The Aston Villa 'mistake' that still haunts John Gregory
John Gregory blames himself for Aston Villa’s FA Cup Final defeat to Chelsea in 2000 and admits he ‘still feels guilty now’.
The ex-Villa boss was in charge for the last-ever clash at the old Wembley which saw Roberto Di Matteo grab the winning goal for the Blues.
David James’ error gifted the Italian his famous winner but Gregory insisted he was to blame.
“I look at myself, I could have done more and I should have done more,” he told the Guardian.
“I should have been more offensive, maybe put on another striker, risk losing the game 2-0 or 3-0 but have a go.
“You just put the trust in the players and maybe on the day there wasn’t too many in the team who performed as well as they had done in the league games that year. But it’s gone. And I’ve felt guilty ever since. It keeps me awake at night. Even now.”
Gregory had the chance to make history and bring the FA Cup back to Birmingham for the first time since 1957.
“I had 40,000 Villa fans there that day and as I walked out the tunnel, in what was the old Wembley, all the Villa fans were at that end of the stadium.
“The sight was beautiful. It wasn’t just ‘wow’, it was a thing of beauty: ‘This is my team.’
“I can see it all now still, it was just washed in claret and blue.
“We didn’t win it and that still haunts me.
“And to this day, I never ever want to talk about that final to people because we lost. It’s failure. And that feeling – and I talk about this with my family at times, you kind of look back and think: ‘You’ve done this, this, this and this, you ain’t done badly in your life.’ And it’s like: ‘Yeah, I know, but I didn’t win the FA Cup.’”