Andre Gray: Still I rise from my troubled past
Striker Andre Gray may have struggled in his tussle with gang culture growing up in Wolverhampton, but he is very much on target to salvage Burnley a return to England's top flight.
The 24-year-old forward has scored 20 times for the Championship's table-toppers this season and played more than 80 minutes against his home-town club at the weekend.
But the dizzying heights of a potential Premier League campaign are a far cry from Gray's humble beginnings.
The hitman cut his teeth in the non-league game after being released as a 13-year-old by Wolves.
It was during that time that Gray got caught up with gangs and the four-inch scar on his left cheek – from a Wolverhampton gang brawl in 2011 – is testament to those dark days.
Another permanent reminder of his roots is one of a number of tattoos on Gray's ink-stained body. 'Still I Rise' it reads across his torso.
The forward, who joined Burnley from Brentford for £9million last summer, said: "When that happened, you think 'I need to sort myself out now.'
"That probably was the switch that cut myself off from all that kind of stuff. Still I Rise. It's a good quote.
"Obviously you're going to get adversity along the way and some things will knock you back, but as long as you can fight through it and get back up - it kind of made sense to me."
Upon release from Wolves as a youngster, where Gray's mum worked as part of the players' lounge staff, the striker joined Shrewsbury Town.
That's where – despite signing his first professional contract – things began to slide.
He ended up at non-league Hinckley United before a move to then-Conference outfit Luton Town, where he began catching the eye.
Gray, who scored 52 goals in 97 appearances during his time at Kenilworth Road, said: "When you come where I come from, you have nothing to lose. You learn that in non-league.
"It drives you on. Maybe some people who have come up through the academies and been fed from the silver spoon don't quite appreciate the opportunity they have.
"People like me, when we come all the way up, start to realise that anything can be possible.
"I have to look at what I went through when I was younger as a good thing. My ego would have been different.
"You can't walk around on 20 grand a week at that age with all the ego and the attitude. I don't think I would have got anywhere near as far as I got without the attitude I have now."
