New Crawley Town assistant coach Julian Gray revealed Arsène Wenger’s influence in his coaching development after his appointment at the Reds was made permanent.
Gray, alongside head coach Colin Kazim-Richards, will continue to work with the Reds after helping them avoid relegation from League Two from their seven games in charge.
The former Crystal Palace and Birmingham City winger has coached at Arsenal and the Blues since his playing career ended.
Making one appearance at the Gunners under Wenger’s reign, he shared his experiences of the legendary Premier League manager.
Julian Gray has cited Arsène Wenger as a major influence on him | Picture: Natalie Mayhew/Gettyplaceholder image
Julian Gray has cited Arsène Wenger as a major influence on him | Picture: Natalie Mayhew/Getty
“There's been a few [influences],” Gray said. “Arsene was a big influence, because obviously I was at Arsenal a long time, and he changed the way how people thought about football. It wasn't just the training - it was everything that we did.
“And just the way he was as an individual, how he would treat us as individuals, that was something that stood out for me. And then Ian Dowie obviously had a big influence on me when I was at Crystal Palace. The way he did things was a bit similar to Arsene, but different.
“He would join training sessions and just be involved in everything we did. And that was the first time I'd seen a manager be like that. He was very intense, which was good, but that's his personality.”
He added: “A couple of other coaches, Eric Black, when I was at Blues, he was very good with the way he was with the players, as he was the assistant coach. He had a very good relationship with the players and how he wanted to improve us.
“Also, Don Howe and George Armstrong, when I was at Arsenal, when I was younger, they helped me as well because the detail, what they gave me as a young player, that's always stood out for me. And that's what I try and do now, is try and give players a lot of detail.”
Gray revealed to the press how he got into coaching after his playing career came to an end.
He said: “When I was at the back end of my career, I started doing my badges and then I was helping out a local team. All my friends - some played for them.
“So, I was doing a little bit with them, obviously part of my badges also. And I started to think I enjoyed doing this side of football, because you didn't really think about it. I didn't know I was going to do it full time at that point. It was just something that I enjoyed.
“And then when I stopped playing, I did a bit of mentoring, but I used the coaching with that. So, it went hand in hand. And then I was like, ‘I can see the impact it's having on young people.’”
He added: “Then, I moved to Dubai. I started working over there because Ian Selle used to be at Arsenal. Obviously, I used to clean his boots in when I was in the academy, so I knew him.
“He was running the Arsenal Soccer School and he asked me, would I like to come and join? And I did, and I started to get a bug for it from there, and then gradually came back to England, started working at Arsenal, which was good going back to where I had started, because it was a big part of my life. Arsene Wenger taught me a lot.
And a lot of the players I played with also taught me a lot. The knowledge and experience I have - it was a good way to now pass back onto some of the young players in the academy. So, it's been a long journey, but at the same time, it's been very good.
“And as I said, I've made a lot of good connections through those players. I'm still in touch with a lot of them now. So that's the most important thing, because we're trying to build better human beings, not just footballers.”
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