Villa lose hard taskmaster

Gregory had 18 months left on his contract

John Gregory was due to celebrate his fourth anniversary in charge of Aston Villa next month, but his resignation means one of the Premiership's longest serving managers is jobless.

His career at Villa Park was littered with incidents and run-ins with his chairman Doug Ellis and his players.

Gregory often complained about not having enough money to fund a side capable of challenging for Premiership honours but during his tenure the side twice qualified for the Uefa Cup.

But the stern Gregory, who joined Villa from Wycombe Wanderers, was renowned for playing hardball with his players.

Villa chairman Doug Ellis was the target of fan abuse

His first season in charge ended with them in sixth place, but Villa lost their star asset, striker Dwight Yorke, to Manchester United in a £12.6m deal.

Angered by Yorke's defection, Gregory claimed he could have "shot" Yorke after the Trinidad & Tobago international revealed a desire to leave the club before the details of the deal were agreed.

In 2000, Villa repeated that sixth place, again just missing out on the Uefa Cup.

Last season he forked out a club record £9.5m on Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel, Villa finished eighth and resorted to the Intertoto Cup.

Player support

In the off-season England internationals David James and Gareth Southgate left and David Ginola has spent much of the time at the club on the bench.

And yet he won the support of a number of his players, with Lee Hendrie asking for his manager to be handed a new contract earlier this month.

Gregory did have 18 months left to run on his contract, but the pressures of the job forced him out.

After Aston Villa blew a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup in January, Gregory looked distraught on the sidelines.

Transfer deficit

Under Gregory, Villa have twice qualified for the Uefa Cup, reached their first FA Cup final for 43 years, and have been a regular top-eight side.

All this has been achieved for a relatively small outlay in Premiership terms.

Although Gregory has spent £67m on players, he has recouped almost £51m in sales.

But the lack of depth of Villa's squad was demonstrated when they led the Premiership table in mid-October.

A series of long-term injuries to key players took its toll and Villa slumped into a run of just one win in 13 games.

He wanted to add to his squad but had been constantly frustrated in his attempts to bring in new blood, such as Leicester's Muzzy Izzet, old boy Yorke and - before his move to Blackburn - Andy Cole.

Gregory took over from former Villa favourite Brian Little in February 1998 and quickly adopted to life as a top-flight manager.

But his departure will leave the Villa faithful and chairman Ellis with a huge gap to fill.

Despite the fans' dissatisfaction with the way Villa have been playing - attendance is down this season - their protests have been directed at Ellis, not the manager.

His resignation will inevitably lead to more calls from the stands for Ellis to leave the club.