Football season is now truly upon us, with both the latest FIFA and Pro Evo titles now on shelves. Birmingham City Football player Julian Gray took some time out to talk to us about his gaming mates and reminisce on the days when football games consisted of stick men and minimal skill…

How much of a gamer are you, if at all?

Like a lot of the lads at the club, I like to play computer games. I’ve also got a younger nephew and every time he comes round he wants to play, so we like to play FIFA, FIFA Street and racing games like Burnout.

Do you play against any of your famous footballer mates on your console and if so, how good/bad are they?

I play with Emile Heskey and sometimes Jermaine Pennant. Jermaine’s quite good - he’s usually on his PSP all the time, so he gets a lot of practice!

Are there any football legends you like playing as on videogames?

Other than playing as my own team Birmingham, I like to play as Barcelona, because I like Ronaldinho, or as Arsenal because Thierry Henry is a good friend.

How do you think football games have evolved over the last few years, and what can they do to improve?

Football games have come a long way. I remember playing Sensible Soccer on the Mega Drive and that was years ago; players were just like little men on the screen.  Obviously now it’s far more advanced, they look like the players and they do the things that the players do.  I don’t know where the technology is going, maybe one day you will see yourself moving on the screen in the actual game of football.