Gray was born in
Glasgow and brought up in the city's
Castlemilk district. He was a schoolboy international for
Scotland. He had aspirations of signing for his boyhood team
Celtic, but signed professional forms with
Leeds United at the age of 16. He made his first team debut on New Year's Day 1966, less than three weeks before his 18th birthday, and would go on to play for the club for almost 20 years. A winger in the classic mould, Gray was feted in world football for his ability to beat opposing full backs for skill, pace and thought. As the Leeds team grew in stature and experience through the 1960s, Gray became a vital component of the team. In 1968, he was in the Leeds team which won the
League Cup and the
Fairs Cup double, scoring winning goals in both semi-finals, including a memorable individual goal against
Brian Clough's
Derby County in the semi-final of the League Cup. However injury meant he missed the second leg of the Fairs Cup final. He was then an important part of the team that won
League championship a year later, making 33 appearances and scoring five goals, during a season in which United scored a record number of championship points and lost only two matches along the way to conquering the title. However it was in 1970 that he would make his most famous appearance in a Leeds shirt. Gray's marking full back was
David Webb, a steady but undistinguished defender whom, for the 90 minutes and extra-time period, Gray tormented. Webb was repeatedly left on his backside or looking the wrong way as Gray ghosted past him, including one run where he cut inside onto his 'weaker' right foot and crashed a shot against the crossbar. Though Leeds dominated the match, the game still ended 2–2 and a replay was required – Gray had taken the corner which had allowed
Jack Charlton to open the scoring. In the replay, Chelsea changed tactics and put the more uncompromising
Ron Harris on to Gray and as a result, the danger was snuffed out – Harris badly injured Gray with a brutal tackle to the back of the knee. Chelsea won 2–1 and, in a final twist, it was Webb who scored the winner. Leeds lost the League championship race to
Everton and the European Cup semi-final to Celtic, thereby ended with nothing. Gray played in the team which reached the
1975 European Cup Final in Paris, featuring in the home victory against the Spanish champions
Barcelona in the semi-final, during which Gray tormented his marker de la Cruz and pushed Barcelona onto the back foot, allowing Leeds to dominate. However, he was left from the starting line up for the final by manager
Jimmy Armfield, which Leeds would go on to lose controversially to
Bayern Munich. Also featuring in this campaign was his younger brother
Frank, who had likewise come through the ranks at Elland Road. This was the swansong of the great Don Revie team (Revie himself had left a year earlier to take over as England manager) and Gray's teammates started to leave the club. By the early 1980s, Gray was the only player from any part of the Revie era still at the club (although
Peter Lorimer and
David Harvey would later make comebacks). Converted to left back, Gray prolonged his career and was in the side which was relegated under former teammate
Allan Clarke in 1982. Gray's unfortunate injury record meant that his Scotland career was short and infrequent. He won just 12
caps and missed the
1974 FIFA World Cup through injury. In an era of hard men – Bremner, Harris, Smith, etc., Gray also had the distinction of never being booked in his career. ==Managerial career==