When you announce yourself on the Premier League stage, all eyes will be on you – and in 2016 that means people will go back through your old tweets.
The Burnley striker scored his first Premier League goal in the victory over Liverpool, continuing a great scoring streak after finding the net 23 times in the Championship last season.
He was praised earlier this summer for speaking out about racism among his own club’s fans, something which was followed by a life ban for one Clarets supporter.
But the goal against Liverpool encouraged some people to dig back further to when the 25-year-old was coming up through non-league football with Hinckley United and Luton Town.
A warning that the tweets screenshotted below (which have since been deleted) contain homophobic and offensive language.
The response to Gray’s tweets has been broadly condemnatory – just because they’re four years old, back when he was in his early twenties, doesn’t mean people are condoning what the striker said.
https://twitter.com/germainearnold/status/767035878573236224
https://twitter.com/ffsOsian/status/767029886796128256
https://twitter.com/retfordred1234/status/767034663953174528
https://twitter.com/Swan_1878/status/767023433863589889
What a vile and disgusting tweet
— Fish Out Dolan Out (@fishoutdolanout) August 20, 2016
Footballers playing in England have been suspended for offensive tweets in the past, so a ban for Gray would not be out of the question.
Robert Huth missed two games in the 2014/15 season for transphobic tweets, while a homophobic remark from Coventry defender Chris Stokes saw him banned and fined by the football association.
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