19 Dec 2012 18:01:15
Gray brings a wealth of experience to Hillsborough having enjoyed a coaching career of almost two decades.
The 52-year-old's stint on the other side of the white line began back in 1994 upon his retirement from his playing days.
Having hung up his boots after representing Nottingham Forest, Bolton, Barnsley, Aston Villa and Southampton, Gray joined the coaching staff at The Dell before moving on to Wolves as reserve team manager.
Gray returned to Southampton in 1997 as reserve team coach under Jones, who was then at the Saints helm.
The Yorkshireman was promoted to first team coach in 1998 and, after a spell as caretaker manager in 2001, took up the position on a permanent basis as the club moved to their new ground of St Mary's.
Gray then enjoyed fruitful spells coaching the first teams of Aston Villa and Crystal Palace before linking up once again with Jones as assistant manager at Wolves.
After a short spell as caretaker at Molineux in 2004, Gray's next project arrived in 2007 when he took up the vacant managerial position at Northampton Town, where he remained until 2009.
In 2010, Gray became first team coach at then Premier League side Burnley and took the reins as caretaker following the departure of former Owls boss Brian Laws in December of the same year.
Gray took his coaching experience to Portsmouth last season and now links up with Jones once more at Hillsborough.
The Wednesday boss said: "I've brought Stuart in because he's an older head than the coaches I have, he has a vast amount of experience.
"He'll become part of the coaching team and everybody at the club will benefit from his experience and knowledge.
"I have worked with Stuart before for around seven years and that played a big part in my decision to bring him to the club.
"It underlines my philosophy of never standing still and always looking to build.
"I would like to welcome Stuart to Sheffield Wednesday."
Not before time, not had a proper coach since Burton left.
DJ should have brought a coach in straight away instead of promoting his inexperienced mate PW and we might not have gone on this big slide.
Nice to hear. DJ tried to wing it but came up well short.
Im sure we will now see an improvement on the field.
I still have big, big reservations about DJ , but now we have a capable coach we have half a chance of staying up, that has to be the priority, the other problem can wait hopefully?
Delighted to hear about this, what is required. Think main problem we have is lack of coaching. Many managers are not coaches and need some one to do the nitty gritty unfortunately we have found out PW not suited to role. Sounds daft but firmly believe our problems stemmed from loss of Burton. He was extremely good and fans easily foget how average players improved considerably in final few matches of season for instance Chris Lines. Hope fans should now get behind team and give Gray a chance and stop the hysterical comments and outbursts which only give rival fans ammunition.
Stuart Gray is not the answer!
Yes he will stick a plaster on and hide DJ's glaring failures as Manager
But ultimately the Buck stops with the manager, so if Gray is to coach the team, what is DJ's job?
Guarding Bothcrap's car during games or should he sell programmes because he is useless at buying players!
I'm glad we've got Gray because its obvious MM is reluctant to change DJ just yet .
Even though this proves that DJs made yet another glaring error of judgement in promoting PW instead of replacing Burton straight away at start of season.
Hopefully Gray can put some shape and understanding in to the team and we can escape relegation - - that has to be the priority now.
I'm sure that MM will have noted ALL of DJs shortcomings and his day of reckoning will come when we have hopefully steadied the ship in the Champs.
I think now we have to get behind Jones and see what happens.
He will either take us down or he will actually find some decent players and keep us up.MM has got to help him though by getting a few quid out.Not massive money,just some at least :)
By the time we know one way or the other how its going, its going to be too late for anyone to change the outcome.
If he was going to go, he needed to go a few weeks ago or this week at the latest.
I've been a massive moaner about him but now i'm willing to give him the chance to turn us round.
Maybe privately he knows what mistakes he's made and is going to rectify them.
But if he signs bothroyd then i will lose all hope again lol
Hopefully Gray will give him a better slant on things.We might even see Rodri get 30 mins or even a full half.
Bringing in an experienced coach is not before time and I believe we have missed Burton. But Burton was here when we brought in most of the players in the summer, did he have an input into buying those players or did DJ do that himself. If he did have an input that means he was partly responsible for the dross we brought in. If not then Jones decided on his own and if that is so then what plonkers will he bring in, in the Jan transfer window. Or did Burton have an input but Jones ignored him. Still very worried
He probably did discuss it with TB but it would have obviously been DJs list of players. There are some promising youngsters amongst them.
The real problem was that he didn't see the need to bring in experienced players for this season, that was his big failing. And whether TB had a say or not , surely a GOOD manager would have realised that we were going to need them in 2-3 key positions ?
At last a decent replacement and acknowledgement that the loss of Burton had made a massive decline in our fortunes and just highlighted who was really running the show at Hillsborough - UNFORTUNATELY this can only mean that MM is giving DJ more time at the helm rather than having a clear out and a new manager and coach - Oh Crap :o(
There aren't a lot of good managers out of work at the moment tho.
Perhaps MM feels that when we got Gray settled in at least he can put some pressure on DJ knowing that we got somebody capable as 2nd in command if he has to take over. Not the case before Gray came in?
20 Dec 2012 15:33:42
January approaching any rumours of players were after? Need a few!
Mario Balotelli untill end of season man city want rid mi next door nieghbours brother in laws auntie from Italy just told me....please dont start all this rubbish off again...(luv it really)
I personally think Gray will be the next manager after Jones .... MM seems to have a plan B bringing a coach with good managerial experience , a yorkshireman too, this will not cause too much for the club yet a smooth transition .... this is a business as well as a football positive move ..... HOPE WE WILL SEE SOME REAL IMPROVEMENTS AND QUICKLY
Lets hope so.
Gray in = Jones stays, its that simple although a replacement for Burton was woefully overdue. We'll have to wait and see if this is the right replacement. Bets anyone?
Hesitate to agree with DJ for first time ever but Gray WILL bring some , long overdue, coaching experience sadly lacking since Burton went, which cant be a bad thing.
After all the priority is staying in this division , it would be a bonus if we somehow managed to get a proper manager as well.
Looking at it from MMs point of view as well, Gray has got limited management experience at this level also, so if he was pushed to act quick with DJ there is somebody in place to hold the fort short term while a replacement is found. He couldn't have risked leaving PW in charge.
So on balance progress I think, but lets face it things can hardly get any worse ?