John Gray
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John Gray
John gray
● John Gray, 1972 (SP)

born in Scotland

John Gray was born on Saturday, 7th March, 1953, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

The 5' 8 (11st 0lbs) forward signed for Bertie Auld's Thistle on Saturday, 27th July, 1974, having most recently been with Dundee.

Aged 21, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 17th August, 1974, in a 2-1 defeat at home to Dumbarton in the League Cup.

John scored his only two goals for Thistle on the same day; on Wednesday, 21st August, 1974, in a 3-1 win at home to Clyde in the League Cup.

He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 22nd March, 1975, in a 2-1 defeat away to Dundee United in the SFL First Division, having appeared as a Jag on 13 occasions.

John's club-list included Blantyre Celtic, Blantyre Victoria, Dundee, Partick Thistle, St George Budapest, Hamilton Academical and East Fife.

Bio Extra

This inside right signed for Blantyre Celtic as an 18-year-old in the close season of 1971, switching to rivals Blantyre Vics a few months later. He progressed quickly again, signing for Dundee in January 1972. He got his competitive debut at Shawfield in August '72, coming on as a sub in a 1-0 League Cup win at Clyde. With Gordon Wallace being injured, John made his League debut just 3 weeks later amidst the hotbed of a Tannadice derby in front of 13,000. Despite losing the match, John kept his place for a while, and just the very next week he scored for the 'Dee in an excellent 2-0 League win at home to Celtic, dreamland for the 19-year-old. This was a strong Dundee side, and there was some talk of them being title contenders once again. Unfortunately for John he got injured in November and found it difficult to regain his place in such a strong team with the likes of Gordon Wallace, Ian Scott, Jocky Scott, Jimmy Wilson and John Duncan all vying for the forward thinking positions. John was in and out of the team in 1973-74, but played in Europe against Twente Enschede. He was in the squad for the League Cup final against Celtic, but didn't make it onto the bench. His time at Dens Park came to a confusing end in the summer of 1974 when an announcement was made that he'd been freed and he received a letter confirming the same. Manager Davie White then got in touch to say that a mistake had been made and invited John back for pre-season training, but by then he had already committed himself to Bertie Auld's Partick Thistle.

His only winning feeling as a Jag came on the day when he scored his only two goals, Thistle defeating Clyde 3-1 in a League Cup derby in August 1974. It was a fine start (his second match) but it proved to be the only win in twelve competitive games for the 21-year-old John in 1974-75, and Thistle failed to make the cut for the all-new elitist 10-team Premier League. Bertie Auld wasn't impressed and revamped much of the squad for the following campaign; John distinctly sensed that his days were numbered at Firhill and started to form some exciting alternative plans in his head. As anticipated, he was freed during the following season and, in January 1976, he had made the exceedingly bold move to St George Budapest, located just south of Sydney. The club was founded by Hungarian immigrants in 1957. Rad move John! After a full calendar season down under, John was back in Scotland at the end of the year, signing a short-term deal with Hamilton Accies in November 1976. Just before christmas he switched to East Fife. As he had done with Dundee and Thistle, John made the Scottish Cup quarter finals with the Fifers. They gained a credible 0-0 draw at Tynecastle, and only narrowly lost out by 3 goals to 2 in the replay.

After his footballing career was over, John, a native of Hamilton, worked for an engineering firm in East Kilbride.

(WS)



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