The former Sunderland left-back is also a lifelong Mackems supporter.
So bad is Sunderland’s plight that one of their most popular ex-players – and lifelong Mackems supporter – has admitted he’s stopped going to watch them, unless he is asked to by his employers.
After years of flirting with relegation, Sunderland finally slipped out of the Premier League at the end of last season.
But despite having a new manager and 10 new players in place, the Mackems have been unable to arrest their slide and will go bottom of the Championship if they lose at home to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday.
And one man who won’t be in attendance is their former left-back, Michael Gray.
Speaking to Talksport on Tuesday morning (12:02) the 43-year-old confessed: “It’s got to a point now, for the past five or six seasons Sunderland have not been performing well, and I would only go and watch them if I was working for Talksport, whereas in the past I would phone up and ask for a ticket to go to the game.”
When asked to clarify that he would not visit the Stadium of Light through choice, Gray replied: “Absolutely not, why would you?”
And it would appear that Gray is not the only Sunderland fan to have grown disillusioned by the present state of affairs on Wearside, with the club’s average home attendance already down by more than 13,000 on last season.
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