Andre Gray says he has put the past behind him after being released by Wolverhampton Wanderers aged just 13.

Watford face Gray's boyhood club in tomorrow's FA Cup semi-final, but he is no longer seeking an opportunity for revenge and instead believes he is a better person because of what happened.

"It’s part of football, I’m not holding no grudges," he said.

"It wouldn’t have made me who I am today, I don’t know where I’d have ended up. It’s how it is. That bit of point proving has gone now.

"It’s tough to take, but I think it’s more of a gutting feeling. It’s a boyhood dream and hard to take when you’re young."

Gray was Wolves fan as a child before the arrival of a certain French talent drew his attention elsewhere. 

The 27-year-old thinks that, although it will be a bit special facing his hometown club, it is no different to facing anyone else in the grand scheme of things.

He said: "Yeah, I sort of supported Wolves, but then Thierry Henry was about and I kind of moved on to Arsenal, but as I got older again I started to not really support anyone, just the love of the game in general.

"It’s a bit special for me, being from there growing up there and obviously everyone I know from there are Wolves supporters, so it has got that bit extra for me, but at the end of the day, it’s a semi final so it means the same regardless of who we play."

After being released from Wolves' academy, Gray was forced to take a more difficult route to the top of English football, via non-league clubs like Luton and Hinckley United. 

However, the striker said he would not change anything about his route to the Premier League.

He said: "I think the players from non-league are a bit unpolished, a bit raw, at the end of the day, that’s what's got us where we are. 

"Obviouisly it’s good to grow up in the academies and have that technical side to it, that bit more, I wouldn’t say class, but you’re not as unpolished as you are when you come from non-league.

"Each club’s different, the way they treat their players is different. If they’re giving the kids a lot of money from young then the hunger’s hard to keep for a lot of kids.

"When you are non-league you have to think differently in terms of trying to get a job or whatever.

"I wouldn’t change anything, it’s built me as the man I am today.

"It's taught me a lot and made me grow up and that’s hard to do when you’ve got everything given to you.

"You learn a lot coming up that way, life lessons in general. I’m glad I came up the way I did and I am where I am now."

During his time in non-league football, Gray was part of a Luton team that upset Wolves before becoming the first ever non-league team to beat Premier League opposition away from home in the tournament, when they beat Norwich City at Carrow Road.

Those memories and the history of the tournament are what the the striker hopes will inspire him to victory this weekend.

He said: "We had one with Luton where we beat Wolves and then we went to Norwich and beat Norwich.

"I think we made history then when we became the first non-league team to beat a Premier League team away from home, so that was special.

"It’s always great to watch the FA Cup, it’s one of the main things people watch in this country because it’s on normal channels.

"It’s a great cup and the history speaks for itself."