Gray believes TV ‘ad’ can attract players

The Wednesday caretaker-manager, whose side today visit high-flying Burnley – one of five clubs where he has been an interim manager – is eyeing loan recruits as the January transfer window heads into its final fortnight.

Gray is banking on their 6-0 defeat of Leeds proving as good as a 90-minute advertisement.

A new striker is among Gray’s priorities, and a Hillsborough return for Matty Fryatt remains a possibility.

The Hull striker has been pushed further down the pecking order following Hull City’s capture of Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long.

Gray is having to bide his time with regards to trying to bring back Fryatt to S6, but is hoping that overcrowding in top-flight squads will soon work in their favour regarding several targets.

He said: “At this moment in time, on the back of a 6-0 win and a good performance on TV, we seem a better prospect than a couple of weeks ago when we were in the bottom three.

“So, fingers crossed, there will hopefully be something before the Rochdale FA Cup tie.”

On the prospect of re-signing Fryatt, he added: “We’ve worked with Matty and the supporters know Matty and they know what he can do – score goals.

“But again, he’s not our player and you have to rely on other clubs doing you a favour.

“Once a team gets a player, it can be a domino effect that we might be able to get them in.

“It’s just a case of chipping away. We just want these Premier League clubs to do their business pretty quickly, so we can get these players.

“It’s not just Matty, but with any club, really. Once they get their players in and they have far too many players for one position, they can’t keep all the players happy and we can maybe give the player an opportunity to be happy – as we’ve proven with Connor (Wickham) and Matty before.”

Gray plans to speak to Sunderland manager Gus Poyet about extending Wickham’s loan spell, which is due to expire on January 28 after the home encounter with Millwall.