John Gregory interview in The Guardian

[Tony Erdington]

JG is Mr Aston Villa imo

Great read, I don't know about muzzi izzet if he would or wouldn't have made the diference, typical egotistic doug, then doug signs ginola wtf I knew then and said then he wont work. Doug held this fantastic club back for decades.

John Gregory was and still is a great Man  UTV

[thegreatdane]

I remember going to Bodymoor Heath and him calling me over to give me his initialed beanie hat.

Very similar to Sherwood, British with his heart on his sleeve.

His Book is also well worth a read

[tomd2103]

Whatever happens Saturday i just hope TS has a go and we leave with our heads held high unlike 2000. That was awful and followed a tedious SF as well

In all honesty, we were lucky to win that semi final.  Eidur Gudjohnsen gave our defence a torrid time and they missed an absolute sitter in extra time.

I doubt there has been many final cup runs which haven't involved luck at some point.

True, but we had a huge slab of it in that semi final.  Holdsworth's miss (I think it was him) in extra time was an absolute sitter. 

[darren woolley]

Good read I like Gregory top man.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I always liked John, I met him once at the ground, really sarcastic and dry sense of humour, I still think he got the final 100% wrong but I'll forgive him

[Phil from the upper holte]

I also wasn't convinced that izzet was the man

[supertom]

Got a lot of time for Gregory. We had some excellent moments under him. Some good sides. It wasn't always the prettiest but we were well organised and had a few mercurial players like Merson and Hendrie who could provide entertainment, if the rest of the side was more regimented.
He did spend a lot, but Dougy always seemed to spend 5-6 months after the point we genuinely could have done with another player or too. We desperately missed Ugo when he got injured, around the time we were top one year. We needed a replacement but didn't bring on in. Ehiogu was playing as well as any CH in the league at that point.

The cup final was monumentally disappointing and as gutted as any of us are, I don't there's anyone who will have felt, and still feels it, as much as JG. He clearly absolutely loves the club. If we offered him a job in the canteen he'd probably take it. Top guy.
Always good entertainment for a quote too. I might have a search for one of his quotes on Gustavo Bartelt. That was funny.

[garyshawsknee]

For all his flaws as a manager, he remains a Villa man to the core. Glad to hear he is on the road to recovery.

[KevinGage]

It's one of those sliding doors moments, isn't it?

What if we had actually gone for it in the second half at Wembley.

What if we hadn't bulldozed the Trinity for an extra 4000 seats (that we've rarely filled).

Can't blame Gregory for the latter, but those events that occurred within a few weeks of each other in 2000 damaged the club in different ways.

[Clampy]

I always liked Gregory as well and I thought he did a decent enough job for us considering his lack of managerial experience.

Not sure about that team photo on the pitch after we beat Southampton at The Dell to go top though. Not one of his better ideas.

[usav]

I was never a fan, but fuck it, he's one of us and I can't be bothered opening old wounds.

[Risso]

Always liked Johnny Grecian and always will. Flawed, but a top bloke.

[Small Rodent]

The 2000 final was a tragedy seeing that Chelsea were bloody awful too and a bit more adventurousness would have got them on the back foot.

[OCD]

His biggest error was changing a winning team & brining his old favourites in for the cup final team.  I loved him like Tim now for his almost maverick style, but that day - for whatever reason - he chose to play safe.

Fear of failure. He's quote said it all - the sight of 40,000 Villa fans and that they've got to come past these so make sure you don't lose. That fear probably came through to the players on the day. You imagine Sherwood would see it the other way, commenting on the crowd and then saying 'go win it for them'. Don't lose becomes go and win it - it sets the right mental attitude and instead of looking really nervous, they're then playing with freedom.

[Toronto Villa]

It's one of those sliding doors moments, isn't it?

What if we had actually gone for it in the second half at Wembley.

What if we hadn't bulldozed the Trinity for an extra 4000 seats (that we've rarely filled).

Can't blame Gregory for the latter, but those events that occurred within a few weeks of each other in 2000 damaged the club in different ways.

in some ways similar to "what if Sir Graham hadn't taken the England job". That still kills me to think what might have been?