Gray reflects on the original big deal

Thirty years on from his historic British record transfer, Andy Gray has hit out at the culture of greed which has left football out of touch with the common man.

Gray's £1.469million transfer from Villa to Wolves – completed on the pitch before a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace on 8 September 1979 – was a million miles away from this summer's record-breaking £80million deal that saw Cristiano Ronaldo move to Real Madrid.

Instead of being pursued by an army of agents, business and financial advisers negotiating a six-figure weekly salary, Gray drove from his £25,000 home in Sutton Coldfield to Molineux to sign the forms on a contract that rose to £1,000 a week in his second year – only after his 'dodgy' knee had held out for a specified number of games.

As for today's cash-bloated market, the striker-turned-Sky TV pundit believes the wages and fees are far too high. The now 53-year-old also reckons legislation will be introduced to curb the tapping up of players, that last week saw Chelsea found guilty and banned from signing players for 18 months.

He said: "It's extraordinary – I think it's over the top. I have never minded the best players getting high wages, because they deserve it and they put a lot back.

"The problem is the ordinary players are taking so much out of the game and not giving anything in return.

"Sky has made players and clubs very rich over the last 20 years and it's made our league a lot better.

"But Sky doesn't spend the money – it's up to the clubs how they want to spend it.

"If they want to splash out £150,000 a week on a player and risk that club's survival, that's up to them, but we don't dictate who pays what to who.

"But I do think some regulation has to come in, because we live in an era where fans are struggling to make ends meet and players are picking up £150,000 a week.

"It doesn't seem right. Clubs have huge power now, but they have been trying to nick kids for years.

"I was asked at 14 to sign for a club when I was attached on schoolboy forms somewhere else and they said 'we can get you off that, it's only a schoolboy contract.' I couldn't prove it but I'm sure it goes on.

"Chelsea have had their wrists slapped and there may be other clubs to follow. But, from the clubs' and supporters' point of view, I don't think they want their teams to fall behind their rivals because it's a global game and the top clubs have to search extensively for these young players.

"Unfortunately, you can be a great player at 14 but not at 20 or 21."

Everything is relative, and three decades ago, Gray's own transfer was considered as outrageous as Ronaldo's is today.

He said: "It was a huge thing at the time but it was money Barney (then Wolves boss John Barnwell) was prepared to pay.

"It was scary for a young lad from Glasgow, but it was what it had come to because I'd asked for a transfer and Villa didn't want to let me go, so they put a huge price tag on me.

"And because Barney had sold Steve Daley a couple of days earlier, he had the funds to pay. I was only on about £400 to £500 a week at Villa, because I'd come down from Scotland at 19 on a four or five-year contract, which only had little add-ons each year.

"The problem was my knee was pretty bad and Wolves were taking a chance on me, so there was a bit of give and take.

"But my fitness was good, so John was prepared to pay a relatively small amount in year one. Then, having proved my fitness, my salary improved in year two to about £1,000 a week.

"There were plenty of players earning more than me although I wasn't aware at the time, because there weren't really agents and wages weren't talked about the way they are now, where it's there in the public domain.

"We did our own deals and I wasn't bothered what I was earning as long, as I felt I was being paid a fair wage."

Andy Gray was talking to Tim Nash