Andre Gray would dearly love to put the past behind him though fears with good reason that it might not be possible. “It’s going to be out there for the rest of my life and I’ve got to live with it,” he says, talking of the homophobic tweets that led to an FA suspension this season, not the four-inch facial scar that acts as a permanent reminder of getting in with the wrong crowd in his native Wolverhampton.

In both cases the damage was done several years ago, when Gray was young, impressionable and, by his own admission, not very wise. The scar was gained in a scuffle between gangs on a Christmas night out in 2011, when the Burnley striker was an unknown playing non-league football for Hinckley Town. The offensive tweets, in which Gray complained about the number of gays in the world and added hashtags such as #Burn and #Die, dated from a few months later but only came to light at the start of this season, just after Gray had scored his first Premier League goal against Liverpool.

It is frustrating that what happened in the past gets brought up to look like it is the present

The 25-year-old has deleted his Twitter account, paid a fine, served his four-match ban and not only attended the compulsory FA education course but claimed to enjoy it. He is back playing for Burnley and the recent highlights reel includes the club’s first top-flight hat-trick in more than 40 years, against Sunderland, and a splendid late winner against Middlesbrough, though Gray feels his rise through the divisions and emergence as an accomplished Premier League goalscorer has been overlooked through his past coming back to haunt him. A positive, even romantic, story of success against the odds has been tarnished and Gray has no one to blame but himself.

“That’s the frustrating thing,” he says. “I am a role model now, young people see what I am at present. People look up to me now I am playing for Burnley and it is frustrating that what happened in the past gets brought up to look like it is the present. It’s five years ago now. I was a completely different person and I have to keep explaining to people that it was a long time ago.”

While that might sound trite, what is undeniably true is that Gray grew up in a challenging environment without a father figure in his life. He was introduced to football by his grandfather, to whom he was close, but he died when Gray was 13 and had just been released by the Wolverhampton academy. Not exactly thrown to the wolves, but being thrown out by Wolves at that stage in his life must have felt much the same. “My mum brought me up but it’s hard for a woman to try to teach a son man things, so I’ve had to practically raise myself,” he says. “I made some bad choices, there’s no doubt about that. I was heading for trouble, I was putting myself in certain situations where it was bound to happen.”

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That is what led to the stabbing in Wolverhampton, though by that stage Gray had begun to work out that football offered a route to turn his life around. “I didn’t have time to worry about the great big scar on my face, I just had to be relieved I hadn’t been stabbed in the eye or the neck,” he says. “I had to accept what had happened and move on and football helped me to do that.

“I started doing well with Hinckley and seeing people from that league getting moves gave me the belief that I could get a good club, too, and play full-time. When this happened to my face, that was the biggest wake-up call. I realised I had to settle down and get my head straight.”

Gray was consistent enough for Hinckley to attract the attention of Luton and a move there after an initial loan period convinced him he could keep improving and make a career for himself. Luton were at Conference level but when Gray made the leap into league football two years later he made it all the way into the Championship with Brentford. He was at Griffin Park for a single season but scored 20 goals in 52 games and left for a club record £6m when he joined Burnley, around £1m of which found its way back to Luton. Gray was an instant hit at Turf Moor, scoring 23 goals in Burnley’s successful promotion push, winning the Golden Boot award as Championship top scorer and ending up Championship Player of the Year.

The only remaining question was how quickly he could adapt to the Premier League and he appears to have answered that already, even with the enforced interruption of his suspension. “I didn’t doubt myself,” he says. “I knew the goals would come sooner or later. I went through the same sort of situation at Brentford because I had jumped so far up from non-league. I think I went around nine games without scoring then but the coaches kept telling me I was doing the right things so I trusted them and it was all fine in the end.

“I’ve tried to bring the same mentality into the Premier League. I just want to keep my head down and do the right things on and off the pitch. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, which I feel I got with the goal against Middlesbrough, and then you don’t look back. This has been a bit of an up and down season for me but I have settled back into the team and got used to the demands of the Premier League. I feel I am adapting and getting better. You are up against world-class players in this league, it’s faster and there are fewer chances, so you need to be fitter and stronger. It’s a big step up, but I’ve done big steps before.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Andre Gray holds the match ball aloft after his hat-trick against Sunderland.

The journey would now appear to be complete. Gray has a pop-star girlfriend – Leigh-Anne Pinnock of Little Mix – and has just taken delivery of a specially designed cabinet to display the match balls he has earned for scoring hat-tricks. “I’ve got five of them. Three from non-league, one from the Championship and one from the Premier League, but there is always space for a few more.”

The journey to redemption might take a little longer, yet despite his flaws Gray can still be a valid role model. He has turned his own dreams into reality and would like to think others can follow his example. “What I have learned is that there are plenty of players with more than enough ability, but it’s all about how badly you want it,” he says. “I honestly believe football set me free. It exposed me to all sorts of positive things and different experiences that would not otherwise have come about. That’s why I can say I am a completely different person now.

“When I do community work with the club I like to work with people from a similar background to mine, because I can relate to them. I know how difficult it is when you are trapped in your own little world. But I also know how difficult it is to get through to 13- and 14-year-olds. I had people talking to me when I was that age and when you are in the situation you don’t always want to listen. I know I didn’t. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.”