John McGreal

John McGreal
Personal information
Full name John Leslie McGreal
Date of birth (1972-06-02) 2 June 1972[1]
Place of birth Birkenhead, England
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 Colchester United (manager)
Youth career
Tranmere Rovers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1999 Tranmere Rovers 195 (1)
1999–2004 Ipswich Town 123 (4)
2004–2007 Burnley 96 (1)
Total 414 (6)
Teams managed
2015 Colchester United (caretaker)
2016– Colchester United

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


John Leslie McGreal (born 2 June 1972) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is currently manager of League Two club Colchester United. He spent one match as joint-caretaker manager of the club with Richard Hall in November 2015, before he was named as successor to Kevin Keen in April 2016

McGreal began his playing career with his local side Tranmere Rovers, where he progressed through the youth team to become a first-team regular, making over 200 appearances in nine years. He joined Ipswich Town in the summer of 1999, helping the club to play-off success and earning promotion to the Premier League in his first season. He spent five years with the Suffolk club, making over 150 appearances before joining Burnley in 2004. He ended his career in 2007 after making over 100 appearances for the club.

Playing career

Born in Birkenhead, McGreal began his career with Tranmere Rovers, rising through the club's youth system to eventually become a first-team regular, making 195 league appearances between 1990 and 1999.[1] He scored just one goal for the club in 233 appearances, with the opening goal on 23 February 1994 in a 1–1 draw with Leicester City at Filbert Street. Unfortunately for McGreal, his first goal was cancelled out when he scored an own goal when he sliced in Ian Ormondroyd's header which would otherwise have gone wide.[2]

In the summer of 1999, with Huddersfield Town manager Steve Bruce and Ipswich Town manager George Burley both interested in signing McGreal, he opted to sign for the Suffolk club after a £650,000 offer was accepted by Tranmere.[3]

McGreal made his Ipswich debut on 7 August 1999 in a 3–1 win over Nottingham Forest at Portman Road. He received his first red card in only his eighth match for the club on 11 September during a 1–1 draw with Portsmouth.[4] He helped the team reach the play-off final at Wembley, where they beat Barnsley 4–2 to earn promotion to the Premier League.[5]

In his third Premier League match for Ipswich, McGreal scored his first goal for the club with the opener in a 3–0 win over Everton at Goodison Park[3] in a season which saw Ipswich climb the league table to ultimately finish fifth and earn a place in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.[3] He scored his second goal with the winner in a 2–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on 12 January 2002,[6] but he couldn't help halt the side's slide down the league as they finished 18th and were relegated back to the First Division.

The following season saw Ipswich once again playing in the UEFA Cup having qualified through the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking, as McGreal scored in his first game of the new campaign as Town defeated Avenir Beggen 8–1 at Portman Road in the qualifying round second leg match on 29 August 2002. He scored once more in an injury-affected season with the opener in a 2–2 draw against Burnley, but could only muster 22 appearances all season.[7] Another injury-hit season followed, where he missed much of the start of the season but returned to help Ipswich reach the play-offs, but they were defeated over two legs by West Ham United. McGreal scored once during the season in a 1–1 draw with Reading on 10 January 2004.[8]

McGreal refused the offer of a new deal to remain with Ipswich in the summer of 2004 and instead opted to sign for Burnley on a three-year deal. Manager Steve Cotterill described McGreal as "one of the best defenders in the First Division".[9] He made his debut for the side on 7 August 2004 in a 1–1 home draw with Sheffield United, before scoring what was to be his only goal for Burnley in a 3–0 win over Crewe Alexandra at Turf Moor on 11 September. He made 45 appearances in his first season,[10] and a further 38 in his second,[11] while he could only manage 23 first-team appearances during 2006–07 in a season again affected by injury.[12]

After leaving Burnley at the end of the 2006–07 season, McGreal returned south, briefly joining Championship side Colchester United on trial, but manager Geraint Williams decided against offering the player a contract.[13]

Coaching career

Following his release from Burnley and his trial with Colchester United, McGreal returned to the Ipswich area, and following advice from Town manager and his ex-teammate Jim Magilton, he studied for his UEFA B Licence.[14]

After ex-Ipswich academy boss Tony Humes was appointed head of youth at Colchester United in 2009,[15] McGreal joined the club's Academy as a professional development coach.[14] He was later appointed manager of the under-18 side alongside his former Ipswich teammate Wayne Brown,[16] and led the side to the Football League Youth Alliance South East title and won the Youth Alliance Cup in April 2014. Following Richard Hall's promotion to assistant manager in September 2014, McGreal stepped up to replace Hall as under-21s manager.[17]

McGreal was named as interim manager at Colchester United alongside Richard Hall following Tony Humes dismissal as manager on 26 November 2015.[18] However, following a 5–1 defeat against Burton Albion in his only match in charge, he was appointed assistant to Wayne Brown who was named caretaker manager on 2 December.[19] Following Kevin Keen's appointment as permanent Colchester manager, McGreal reverted to his former role as under-21 coach.[20]

After Kevin Keen left Colchester following the club's relegation to League Two on 26 April 2016, McGreal was appointed his successor on 4 May.[21] He did not take charge of Colchester until after the final game of the season, in which his assistant Steve Ball was named caretaker.[22] In his first match in charge on 6 August 2016, McGreal guided his side to a 1–1 opening day draw away to Hartlepool United.[23] He earned his first win on 13 August as his side defeated Cambridge United 2–0 at the Colchester Community Stadium.[24] After three wins and one draw in Colchester's opening five league fixtures, McGreal was nominated for the League Two 'Manager of the Month' award for August.[25]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 26 November 2016.[26]
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Colchester United (interim) 26 November 2015 2 December 2015 1 0 0 1 00.00
Colchester United 9 May 2016 Present 24 6 6 12 25.00
Total 25 6 6 13 24.00

Honours

Ipswich Town

References

  1. 1 2 3 John McGreal career statistics at Soccerbase
  2. ↑ Shaw, Phil (22 October 2011). "Football: Rovers' own-goal agony: McGreal makes a name for himself". Independent. London. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Scowcroft, James (16 December 2011). "Stylish John McGreal could have played for England". East Anglian Daily Times. Ipswich. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "Games played by John McGreal in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Barnsley 2–4 Ipswich". The Guardian. London. 29 May 2000. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Ipswich edge out Spurs". BBC Sport. 12 January 2002. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Games played by John McGreal in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Games played by John McGreal in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  9. ↑ Bailey, Graeme. "Burnley land McGreal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "Games played by John McGreal in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "Games played by John McGreal in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "Games played by John McGreal in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  13. ↑ Hackett, Robin (1 August 2007). "mcGreal given Us trial". Sky Sports. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  14. 1 2 "The Ex-Files: John McGreal". TWTD. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  15. ↑ King, Elvin (16 June 2009). "Tony Humes has Youth on his side". Norwich: EDP24. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  16. ↑ Waldron, Jonathan (12 November 2013). "U's youngsters are repaying Cowling's support". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  17. ↑ Waldron, Jonathan (8 September 2014). "McGreal ready for first game in charge of U's under-21s". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  18. ↑ Spurgeon, Simon (26 November 2015). "Tony Humes departs as Colchester United manager". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "Colchester name former defender Wayne Brown as caretaker manager following sacking of Tony Humes". Daily Mail. London. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  20. ↑ Waldron, Jonathan (29 December 2015). "Colchester United academy coach Steve Ball succeeds David Wright in Maldon and Tiptree hot seat". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  21. ↑ "John McGreal: Colchester United appoint under-21 boss as first-team coach". BBC Sport. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  22. ↑ Waldron, Jonathan (6 May 2016). ""Proud" Ball to take charge of the U's against Rochdale". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "Hartlepool United 1–1 Colchester United". BBC Sport. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  24. ↑ "Colchester United 2–0 Cambridge United". BBC Sport. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  25. ↑ Waldron, Jonathan (6 September 2016). "Colchester United head coach John McGreal and winger Brennan Dickenson in contention to scoop Sky Bet League Two monthly awards". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "John McGreal". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
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