In the history of Everton Football Club, no single figure has made so vast an impression in so short a time as Andy Gray did in the mid-1980s. His arrival at Goodison in late 1983 coincided with what seemed at the time an unlikely revival of Everton’s fortunes, his presence galvanising a hitherto struggling team that would – within a year – emerge as one of the best in the world.

What makes Gray’s impact all the more remarkable is that his time at the club spanned just 19 months. Yet when he left Goodison he possessed one of the most impressive medal hauls of any Everton player, while simultaneously capturing a place in every Evertonian’s heart.

Born in Glasgow, Gray started out at Dundee United, where as a teenager he garnered a reputation as a cavalier and free-scoring centre forward who would win at all costs. Still aged only 19, he joined Aston Villa in October 1975, a move that was hugely successful. In 1976/77 Gray won both the PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year award (a feat not repeated until 2007, when Cristiano Ronaldo scooped both prizes), as well as the First Division Golden Boot, after scoring 25 league goals. In 1979 he joined Wolves in a British record deal worth £1.5million, but after a promising start his form suffered as a result of injuries and backroom rancour.

As such, when Howard Kendall made a £250,000 move for him in November 1983, Gray was very much seen as yesterday’s man – a player who had failed to continue the outstanding form of his youth. ‘I was grateful to have the money available to buy such a quality forward,’ Kendall said at the time. ‘In this price bracket Gray is top of the list and I see an exciting partnership ahead with Graeme Sharp.’ Asked by journalists why he had come to Everton, Gray answered: ‘To win things.’ When this was derided and Gray told that such hyperbole had been heard many times before, he replied: ‘You’ve never heard it from me.’ This was the first demonstration to Evertonians of Gray’s incredible confidence, which would have a huge impact on a beleaguered dressing room.

Initially signed on a month’s loan in order to beat a transfer deadline, Gray made his debut against Nottingham Forest in a 1-0 home victory. His first goal came a month later, against former club Aston Villa in a 1-1 home draw, and although Everton’s form was slow to pick up, Gray had already made a great impression upon the Everton dressing room. ‘He was just the sort of character we needed,’ Graeme Sharp recalled. ‘He was terrific: a breath of fresh air. And you could hear him long before you saw him. He had an unbelievable will and a desire to win football matches and, although our fortunes didn’t turn around immediately, he made sure we were never down for too long after a poor result, which is important to a group of young players.’

There were several turning points in the 1983/84 season, one of which was an FA Cup third round tie at Stoke. Gray opened the scoring on 67 minutes with a stupendous diving header, and Everton never looked back. His new team seemed suddenly galvanised by his desire, courage and bravery. Nothing epitomised Gray better than his FA Cup quarter-final winner against Notts County. With the game balanced at 1-1, after 47 minutes Everton gained a free kick. Kevin Sheedy lifted the ball over the heads of Graeme Sharp and his marker David Hunt to the back post where Gray appeared horizontally and, virtually touching the ground, headed the deciding goal. Cup-tied for Everton’s Milk (League) Cup run, Gray returned for the FA Cup Final against Watford, scoring Everton’s second in a 2-0 win with a 51st-minute back-post header.

With the onset of the 1984-85 season, Gray’s chances were initially limited by the continued excellence of Adrian Heath. But a cruel injury to Heath in early December saw the Scot restored to the team and he seized his opportunity: Everton embarked on a league run that saw them drop just nine points in six months, with Gray averaging a goal every other game, and lift the league title.

At no point, however, was Gray more impressive than in Everton’s European Cup Winners’ Cup run. He effectively wrapped up the quarter-final against Fortuna Sittard with a first-leg hat-trick. Absent through injury from the first leg of the semi-final against Bayern Munich, he made a triumphant return for the return tie at Goodison. Trailing 1-0 at half-time, Gray battered Bayern into submission, scoring Everton’s second, decisive goal as they claimed a famous 3-1 win. Asked about the difference between his side’s performance in the first and second legs Kendall replied, ‘They hadn’t seen Andy Gray in the first leg.’

‘Gray,’ claimed the Bayern coach, Uli Hoeness, ‘should be playing rugby, not football.’

Invariably he played a lead role in the final, volleying Everton’s first in a 3-1 victory over Rapid Vienna.

Mocked eighteen months earlier for claiming he had come to Goodison to win things, with an FA Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup and League Championship medal, it was Gray now having the last laugh. But having written his way into Everton lore, Gray’s Goodison career was, in July 1985, brought to an abrupt halt. After signing Gary Lineker for a club record fee, Kendall – already with Graeme Sharp, Adrian Heath and England under-21 striker Paul Wilkinson at his disposal – accepted a £150,000 bid from Aston Villa. Later, he claimed that he couldn’t face the prospect of having to leave Gray out of his starting line-up in the forthcoming season.

Not since Dave Hickson was sold to Liverpool in 1959 had Evertonians been so outraged by a transfer. Petitions were drawn up and hundreds wrote to the club begging for Gray to stay. But it was all to no avail.

Maybe Kendall was right to sell the Scot when he did. Now in his thirties, a succession of knee injures meant that Gray never again reached such heights, either during his second period at Villa Park or in subsequent spells with Notts County, West Bromwich Albion and Glasgow Rangers. Following his retirement in the summer of 1989, after winning a Scottish Championship medal with Rangers, he embarked on a career in the media, also briefly holding down a role as Ron Atkinson’s assistant at Aston Villa. When Sky TV won the right to screen Premier League football, Gray took up his media role full-time and has become one of television’s leading pundits.

In summer 1997 it seemed for a period as if Gray would make an unexpected return to Goodison – as Everton manager. Linked to the position, Gray said: ‘This is a job I am interested in discussing because Everton is in my heart and soul. I loved my time at the club and I think the supporters know I’ve got blue blood running through my veins.’ Yet a week later he announced, to the ‘shock and bewilderment’ of Everton, that he was to remain at Sky.

There was much claim and counterclaim about why Gray never became Everton manager, souring some of the outstanding memories had of him. Despite all this, for the majority of those to witness this swashbuckling talisman, Gray’s place among the pantheon of Everton legends is beyond doubt.