John Gregory

John Charles Gregory (born 11 May 1954) is an English former footballer. He has previously managed: Portsmouth, Plymouth Argyle, Wycombe Wanderers, Aston Villa, Derby County, Queens Park Rangers, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth, F.C. Ashdod, FC Kairat, Crawley Town and Chennaiyin. As a player, he was a versatile midfielder who started his career at Northampton Town and later played for Brighton & Hove Albion, QPR, Derby and Aston Villa. He won six caps for England. Playing career Gregory was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, where his father, Jack Gregory, was playing for Scunthorpe United. Gregory made his professional football debut in 1972, at the age of 18, when playing for Northampton Town. He scored eight goals in 187 games over the next five years, before being transferred to First Division Aston Villa in 1977. Gregory was a considerable success at Aston Villa. Despite playing two divisions higher than he had ever done before, he adapted well to First Division football and scored 10 goals in 65 games over the next two seasons. During his time at Villa, Gregory became the only player to play in every outfield position, wearing every number from 2 to 11 over his two seasons with the club, which remained a record, until Steve Palmer of Watford achieved this with shirt numbers 1 to 14 including playing in goal, in 1997/98 season. In 1979, Gregory signed for Brighton & Hove Albion, who had just won promotion to the First Division for the first time in their history. He scored seven goals in 72 games over the next two seasons before dropping down into the Second Division to sign for Queen's Park Rangers.