Andy Gray: I considered killing myself after Sky sexism row
The former Sky Sports presenter Andy Gray has admitted that he considered killing himself after being sacked by the broadcaster for making sexist remarks about a football official and a fellow colleague.
The 56-year-old Gray made the admission in an interview with London's Evening Standard in which he also said he has found the decision to sack him and the stain it has cast on his reputation hard to accept.
Asked if he has considered taking his own life since his dismissal, he said: "Yes. I would be lying if I said I didn't. I had never felt like I have felt from January 25th [last year] onwards."
And despite resuming his media career with a job as a Talksport presenter alongside Richard Keys – who resigned shortly after Gray was sacked – the former Everton and Scotland striker has found it hard not to dwell on what happened at Sky.
"It happened on a Saturday morning," recalls Gray. "I got a call on Monday from Andy Melvin [deputy head of Sky Sports] just telling us, 'Don't come in today for Monday night football.' It escalated from there for some reason, I've no idea why."
Gray was later sacked by Sky's head of sport, Barney Francis, after footage emerged of him making sexist remarks about the assistant referee Sian Massey to Sky's pitchside reporter Andy Burton and also of an incident caught on camera a month earlier in which he made a suggestive comment to his colleague Charlotte Jackson.
Gray is still adamant that the incident does not cast him in a true light. "This was a private bit of banter released to the social media and for some reason the press etc tore us apart," he said. "I have no problems with a woman referee. It wasn't a criticism, it was a light-hearted quip.
"I wish I'd never said it and, if I caused Sian any problems, then of course I'm terribly disappointed. Richard [Keys, who resigned after he was seen laughing with Gray in the footage] phoned her, apologised on our behalf and she said, 'Don't be so stupid, guys.'"
As for what happened with his colleague Jackson, Gray said: "Again, it's probably an old man trying to be funny. It was no more than that. Charlotte knows us very well. For 17 years, my life was a dressing room and everyone who's been in a dressing room knows what kind of banter goes on.
"It's a place where you can get ripped apart at times by your fellow players. We had that type of dressing room at Sky where we wanted people to feel comfortable and we had conversations about many things.
"In 20 years in studios up and down the country I've heard people saying things off camera that would make your hair curl. I do not see myself as sexist. Not in a million years. I have four daughters and I was brought up by a wonderful mother on her own. She's 91 and is distraught about what happened."