Leeds United’s play-off semi-final victory over Norwich City won’t have meant more to anyone than Archie Gray.
Gray is a boyhood Leeds fan and given he is only 18-years-old, it wasn’t that long ago he was on the terraces himself supporting his club.
He is living the dream of every Leeds supporter right now and to have played his part on such a special night yesterday could well have even eclipsed the moment his deflected shot went in against Leicester City in February.
Having played as a number 10 at Carrow Road, Gray was back in the position he has spent much of the season at right-back last night, producing a ‘special’ performance in the eyes of Ben Parker.
Gray barely gave Norwich’s dangerman Jonathan Rowe a sniff and it was also his pass that set Willy Gnonto free down the right to cross for Joel Piroe’s header.
What Gray did during Leeds’ post-match lap of honour
It was an incredible atmosphere from start to finish at Elland Road but there were certainly some partisan scenes at full-time when Leeds’ passage to Wembley was officially confirmed.
After Liam Cooper gathered the whole team for a huddle in the centre circle, the players did a full lap of the pitch to thank supporters and party alongside them.
However, Gray was actually the one player who was not involved in that post-match walk around the ground, as he instead opted to do his own thing.
According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Gray stood alone in the centre of the pitch taking it all in, as Leeds fans belted out both ‘I Predict A Riot’ and ‘Marching on Together’ in quick succession.
He then proceeded to do a post-match lap by himself, before joining Daniel Farke and the ground staff in the Leeds manager’s customary wave after a win.
Leeds could need promotion to keep Gray
Despite it being just his first season in professional football, Gray has already been attracting interest from some of Europe’s elite, including Bayern Munich.
Promotion would put Leeds in a much stronger position to keep him next season, though failure to win the play-off final may see him sold.
49ers Enterprises have already acknowledged key players would have to leave if Leeds stay in the Championship, with the Daily Mail yesterday reporting £100m in sales would need raising.
Gray is undoubtedly one of, if not Leeds’ most high value asset and so a difficult decision would have to be made by the board if worse comes to worst.