GREENING LOVES NOU CHAPTER
HE’S the answer to the intriguing quiz question, ‘Who gained a Champions League medal for Manchester United in 1999 without playing a single minute in the competition?’.
And Jonathan Greening (below) has just landed another gong – National League North manager of the month, after continuing his hometown club Scarborough Athletic’s success story.
It’s also a reward for perseverance after repeated rejection, as he tried to break into coaching and management.
Greening revealed: “I must have applied for between 50 and 60 jobs at League Two, National League and National League North level and didn’t even get an answer from many.
“I’d even been knocked back by Scarborough Athletic, and it was only after a friend persuaded me, that I reapplied when the job came up again.”
That was in the summer of 2021 and Greening led the phoenix club – formed in 2007 after the winding up of Scarborough FC, the team he supported as a kid – to promotion from the Northern Premier League. They now play just two divisions below the EFL.
“That’s right up there with all my honours in football, including the Champions League medal,” he said. “It’s also a reward for everyone at the club who has worked so hard over the years.”
A bright start to this season has made Athletic promotion candidates, and had Greening recalling the balmy days of being a young fan, when the original club, brought into the Football League by Neil Warnock, welcomed the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea to the Mccain Stadium – lovingly known locally as The Theatre of Chips.
“I was a ball boy at Scarborough FC,” Greening recalled. “The old ground was often rocking and brought the town together. Hopefully we can get back to that.
“It’s great seeing youngsters wearing our shirt rather than those of Manchester United or Leeds United. I’m proud to be managing my hometown club. I know how much football means to the town.”
Greening, 43, knows well that big ambitions can be fulfilled – as a player he moved from York City to Old Trafford. “I couldn’t believe it when United asked if they could take me on trial for four days with a view to a transfer,” he said.
A year on at the Nou Camp, Greening was on the subs bench as United won the Champions League. He added: “No one can ever take that winner’s medal away from me.”