John Gregory

John was most recently Manager of Derby County, being appointed on January 30 2002, after resigning from Aston Villa having spent four years at the Villa Park helm. He was a surprise choice as the man to succeed Brian Little mid-way through the 1997/98 season. However he rewarded the board by guiding Villa from the lows of the relegation zone to a UEFA Cup place.

As a player, John enjoyed a distinguished career, which saw him play for several teams. He was signed from apprentice at Northampton Town before moving to Aston Villa in 1977, where he spent two years before signing for Brighton. From there John went to QPR, in 1981, before signing for Derby County in 1985, staying with the Rams until for a two years before effectively hanging up his boots.

John was a tireless midfielder who made nearly 600 appearances in his career scoring 83 goals and winning six full international caps for England.

John served his managerial apprenticeship at a variety of clubs, first as a manager with Portsmouth, then briefly at Plymouth and then in a coaching capacity at Leicester City, before being appointed First Team Coach at Villa Park in November 1994. He left Villa to become manager of Wycombe Wanderers in October 1996. After taking over a struggling Wycombe team he steered them clear of relegation in the 1996/97 season by 8 points.

John led Villa to the top of the Premiership following an unbeaten start to the season in 1998, which lasted a club record twelve matches. However, they were not able to maintain the title challenge and fell away in the second half of the season.

In his four years in charge of Villa, the team never finished outside the top eight, finishing 7th in his first half-season as manager, 6th in 1999 and 2000 and 8th in 2001.