John Gregory is about to face what could be the defining month of his managerial career at Aston Villa since he succeeded Brian Little in February 1998. With a tricky tie at Newcastle in the FA Cup on Sunday week looming, and with just seven points from Villa's last seven Premiership matches, Gregory takes his squad of sometimes disenchanted players into a Midlands derby with Leicester City tomorrow.
That match is followed by a trip to Chelsea on Monday and after the FA Cup weekend Villa's league season resumes with a home game with Liverpool and an away trip to Manchester United.
Given those fixtures, plus the fact Villa have just lost at home to United on Tuesday and that the club broke their transfer record to sign Juan Pablo Angel from River Plate last week - although his work permit has not yet come through - Gregory picked a most interesting moment, indeed, to launch a scathing attack on his chairman Doug Ellis.
If results go a certain way, by the end of January Ellis may well be searching for the 10th Villa manager in the 18 years he has presided over the club. He could find it relatively satisfying given that Gregory has just accused the Villa chairman of being: "Stuck in a time-warp," having a training ground: "Like a shanty town," and: "The trouble here is that the chairman thinks we're like Manchester United, but acts small."
Ellis let it be known on Wednesday that he was "Furious" with his manager's outspoken opinions, but the confrontation between the two expected yesterday will not occur until today. "I'm meeting the people who matter tomorrow," Gregory said yesterday afternoon.
Whether there is a decisive exchange of views only time will tell, but there is some doubt that Ellis - known as "Deadly Doug" because of his fondness for sacking managers - retains his appetite for hiring and firing. He is 76 now and, although he admitted thinking about dismissing Gregory during a nine-game spell without a win last season, Ellis rewarded Gregory's achievement of getting Villa to their first FA Cup final for 43 years with a three-year extension to Gregory's contract in June.
That in turn creates a problem if Ellis wanted to be rid of Gregory - compensation, ironic given that economics is central to the disagreement between manager and chairman. "We're very much stuck in our ways here," Gregory had said. "We're expected to compete, but we don't match the big boys financially. That's a fact. I'm kicking and screaming, trying to drag us forward."
Before signing Angel, Gregory had tried to buy the South African international Benni McCarthy but was told by his board that the £13 million required was too much for Villa to pay for one player. This coincided with a survey in a Midlands newspaper that showed that Coventry City had spent more than Villa over a five-year period. On Tuesday before the United game Villa's fans had released balloons with pound signs on them. Gregory has their support.
"Coventry have outspent us and Derby have gone close," said Gregory, "and they've just done it to stay in the Premiership." Already this season Villa have sold Ugo Ehiogu, Alan Thompson, Steve Watson and Mark Draper. They have bought Angel, Alpay Ozalan and David Ginola - the latter, Gregory intimated, being an Ellis signing.
The frustration for Gregory is two-fold. Prior to Ruud Gullit's appearance at Newcastle Gregory was the favourite to replace Kenny Dalglish - he would have had Gullit's millions - and second, Gregory can see that in a poor Premiership Villa are only two or three players away from winning a Champions' League place.
Dennis Bergkamp wants to stay at Arsenal and should sign a new contract next month, his agent was quoted as saying yesterday.
Bergkamp, 31, joined Arsenal from Inter Milan in 1995 and is free to talk to other clubs from January 1st. He will be available on a free transfer at the end of the season.
The Daily Mail quoted the player's agent Rob Jansen as saying Bergkamp, who has been negotiating with the north London club for months, was likely to stay at Highbury for a further two years. .
"Things are now looking good and I am certain as I can be that Dennis will sign a new contract within the next week or so. Dennis has always wanted to stay at Arsenal," he said.
