Andy Gray confirmed UK commentary return for first time since Sky Sports scandal
Andy Gray has landed a co-commentator role and will make his UK debut on Wednesday night for Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid, 12 years after he was sacked by Sky Sports following a sexism scandal
Andy Gray is making a return to UK commentary(Image: Instagram/nickycrosbytv)
Andy Gray is set to make a comeback to UK commentary, 12 years after the football pundit was axed by Sky Sports in a sexism row.
Gray has been working in exile from the UK for beIN SPORTS in Qatar over recent years, teaming up with his longtime partner and fellow disgraced ex-Sky Sports star Richard Keys. The duo relocated to the Middle East after Sky Sports dismissed them for making sexist remarks in 2011.
The pair departed Sky Sports amid controversy after being filmed making offensive and misogynistic remarks about assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis and questioning women’s capability to officiate football matches. But Keys and Gray have now been replaced on beIN SPORTS and have returned to the UK from Doha to launch the next chapter of their careers, having started a podcast together.
Richard Keys and Andy Gray were the faces of Sky Sports until 2011(Image: Sky Sports)
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Gray, 70, has now secured a role with talkSPORT, and will serve as co-commentator for Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday evening, reports the Mirror.
He will join forces with Jim Proudfoot at Anfield for the radio coverage, 12 years since his brief stint covering the FA Cup with BT Sport.
“I’d like to think, somewhere, I could do a bit of commentary,” Gray told the Daily Mail last month. “Not television, maybe, but radio. Just to see what it feels like again. I would like that.”
Keys added: “I would be happy for you if that happened. I think you deserve it. To hear him back, analysing a football match, that would be special. He’s the best I’ve ever known.”
The pair previously had a brief spell on talkSPORT(Image: PA)
Gray featured for Aston Villa, Wolves and Everton during a 17-year playing career before establishing himself as a prominent pundit on Sky Sports. However, he was axed from his role after a live microphone captured his conversation with Keys regarding Massey-Ellis.
Keys was heard saying: “Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her [Massey],” with Gray responding: “Yeah, I know. Can you believe that? Female linesman. Forget what I said – they probably don’t know the offside rule.”
Keys then declared: “Course they don’t” with Gray adding: “Why is there a female linesman? Somebody’s f***** up big.”
Reflecting on his 2011 comments, Gray told the Daily Mail: “I can’t imagine saying today what I said then, I just can’t. I think we were two of the first people ever cancelled. I had 20 reporters outside my house for weeks.”
Andy Gray is a Wolves legend(Image: Mirrorpix)
He revealed to Piers Morgan in 2022 that he contemplated suicide following the fierce backlash. “I suddenly found myself in a really dark place,” he said.
“The house surrounded by people. And I knew I had done something wrong, of course I did, but I couldn’t compute it.
“My head was gone. If it hadn’t been for my wife, I don’t know what would have happened. I really don’t. Rachel was amazing. I was close to going down the garden, where I used to have a pond, with a little bottle and a few pills.
“I was that bad, one day – that bad, yeah… really weird, but I’m through it now.”
