After winning Young Player of the Year at club and league level in recent weeks, Opta statistician and Leeds United fan Jonny Cooper takes a look at some of the numbers behind Archie Gray's breakthrough season and how it compares to others who have worn the Leeds United shirt at an early age.

When Archie Gray made his Leeds United debut in August against Cardiff, he wasn’t just following in the footsteps of a long line of academy graduates to play for the Leeds first team – much more than that, he was the fourth member of his own family to pull on the white shirt, continuing an association with the club that stems back to New Year’s Day in 1966 when his great uncle Eddie made his debut for the club. Following Eddie was his brother and Archie’s grandfather Frank in 1973 and then Frank’s son and Archie’s father Andy in 1995. Andy’s final game – in his second spell – was 47 years to the day after Eddie’s first, playing as a substitute in a 2013 New Year’s Day match against Bolton, a nice bookend to Gray appearances until Archie started a new chapter in 2023.

Archie is the youngest of the four Grays to debut for the club, aged 17 years and 147 days against Cardiff, which was 161 days younger than Andy in a 1995 League Cup tie with Notts County. Eddie is third-youngest, 17 years and 349 days old on a scoring debut against Sheffield Wednesday in 1966 (indeed, Eddie Gray is the fourth-youngest player in the club’s history to score on debut), while Frank was 18 years and 106 days old when appearing against Leicester City in a Division One match in 1973. Indeed, since New Year's Day in 1966, a member of the Gray family has made an appearance in 28% of Leeds United's matches in that time, including a run of 201 consecutive matches between 1975 and 1979.

In December 2021, Archie could not only have made family history but Leeds United history when he was named in the matchday squad to face Arsenal during an injury crisis, aged just 15 years and 281 days. Had he made an appearance from the bench in that game, he would have broken Peter Lorimer’s record as the club’s youngest ever player, which has stood since September 1962 when Lorimer, aged just 15 years and 289 days, featured in a Division Two match against Southampton, a match that also included the great John Charles in the 325^th of his 327 games for the club.

Before Archie started against Cardiff City on the opening day of this season, you had to go back 736 matches to find any Leeds player starting a match as young as he was that day, with Aidan White (who would later start a League Cup match against Oxford alongside Andy Gray in 2012) facing Millwall in October 2008 aged 17 years and 8 days. Before him was a 16-year-old Tom Elliott in August 2007 against Macclesfield Town and Simon Walton during the 2004-05 campaign. Both Aaron Lennon and James Milner featured for Leeds aged 16 but both only made one start each at an age as young as Archie was against Cardiff, Milner featuring in the XI against West Ham in February 2003 and Lennon against Swindon in the 2003 League Cup tie with Swindon Town, made famous by goalkeeper Paul Robinson’s last-minute headed goal.

A grand total of 186 teenagers have made an appearance for the Leeds United first team but only seven of those have ever made as many as 47 appearances in a single campaign, with Archie Gray this season the most since Lewis Cook in 2015-16. Indeed, only two players – current teammate Sam Byram in his first spell and Fabian Delph in 2008-09 – have ever played more times as a teenager in a season for Leeds than Archie has this season. Of this list, only John Charles in 1949-50 has made this many while aged 18 or younger during the season as Gray has in 2023-24. Byram’s club record 53 teenage appearances in 2012-13 included several alongside Archie’s father Andy.

The sheer volume of Archie’s appearances this season have led him to break several age-related Leeds appearance records. He is the youngest player to appear in the first 10 league games of a season for the club (17 years, 206 days vs QPR in October), has the most starts in a season before the age of 18 (a record previously held by goalkeeper Gary Sprake in 1962-63) and has the most starts overall before the age of 18 (36), a record that was held by Terry Connor. He is also the youngest player to start 40 matches for the club (18 years, 25 days vs Coventry in April), nine days younger than Connor was on his 40^th start in 1980 against Nottingham Forest. He would also have become the youngest member of the Gray family to score for Leeds, had the goal initially awarded to him in February against Leicester remained his (it was later adjusted to a Wout Faes own goal) and at the age of 17 years and 348 days that night, he would’ve beaten Eddie’s age against Sheffield Wednesday in 1966 by a single day. The last 17-year-old to score for Leeds therefore remains Simon Walton in 2005 against Cardiff City.

Archie Gray may have some way to go before he breaks the all-time appearance record for a teenager for Leeds, with only two players ever making 100+ appearances before the age of 20 – Gary Sprake (126) and Billy Bremner (106) – but he can surely have his sights set on great uncle Eddie (78) and the likes of James Milner (54), Norman Hunter (57) and Peter Lorimer (64) next season.

Watch Archie Gray's Highlights:

🥳 Happy 18th Birthday, @ArchieGray06! pic.twitter.com/7hLZErXAj3

— Leeds United (@LUFC) March 12, 2024