Post by QPR Report on Sept 13, 2009 11:21:59 GMT
(Not yet fit for today's Aston Villa game)
Sep 5 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
Birmingham City News Birmingham City: Gregory Vignal's persistence pays off with Blues deal
GREGORY Vignal was a text pest – not that Alex McLeish complained.
Vignal’s offer to show his worth to Blues in training when they were struggling to land a left-back has proven priceless.
McLeish quickly snapped him up on a free transfer from Lens after a hardy debut in the Sporting Gijon friendly.
“Although Lens were looking to get Gregory off the books, I think they made him their captain in their pre-season games,” he said.
“He came to us at a decent level of fitness, and that was one of the reasons for taking a look at him before we put pen to paper.
“We were trying to go down another road, but because of the injury situation I tried to get a leftie as soon as possible. He was a little bit of an emergency.
“I’ve followed his career a little bit since he left Rangers. I have met him a couple of times. When we played Portsmouth he came to see us from his base in Southampton.
“I kept in touch and he has hinted at working with me again and having seen that he wasn’t really figuring for Southampton and had problems with Lens, then I wondered if maybe his career had gone backwards a little bit, and I’m sure he would admit that it had.
“He texted me himself to say that he would come in and train with us for a few days. I thought ‘why not?’
“I know him, he had a good campaign with Rangers, he won a Championship medal with us.
“He looked really assured in training and to be fair to the other lads who had been at left-back – both right-footers, Stuart Parnaby and Jared Wilson – they would have admitted that bringing a bit of balance in the shape of a left-footer helped the team anyway.
“So Gregory came in and impressed. He was quite robust against Gijon, although he has got to be careful with the challenges because of the new rules in the Premier League.
“He went forward well, he used it well. His energy was good and he carried on in that vein at Manchester United.”
www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2009/09/05/birmingham-city-gregory-vignal-s-persistence-pays-off-with-blues-deal-97319-24610077/
Sep 5 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
Birmingham City News Birmingham City: Gregory Vignal's persistence pays off with Blues deal
GREGORY Vignal was a text pest – not that Alex McLeish complained.
Vignal’s offer to show his worth to Blues in training when they were struggling to land a left-back has proven priceless.
McLeish quickly snapped him up on a free transfer from Lens after a hardy debut in the Sporting Gijon friendly.
“Although Lens were looking to get Gregory off the books, I think they made him their captain in their pre-season games,” he said.
“He came to us at a decent level of fitness, and that was one of the reasons for taking a look at him before we put pen to paper.
“We were trying to go down another road, but because of the injury situation I tried to get a leftie as soon as possible. He was a little bit of an emergency.
“I’ve followed his career a little bit since he left Rangers. I have met him a couple of times. When we played Portsmouth he came to see us from his base in Southampton.
“I kept in touch and he has hinted at working with me again and having seen that he wasn’t really figuring for Southampton and had problems with Lens, then I wondered if maybe his career had gone backwards a little bit, and I’m sure he would admit that it had.
“He texted me himself to say that he would come in and train with us for a few days. I thought ‘why not?’
“I know him, he had a good campaign with Rangers, he won a Championship medal with us.
“He looked really assured in training and to be fair to the other lads who had been at left-back – both right-footers, Stuart Parnaby and Jared Wilson – they would have admitted that bringing a bit of balance in the shape of a left-footer helped the team anyway.
“So Gregory came in and impressed. He was quite robust against Gijon, although he has got to be careful with the challenges because of the new rules in the Premier League.
“He went forward well, he used it well. His energy was good and he carried on in that vein at Manchester United.”
www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2009/09/05/birmingham-city-gregory-vignal-s-persistence-pays-off-with-blues-deal-97319-24610077/