John Gregory interview in The Guardian

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Interesting interview:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/27/john-gregory-aston-villa-fa-cup-final-2000

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Good stuff.

[SoccerHQ]

Tim Sherwood reminds me a lot of JG. I said a few weeks back I think we as a club need charismatic managers in, they connect with the fanbase more and get us in the media regularly as we don't have the exciting image others like Newcastle, Spurs and West Ham have cultivated over the years despite not winning anything like us.

The Gregory years were a rollercoaster, the first two at least, so many dramatic matches (again up to the 2000 final when it became very mundane thereafter), top of the league...then down to 7th 6 weeks later, yet more false dawns and missed opportunities.

I do make Doug right though, Muzzy Izzet certainly wouldn't have won us the league or got us top 4. Another very expensive british player coming up to 30 JG liked to sign.

Still interesting days back then. I think we need to be cautious on Saturday but that dosen't mean we should fear crossing the halfway line like in 2000.

[Rudy65]

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

[olaftab]

Always liked John Gregory. Can't understand why others don't despite that awful cup final.

[Grande Pablo]

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.

[pauliewalnuts]

To give him his due, in a world of "he loves the club, he does" nonsense applied to anyone who is half decent and stays anywhere a reasonable amount of time, Gregory clearly does love the club.

[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.

[Dave Cooper please]

That's a great interview, and JG knows as much as we do that he was within one good attacking performance of being an all time Villa hero. Okay so he and his team bottled it, doesn't take away the fact that he got us there, or that we topped the league under him for weeks on end.
When we are slagging off Villa managers, despite the 2000 cup final and his handling of Collymore, JG still gets a pass.

[pauliewalnuts]

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.

[adrenachrome]

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.

That is true, but that semi-final outlined the method of play for the final. JG, once the glittering prize was within realistic grasp, reverted to safety first and the percentage game. 

[ciggiesnbeer]

“I always remember I criticised our training ground once, before they rebuilt Bodymoor Heath, and Doug told me: ‘Bill Shankly said that’s the best training ground he had ever seen’ – which Bill Shankly had said. But he said it 25 years before.

Classic. That rings true

[Gerrin]

“I had 40,000 Villa fans there that day and as I walked out the tunnel, in what was the old Wembley, all the Villa fans were at that end of the stadium. The sight was beautiful. It wasn’t just ‘wow’, it was a thing of beauty: ‘This is my team.’ I can see it all now still, it was just washed in claret and blue."

I always liked Gregory, he lost the plot a bit towards the end, but his heart was in the right place. I really thought we'd win that final the run that we'd had and the great team we had then.

[Yossarian]

If you want to have a few bad words about ex-Villa managers save them for someone other than JG. We have had so many duffers recently, TSM, TSM2 and the worst of the bunch Dolly.

[Legion]

Don't forget pube-head.