Gregory on Talksport now

[Irish villain]

I may be wrong but my beer addled memory is telling me that it all started going wrong when he switched from a tracksuit to a proper suit on matchdays.

I remember thinking that at the time. We did fine during the time he used to show up in tracksuit bottoms tucked into white socks with the collar on his t-shirt turned up. We turned shit when he turned into David Dickinson and started wearing three piece suits and tank tops when it was warm.

I seem to remember him rediscovering his touch after being sent to the stands for a few games too. Didn't he then keep it up after his touchline ban ended such was our upturn in form?

[TimTheVillain]

Great interview, top man JG is.

At his best Dion would probably be worth £20 million these days, he was 57% as good as Carroll is at least !

[kippaxvilla2]

His win record of 43% compares better to Mr O'Neill's and Brian Little's and is on a par with BFR's.  I think that's quite good.

[KevinGage]

On stats alone he's one of the better Villa managers. 

But I lost count of the number of people who stopped going- many of them long term season ticket holders- on his watch. 

6th placed finishes and a (dismal) cup final was a solid, rather that spectacular return considering the financial backing he enjoyed at the time.  He -like MON- frittered away the chance to really establish ourselves amongst the elite again.  We might not get another chance. 

[silhillvilla]

People seem to forget we were shit in the semi v Bolton not just the final
Even the Leeds game we were poor but launched an epic comeback

[Percy McCarthy]

Yes, we were unbelievably shit v. Bolton. We froze in open play but James was brilliant in the shoot-out. I believe we thought penalties was our best chance in the final, and it probably was.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I'd waited 35 years, from the age of 5, for Villa to get to an FA Cup final.  And when we did, we didn't even try.  Whatever good stuff Gregory did is totally undermined by that one disgraceful performance.   

To say we didn't try is wrong. You don't get to an FA Cup Final and not try. It'd be much more apt to just say we were shit.

I disagree.  We just didn't look interested in taking the game to Chelsea, it was like watching a McLeish team just trying to limit the damage.     

Ok...but you're wrong. No player doesn't try in a FA Cup final. To suggest otherwise seems a bit silly.

I'm talking about as a team, tactically - it looked very much like we were set up not to lose rather than to try to win.  Much Like McLeish did against various teams last season.   Nice debating skills by the way.  "you're wrong" wins it every time.

To be a debate I would have to listen and take on board your opinion, but it is of no consequence because you're wrong, so this is not deemed a debate.

I win, you lose 

[hawkeye]

I think the point about the surrender in the Cup Final is valid and his time here will allways be tainted by that.
If we had guven it a go and got beat then I think most of us would have said OK fair enough. But the tactics on the day were a disgrace.

[KevinGage]

That Chelsea side were far from invincible. 

They had only just qualified for the CL for the first time the season before and were still prone to inconsistency. 

There was also a feeling that -as good as they were going forward- their backline could be 'got at.'  Dion had caused Desailly and Lebouef nightmares for Cov the season before.  But we never tested the theory that afternoon, seemingly content to just pussy out of it and play for penalties.

[Risso]

I think the point about the surrender in the Cup Final is valid and his time here will allways be tainted by that.
If we had guven it a go and got beat then I think most of us would have said OK fair enough. But the tactics on the day were a disgrace.

And if we'd scraped a scrappy 1-0 win, everybody would have been ecstatic.

[willywombat]

I think the point about the surrender in the Cup Final is valid and his time here will allways be tainted by that.
If we had guven it a go and got beat then I think most of us would have said OK fair enough. But the tactics on the day were a disgrace.

And if we'd scraped a scrappy 1-0 win, everybody would have been ecstatic.

But we didn't and we weren't and we stunk the place out and got what we deserved - beaten. 40 odd years of waiting and we get the opportunity that all Villa fans have hung out for and we dont make a genuine attempt to win the game. Shameful

[Risso]

I just remember it as a poor game, that was settled by a David James error in goal.

[willywombat]

I just remember it as a poor game, that was settled by a David James error in goal.

That's as good a way to remember it as any other I suppose and the further away it gets then the more that becomes an accurate appraisal, but you know as well as I do Risso that we failed to step up to the plate that day in a way that didn't do the name of Aston Villa FC any credit

[Risso]

It certainly wasn't a classic, but I don't remember Chelsea being much more impressive.  I suppose I'd just about rather get to a final and not win, then not get there at all, if that makes sense.  We hadn't been in great form leading up to the final, I seem to remember.

[robbo1874]

Somebody mentioned previously on this thread the 3-2 comeback against arsenal at Christmas when the parachuting stunt went wrong. That was one of my favorite games watching villa (apart from the obvious) and I still respect Gregory for how he got us playing. However, I had my one and only season ticket in the last season of his reign and it was soul-destroying making the trek down from London in the second half of that season- terrible football. For that his memory will always be tainted for me.

Funnily was reading collymores autobiography recently and that match doesn't even warrant a mention in his villa section, the twat. Completely changed the course of the game when he came on and seems to have forgotten all about one of the best villa comebacks you're likely to see.