And posted on dot.org A John Gregory Update
The Football Ramble
Gregory hopes for a happier New YearJames Appell | 30 December 2011
Former Aston Villa boss John Gregory has scoured the globe in search of footballing success but 2011 has been a year to forget... As 2011 draws to a close, one man who might be hoping for better fortunes in 2012 is John Gregory.
You’d probably forgotten about the slick-haired former Aston Villa manager, who hasn’t worked in England since leaving QPR in autumn 2007. Since then, however, for those of us who follow the world’s more obscure leagues, the sight of Gregory trawling his way around the globe in search of employment has veered from the fascinating to the toe-curling. A relegation, another near-relegation, and a fanciful but damaging accusation about his private life have marked down 2011 as a year to forget for the 57-year-old.
Gregory began the year in Israel as head coach of FC Ashdod, a mid-table side with aspirations to play in Europe. He had been hired after an encouraging 2009-10 season managing another Israeli side, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth. On a shoestring budget - many of the Nazareth players weren’t paid for long stretches of his tenure - and battling against the racial tensions generated by a club based in a majority-Arab city, Gregory impressed in guiding what many pundits saw as dead certs for relegation to the brink of safety, with only defeat on the final day condemning them to relegation.
That was enough to convince Ashdod’s owner Jacky Ben-Zaken, a real estate tycoon, to hire Gregory and push for a place in the Europa League. He signed a three-year contract at the club and set to work.
Gregory must have wished 2010 could have lasted forever. At the turn of 2011 Ashdod were in eighth position, just three points off a place in Europe, and Gregory’s reputation as one of the top managers in Israel was intact. But by April, after winning only two of their final 14 games and dropping into the relegation play-offs, Gregory tendered his resignation amid rumours he was to be replaced over the summer.
“It’s been a very difficult few months,” Gregory told the Israeli press, before somewhat euphemistically adding: “I have no doubt that Ashdod will stay in Ligat ha’Al [the Premier League] and I think me…stepping aside will help that.”
Admirably refusing to remain unemployed for long, Gregory accepted another exotic job offer just two months later, taking up the reins as manager of Kazakhstan Premier League side Kairat in June 2011. Some 3,500 miles from London, and with the delights of Kazakh cuisine to explore (notably ‘beshbarmak’ the Kazakh national dish of boiled horse), Gregory must have felt a long way from Villa Park.
This time his task was to restore former glories to a side which, though once Kazakhstan’s most successful - the only team from the country to compete in the Soviet Top League - had gone trophyless since 2004. First, though, he had to save them from relegation. “I wouldn’t have come to Almaty if the team didn’t have problems,” he admitted after signing a two-year contract. “Unfortunately I don’t have much time to improve the situation.”
Gregory’s bad year got worse. Off the field things took a bizarre turn when a Ukrainian website, commenting on his appointment, stated that Gregory was homosexual. The man himself remained completely unaware of the allegation - despite much gossiping in Kazakhstan - until he was told by an interviewer for Kazakh magazine PROsport.
“What?!” Gregory said, when told of the rumours flying around about his private life. “If I ever meet the guy who wrote that I’ll break his neck.”
Gregory angrily added: “I have been married for 38 years to the same woman. I have three children and four grandchildren. Maybe they talk about me that way because of the way I look, because I look after myself and try to look good irrespective of my age.”
Globalist, the publication who originally printed the allegation, eventually retracted the statement, but Gregory was clearly, and understandably, upset by the episode.
Meanwhile on the field results were poor, with Kairat winning just once away from home all season, slipping to second bottom of the table. A win on the final day away to fellow strugglers Taraz would have meant a reprieve, but a clumsy defensive error from Ilya Vorotnikov gifted the home side a lead which Kairat could never surmount. The match ended 1-1 and Gregory’s men were condemned to relegation in December - his second in two different countries in just under two years in management.
But there was a twist in the tail for Kairat. The club received new financial backing at the end of 2011 from KazRosGaz, a Kazakh-Russian energy company with links to Russian state monopoly Gazprom. With such powerful support it was no coincidence that this week the club were saved from relegation, when the Kazakh Football Federation (FFK) announced they were expanding the country’s Premier League from 12 to 14 teams. Next season’s enlarged Premier League will now include Kairat.
“KazRosGaz, the new owners of Kairat, are an affiliate of Gazprom, whose sporting projects have been successfully carried out at Zenit and Schalke,” read an FFK statement. “With the inclusion of Kairat among the member clubs of the Championship, the country will be strengthened by a big club with great footballing traditions…we must allow the new owners of Kairat to establish themselves within Kazakh football today, in order that in the near future we may have a club serious about taking part in European competition.”
This whopping piece of rule-bending was not enough to save Gregory from the chop, however. This month the Englishman was sacked just six months into his two-year contract.
With his professional reputation in the doldrums, it’s difficult to see where Gregory’s next job will come from - after all, once you fail in Kazakhstan there are few lower levels on the footballing ladder to sink to.
Still, after such an awful 2011, perhaps Gregory’s luck might turn in the coming year. Besides, things are already looking up - he no longer has to stomach beshbarmak…
James Appell is a respected member of ITV.com's football writing team and has a penchant for all things Eastern European.
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