years since Gray’s exit as Sky Sports’ lead football pundit – a time-span he has largely filled by working for beIN Sports in Qatar. 

He comes back here in most of the international breaks but flies out to the Middle East again today and is bracing himself for a busy working Christmas there rather than a more familiar one here.

“Waking up to that sunshine and being well looked after makes for a good standard of living,” he added. “It’s often 32 or 33 degrees and lovely for playing golf in.

“The World Cup out there a couple of years ago was brilliant but I love coming back here to the Midlands, too, where all my kids are.”

Gray turns 70 on November 30 next year and hinted that his time in the Qatar capital, Doha, might draw to a close at the end of next season.