Neil Richard Gregory (born 7 October 1972) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. A striker, he played for several clubs in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

Biography

Born in

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (''2022 census''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the I ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, Gregory began his career as an apprentice with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

, turning professional in February 1992. His brother

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

was also a professional footballer. He joined Chesterfield on loan in February 1994, making his league debut for the Spirerites, and joined

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on loan in March 1995, hitting 7 goals in 10 games. After the success of his loan spell, he returned to Ipswich and began to feature in the first team, though mainly as a substitute (27 of his 45 league appearances for Ipswich Town came this way). In November 1996 he joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

on loan, but failed to score in 5 games, and in November 1997 moved to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

on loan. He joined

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

on loan in January 1998, with the move being made permanent on 26 March, Colchester paying a club record fee of £50,000. He was a regular for Colchester during the rest of the season, but was allowed to join the Boston Bulldogs on loan for the summer of 1999. He joined

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...

on loan in December 1999, signing for them on a free transfer on 4 February after scoring 11 times in 53 games for Colchester. In May 2001 he was a member of the Canvey Island side that won the FA Trophy, and was a regular member of the side that won promotion to the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

. In 2001, he scored the winning goals in

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

ties against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

and

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. At the time of the cup run, Gregory was reported to be a full-time house husband. He signed a new twelve-month contract with Canvey Island in June 2005. After retiring from playing, he worked as assistant manager of Whitton United alongside former Ipswich reserves player Gary Thompson during 2008, before becoming manager of Stowupland Falcons in 2011. Gregory left Stowupland Falcons after 5 years in charge. Ex-Town star Gregory leading Falcons' revival
Green 'Un, 11 November 2011

References

External links

* * * at {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Neil 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Ndola Zambian people of English descent White Zambian people Zambian emigrants to the United Kingdom Zambian men's footballers English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Ipswich Town F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Canvey Island F.C. players Premier League players Boston Bulldogs (soccer) players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers