HIS former club could be swapping places with his current employers at the end of season, but Andy Gray insists he has no regrets about leaving Sheffield United for Sunderland in the summer.

In the Scotsman's absence, the Blades have won 16 of their opening 23 games to open up a 13-point gap to the play-off places and leave themselves odds-on for a place in the Premiership.

Sunderland, on the other hand, look like replacing them in the Championship after nine successive defeats have left them 11 points from safety at the foot of the table.

Gray's own form has not been much better, with a debut goal against Charlton preceding 15 subsequent appearances without success.

The 28-year-old has gone from promotion hopeful to relegation fodder in four short months but, despite the dramatic change in his fortunes, he has no desire to start turning back the clock.

"I don't have any regrets," said Gray, who cost the Black Cats £1.1m when he left Bramall Lane in August. "I know Sheffield United are going well in their division, but I do not regret coming to Sunderland for one minute.

"You can't have regrets in your life and I'm still delighted to be here. Sunderland are a massive club, with massive potential.

"I'm sure time will tell whether or not I made the right decision, but I'm certainly not going to be wondering about what might have been.

"I'm still enjoying it. There are times when it seems as if everything's against you, but you've got to keep on going and giving it your best. Hopefully, if you do that, things will turn around."

After all that has happened to him in the past, Gray knows more about football's topsy-turvy nature than most.

A boyhood Leeds United fan, he appeared in a League Cup final at Wembley before being axed by the Elland Road club after just 16 senior starts.

A brief spell at Nottingham Forest followed - including loan spells at Preston and Oldham - before Gray returned to Yorkshire with Bradford.

His two-year stay at Valley Parade included a successful battle against the drop but, with Bradford in the grip of administration, months went by without the striker receiving a penny in wages.

While Sunderland's current plight is far from ideal, at least Gray only has to worry about what is going wrong on the pitch rather than addressing a myriad problems off it.

"This is the reality of football," he said. "It's not a bed of roses and there are times when it is up and down.

"Nobody expects it to be plain sailing and it's very rare that everything falls into place for you.

"It's not a problem and it's something we all have to deal with. After a while without a win, it does start getting to you and preying on your mind.

"You've just got to keep believing and telling yourself that it can't go on forever.

"If you keep doing the things that got you to this position in the first place, your fortunes will change."

Gray's luck turned for the better on Saturday when McCarthy promoted him back into the starting line-up for Sunderland's 2-0 defeat at Charlton.

His previous three outings had come from the bench, with the likes of Jon Stead and Chris Brown leapfrogging him in the pecking order.

That had left him understandably disappointed but, with Dean Whitehead topping the scoring charts with just three Premiership goals, nobody has the right to demand a starting spot at present.

"I don't think any of the strikers can have any complaints about being kept out of the side at the moment," agreed Gray. "None of us have been scoring, so we can't go about demanding a place in the side.

"Strikers are paid to score goals and, unfortunately, we haven't been doing that. It's not through the want of trying.

"I think Saturday was probably the first time we'd created a lot of chances in a game for a while. I didn't get any myself, but their goalkeeper worked a lot harder than Kelvin (Davis) did.

"It's been unfortunate. We haven't had a lot of chances, but none of the ones that we have had seem to have been dropping to me.

"It's gone beyond personal targets and personal ambitions now though.

"It's got to the stage where we just need a result. Whoever scores the goal, we'll be grateful of a win from anywhere."

* Aston Villa striker Kevin Phillips is set for surgery to solve the ankle problem which kept him out of the 1-1 draw with Bolton.

It is believed by the club's medical staff that the former Sunderland player, who is set to undergo keyhole surgery, has a piece of floating bone in the ankle which has been causing him discomfort during training.

Manager David O'Leary said: ''We believe there could be a little bit of floating bone that's causing him problems.

''It's irritating him, but hopefully it won't put him out for too long. Until we know the results of the surgery, we can't say just how long.''