Source: TheGuardian
Fit-again John Gregory’s heart still aches over Aston Villa’s lost FA Cup final
After surgery to replace the heart valve that forced him to leave Crawley, manager who lost the 2000 final to Chelsea hopes Tim Sherwood can go one betterThe first thing to report is that John Gregory is in good health. Sitting in a restaurant in central London, Gregory looks and sounds remarkably well for a man who underwent open heart surgery at the start of the year and it says much about the speed of his recovery that he is already talking about the next chapter of a managerial career that in recent times has taken him from Israel to Crawley via Kazakhstan.That breathless feeling Gregory experienced after climbing a flight of stairs has gone and at the age of 61 his appetite for football management burns as strong as ever. “I’m in better condition than the vast majority of the managers in the game at the moment because my heart is perfect now,” says Gregory, who was referred to a cardiologist in December while in charge of Crawley. “It’s not a stress issue. I had a faulty valve, I’ve got a brand new one now.” Continue reading......read full article