On Hoddle's sudden decision to up ship and take the Tottenham job, Saints decided not to appoint a permanent replacement and instead give the job to reserve team manager Stuart Gray, a decent coach whose playing career with Saints had been cut short by injury after just 12 games. As a result he actually managed the club for more games than he played for them, although as the former statistic is all of 19 matches it's still not all that impressive. Gray was appointed caretaker manager on 30th March 2001 and promptly went on a 7 match winless streak before finally breaking his duck with a 2-1 win over Manchester United, which would have been an impressive shock had United not already wrapped up the league title and taken their foot off the gas somewhat. Despite smashing the club's transfer record to buy midfield utility player Rory Delap in the summer, the next season started on an even worse run of form, with Saints losing the first three league games without even scoring a goal. Discounting a couple of League Cup wins, Gray's whole record for the club was 11 defeats and just 4 wins in 17 games. With Southampton having just moved into an expensive new stadium and now facing a very real possibility of relegation, Gray was fired at the end of October and replaced with Gordon Strachan, under whom the team shot up the table to finish 11th. Gray is currently enjoying a relatively successful spell at Sheffield Wednesday.
