Andre Gray

[Clive 1960]

just seen he as signed for Plymouth , odds on him scoring the winner against Rovers...

[Anonymous Claret]

Fingers crossed.

He's done it for us before. Let's hope he does it again for Argyle.

[Bosscat]

Good luck Andre Gray ... he did the biz for us in that Championship winning season ... Go on and stick one in v B'tards on Saturday.

[Goliath]

7in 26 for Al Riyadh suggests this might not be the greatest of signings.

[wilks_bfc]

7in 26 for Al Riyadh suggests this might not be the greatest of signings.

I’ll be honest I wouldn’t mind us having a 1 in 4 striker right now

[Ric_C]

Feel like as soon as he got involved with the Little Mix situation, he seemed to lose a lot of his drive. Was a good player back in his day, but just hasn't kicked on at all. Sold him at exactly the right time

[helmclaret]

Feel like as soon as he got involved with the Little Mix situation, he seemed to lose a lot of his drive. Was a good player back in his day, but just hasn't kicked on at all. Sold him at exactly the right time

Yep signing for a premier league club shows he lost his drive.

He’s had a fantastic career.

[beddie]

I remember when he returned to the Turf with Watford, he and Deeney ran us ragged.

[Ric_C]

Yep signing for a premier league club shows he lost his drive.

He’s had a fantastic career.

You are saying his career improved after leaving us?

14 goals in 83 apps for Watford, then downhill from there

Bit intrigued on this tbh

[helmclaret]

He came up through the leagues and ended up in the Premier League. And god forbid he met a woman!

[ClaretTony]

Yep signing for a premier league club shows he lost his drive.

He’s had a fantastic career.

He left a Premier League club to sign for Watford where he scored 19 goals in four seasons.

[Ric_C]

He came up through the leagues and ended up in the Premier League. And god forbid he met a woman!

This messageboard is weird sometimes.

[helmclaret]

His career has tailed off, but how do you know it’s down to a lack of drive and him meeting a woman?

[dougcollins]

A fully-functioning Andre Grey is a great commodity in The Championship.

[Ric_C]

His career has tailed off, but how do you know it’s down to a lack of drive and him meeting a woman?

No one knows for sure, but it's a hell of a coincidence. It's less the fact he has met "a woman", and more to do with all the trappings of being involved in the entertainment industry (which he wasn't really when he was at with us and Brentford).

He went from being a 1 in 3 scorer in the premier league to a 1 in 7 scorer in the space of a few years.

Maybe he was less motivated due to not needing the cash anymore? Who knows, but whatever, it is an alarming drop off as I thought he had a real chance of being a consistent Premier league goalscorer at one stage.

[Stonehouse]

Always thought he was like a dog with a balloon.

[warksclaret]

It’s a gamble by Plymouth but maybe no major financial commitment. He was passed his best when he went to Watford and we did great business getting £18m. He was sensational in our Championship winning year when he proved a real poacher/goal scorer. His downfall was a dreadful touch-.had that been good he may have ended at a better team when he left us

[helmclaret]

No one knows for sure, but it's a hell of a coincidence. It's less the fact he has met "a woman", and more to do with all the trappings of being involved in the entertainment industry (which he wasn't really when he was at with us and Brentford).

He went from being a 1 in 3 scorer in the premier league to a 1 in 7 scorer in the space of a few years.

Maybe he was less motivated due to not needing the cash anymore? Who knows, but whatever, it is an alarming drop off as I thought he had a real chance of being a consistent Premier league goalscorer at one stage.

He never had the technique to be a competent PL player. If he had stayed in the Championship, he would have probably maintained his scoring ratio.

The PL is a step too far for a lot of exceptional Championship players.

[Pickles]

League top scorer, league player of the season and a pivotal part of our promotion but never really gets/got much praise. Similar to Chris Wood. Both very good strikers. They'd make a half decent front two.

[bobinho]

Feel like as soon as he got involved with the Little Mix situation, he seemed to lose a lot of his drive. Was a good player back in his day, but just hasn't kicked on at all. Sold him at exactly the right time

Whilst I agree with almost everything you said, he most certainly was NOT a good player.

Very effective when a team plays to his strengths, which was sprinting onto pacey forward balls on the ground. Every other element of his game was Sunday league. Passing the ball to him normally was like kicking a ball hard against an upturned trampoline.

Let’s hope he bags a **** load against the horse botherers.

[bobinho]

Always thought he was like a dog with a balloon.

Nearly wee’d then…

[NottsClaret]

League top scorer, league player of the season and a pivotal part of our promotion but never really gets/got much praise. Similar to Chris Wood. Both very good strikers. They'd make a half decent front two.

Quite. 9 goals in 32 in the Prem, first time at that level having worked up from non-league. Scored tons the season before to win us the championship. If he's not a good player, we're setting the bar high.

OK, he did rely on pace and power but that's a big part of the game today. I'm not sure at 33 and coming back from Saudi he'll offer too much now. Hope he does well.

[Fretters]

Always thought he was like a dog with a balloon.

Come on, he's not Ian Moore, eh CT?

[ElectroClaret]

Only really memorable for that match-winning peno
against R*vers.

And that's good enough...

[Big Vinny K]

Fantastic player for us.
Pace, power, goals.
Got us promoted at a reported cost of only £6m (rising to £9m)

We then doubled our money selling him to Watford - from which point he has been pretty awful. He doubled his salary too and signed a 4 year contract.

He may well have suffered the same downturn in form if he would have stayed at Burnley. We’ll never know - but no doubt it was a great piece of business buying him and also selling him.

[fanzone]

You are saying his career improved after leaving us?

14 goals in 83 apps for Watford, then downhill from there

Bit intrigued on this tbh

70k a week at Watford was a vast improvement

[KRBFC]

7in 26 for Al Riyadh suggests this might not be the greatest of signings.

Yet you rave about the 3 in 70 Jay Rodriguez…

[Goliath]

Yet you rave about the 3 in 70 Jay Rodriguez…

1. No I don't, I say the comments on here about him are disrespectful for a homegrown player that went on to play for England. He is a solid option in the squad with excellent technical ability. See his weight of pass the other day when he played someone in ( can't remember who). The majority of our squad would have got the weight of that wrong.

2. Most of those were sub appearances in the PL and it seems to be missing out those the scored in the champ the season before last when he was top scorer in the league before getting injured

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

Always find it odd when people post he wasn’t a good player. Fantastic goal scoring record for us in the promotion season and then scored at the top level.

[Silkyskills1]

Only really memorable for that match-winning peno
against R*vers.

And that's good enough...

It really is but I think you are being grossly unfair regarding his performances for us. Money well spent and recuperated by us. A constant threat to opposition defences.

[Jamesy]

Sadly he is still better than any of our current striker options.

[bobinho]

Always find it odd when people post he wasn’t a good player. Fantastic goal scoring record for us in the promotion season and then scored at the top level.

For clarity, I think those of us who aren’t fawning think he was an excellent goalscorer in a system and style that suited his particular attributes - as stated earlier, power, pace and an eye for goal. No doubt in my mind whatsoever he was the right man for the job at the time.
There’s a difference between what I have said above and his footballing ability. Which former professional was it that said one of one of his players/teammates “he can trap it further than I can kick it”? That statement could easily have been used for Andre.
Really enjoyed having him here, did a proper job for us and scored some absolute belters, but let’s not kid ourselves he was a good player, he just wasn’t.

[Quicknick]

I wish the Andre Gray of 2015/16 was playing for us now. What pace and power.

[Papabendi]

Fantastic player for us.
Pace, power, goals.
Got us promoted at a reported cost of only £6m (rising to £9m)

We then doubled our money selling him to Watford - from which point he has been pretty awful. He doubled his salary too and signed a 4 year contract.

He may well have suffered the same downturn in form if he would have stayed at Burnley. We’ll never know - but no doubt it was a great piece of business buying him and also selling him.

Definitely the key for us in the promotion season, we were looking pretty ordinary before he arrived.