John Gregory (footballer)
John Charles Gregory ( born March 11, 1954 in Scunthorpe ) is an English former football player and current coach of the English third division side Crawley Town. As a coach, he was in charge so far Plymouth Argyle, at Portsmouth, the Wycombe Wanderers, Aston Villa, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers. As a player, he was a more adaptable midfielder, who spent his career at Northampton Town and later at Brighton & Hove Albion, Queens Park Rangers, Derby County and Aston Villa.
Coaching career
His first two jobs as a coach at FC Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle between January 1989 and June 1990 both lasted only a few months. From 1991 to 1994 Gregory worked under Brian Little on the coaching staff of Leicester City and Aston Villa ( 1994-1996).
Wycombe Wanderers
As of September 1996, he coached the Wycombe Wanderers, who were then in the bottom half of League Two. Gregory made it but at the end of the season to secure the midfield.
Aston Villa
In February 1998, Gregory was coach at Aston Villa. He helped the team to improve their league form during the last three months of the 1997/98 season and made the seventh UEFA Cup qualification.
Halfway through the 1998/99 season Aston Villa was the leader, but through a dip in form at the end of the season the team reached ultimately only 6th place
Aston Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000, but lost against Chelsea.
In January 2002, Gregory left Aston Villa.
Derby County
Gregory's next job as a coach was at Derby County from January 2002 to March 2003. Derby County was in the lower half of the table. The first two games as coach at Derby County he won and it looked as if Derby County would create the league. But after the team had then lost seven of their last eight games, Derby County rose after six years from the Premier League. He was released in March 2003 for alleged misconduct, but got a million pounds compensation.
Queens Park Rangers
On 20 September 2006, he became a coach at Queens Park Rangers after Gary Waddock had previously left the club. On 1 October 2007 he was dismissed because of continuing poor performance of the team.