He was a moron and absolutely deserved to get sacked for sexism.
Gray was a big Fergie fanboy but he did have a lot of respect for us I felt. From the top of my head I remember him clapping for Pires' goal against Villa and he had one of our wins against United as his favourite match of the 00s. He also didn't get involved in the xenophobic dogwhistle against Wenger's Arsenal that pretty much every journalist and pundit at the time embraced.
It was just nice to have someone in the media who was anti-referee. Refs are now more shielded against their own incompetence and corruption than any footballer or manager.