No Gray area - he had to go

So, Andy Gray has got the boot for the Sky Sports sexism debacle. That’s made me a tenner (a safe bet at the time) – saved Sky execs a few bob in fees and will probably be worth a Ronaldo transfer fee in PR terms.

It was good fun while it lasted with the tabloids upping their game in the trawl for women reader with customary indignation. The Mirror’s Game of two halfwits was the pick of the day, although the Sun’s Get ‘em off (next to a picture of lineswoman Sian Massey dancing in something skimpy) was a bit of an own goal.

I’d been wondering when Andy Burton was going to get a kicking for his part.

Gray is a footballer so knows no better. Richard Keys would have got in on the “changing room crack” and gone native ages ago. But at least he had the nous to apologise.

But Burton had no excuse. As a professional broadcaster, he should have known better than to get caught like Rooney by an Accrington offside trap.

Also, the fun of these spats is the way everyone gets involved: from the dragging up of Ron Atkinson’s racism to Kenny Dalglish, whose daughter used to present for Sky, distancing himself by saying he hadn’t even noticed that the lino whose every decision every manager scrutinises every match was female.

The most hilarious element was the Independent’s Andy Townsend own goal.

As for Gray. Wish I’d upped the stakes on the tenner. Sorry, but what a pillock.