JACK GREALISH has hit back at former Aston Villa manager John Gregory over an event “that never happened”.
Gregory, 69, was detailing a story on the Undr the Cosh podcast from when he was managing Crawley with Grealish starring for Notts County while on loan from Villa the 2013/14 season.
He claimed to have gotten the £100million Manchester City star substituted off after taunting the then teenage ace.
Gregory said: “I actually got Jack Grealish taken off once.
“He was on loan at Notts County from Villa so this would be about 2014. He must have been about 18/19 at the time.
“I’m in the dugout and whenever he came near me, I said’, f****** Jack Grealish. Aston Villa. F****** rubbish. No wonder they’ve f****** sent you out to Notts County.’
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“I’m right in his ear, ‘no wonder they don’t f****** want you up there’. Getting into him.”
He continued: “They take him off and he went home and told his dad and his dad spoke to one of my friends.
“He said, ‘hey, what about your mate Gregory having a pop at my Jack’. So my mate said, ‘took him off though, didn’t they?'”
Grealish faced Crawley twice under Gregory, being subbed off in the 66th minute of a 1-0 defeat in December 2013.
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However, Grealish refutes the claim that it was down to Gregory’s touchline verbals.
Taking to his Instagram page, Grealish said: “John Gregory – Episode 1 of things that never happened… What a clown.”
The second time he faced Gregory’s Crawley he completed the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 win.
Grealish played 39 times for County in all competitions that season, scoring five goals.
Thereafter he broke into the Villans first-team and remained there until his record transfer to Pep Guardiola’s City.
Gregory managed Crawley between December 2013 and December 2014, stepping down to due to health problems.
A return to management beckoned in 2017 with Indian Super League team Chennaiyin FC, where he won the Indian Super League title.
He had previously managed Villa for four years between 1998 and 2002, and had also previously been an assistant at the club between 1994 and 1996.
Gregory had even spent two years with Villa as a player from 1977 to 1979.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
