John Gregory Interview.

[Brazilian Villain]

I’ve always liked Gregory because he respected the club.

"There's an aura about this club, a sense of history and tradition. Even the name is beautifully symmetrical with five letters in each word."

When i read him saying that, I fully appreciated that he really did get it.

I like him, he's undisputably one of us.

Same here.

[brontebilly]

I see similarities in Gregory and O'Neil. Both bought more crap players than good ones. Both got to a cup final and lost. I don't mind Gregory. He left us in 7th place I think. That's not bad.

Age profile of the squad was poor though. Ellis had pretty much given up by then, Southgate, Ugo and the likes going to Middlesboro!

[eamonn]

I've always said that your opinion of Gregory as a manager was based largely on whether or not you liked him.

I did like him but looking back see how disappointingly limited as an attacking coach he was despite the clever soundbytes.

[Exeter 77]

I liked him as a raconteur but after his first full season the teams he set up almost bored me to death.

[SoccerHQ]

I've always said that your opinion of Gregory as a manager was based largely on whether or not you liked him.

His reign was one of two parts, a real rollercaster of long unbeaten runs and also long winless runs right up to the cup final.

Then after that about 18 months of really boring football and he should've gone at least six months before he actually did.

2000/01 was one of the most nondescript seasons I've ever watched (and we've seen a few in the last 15 years). I've said this before but from the Nilis wonder goal v Chelsea in the second match to that brilliant Merse winner that sent Coventry down I can hardly recall anything else that happened then which is odd when I can recall so many matches and incidents from other seasons around that time.

The cup final performance just broke everything we were building at the time and really finished us off as a top level club considering what happened to Chelsea after that game.

[eamonn]

04/05 second season under Dolly was pretty non-descript as was O'Neill's first.

[dave.woodhall]

I've always said that your opinion of Gregory as a manager was based largely on whether or not you liked him.

His reign was one of two parts, a real rollercaster of long unbeaten runs and also long winless runs right up to the cup final.

Then after that about 18 months of really boring football and he should've gone at least six months before he actually did.

2000/01 was one of the most nondescript seasons I've ever watched (and we've seen a few in the last 15 years). I've said this before but from the Nilis wonder goal v Chelsea in the second match to that brilliant Merse winner that sent Coventry down I can hardly recall anything else that happened then which is odd when I can recall so many matches and incidents from other seasons around that time.

The cup final performance just broke everything we were building at the time and really finished us off as a top level club considering what happened to Chelsea after that game.

Post-cup final he knew that one bad set of results and he'd be sacked.

[Steve67]

I agree Dave, he went to Derby before he'd be pushed.

[SoccerHQ]

I've always said that your opinion of Gregory as a manager was based largely on whether or not you liked him.

His reign was one of two parts, a real rollercaster of long unbeaten runs and also long winless runs right up to the cup final.

Then after that about 18 months of really boring football and he should've gone at least six months before he actually did.

2000/01 was one of the most nondescript seasons I've ever watched (and we've seen a few in the last 15 years). I've said this before but from the Nilis wonder goal v Chelsea in the second match to that brilliant Merse winner that sent Coventry down I can hardly recall anything else that happened then which is odd when I can recall so many matches and incidents from other seasons around that time.

The cup final performance just broke everything we were building at the time and really finished us off as a top level club considering what happened to Chelsea after that game.

Post-cup final he knew that one bad set of results and he'd be sacked.

I'm not sure. Didn't he do a weird interview when he said really derogatory things about Ellis but wasn't in any danger of being sacked as he'd signed a lucrative contract in the run up to the cup final. Pay-off in those days would've been pretty significant so it was a strange sort of impasse between the two and that filtered through to the pitch as a club going nowhere fast and just treading water.

Actually come to think about it Angel signed in 00/01 mid season which was very exotic and exciting even if his early performances were completely forgettable.

[Risso]

Yeah, he basically called Ellis a dinosaur. Bodymoor Heath was really outdated, and Gregory said that Ellis thought that it was still the best in Europe.

[LeeB]

And he was right, I remember going there a couple of years before and it was no better really than most municipal pitch changing blocks.

[Risso]

I loved Gregory, mostly. Some really exciting times like when he first took over which was very Emery-like, and then topping the table twice and getting us the closest we've come to winning the FA Cup in most of our life times, even if the day itself was a hugely disappointing damp squib. I think in the end, the inevitable feeling that 6th was about as good as it was going to get under Ellis killed his enthusiasm, and he resorted to safety first measures, as well as maybe looking for ways to possibly supplement his salary, allegedly.

[SoccerHQ]

Wasn't that more at Derby? They suspended him first and the accusations were settled out of court (I think). He then managed QPR a year or two later.

He was in with Paul Stretford at the time. The Schmeichel move certainly came about because of that. But then loads of British managers are close with agents and indeed in the years since we've seen them pretty much buying players for clubs, Mendes at Wolves and think Joorbachin had a spell when he was placing 3-4 at Arsenal in a six month period.

Edit; I did laugh at that revelation he went up and sat next to Doug when we won the Intertoto to remind him he was getting a bonus for qualifying for the Uefa cup!

[dave.woodhall]

There was the timewarp interview and from then on his days were numbered. With flotation and the NTL money Villa could compete with almost any other club in the transfer market but as a couple of people whose judgment I trust said, for what he spent we should have done better. He signed a lot of average players on above-average wages.

[LeonW]

His record in the transfer market was pretty average at best but I suspect that was more about what he was allowed to do as much as anything. I suspect that’s also where the short termism came in.