GREENING RELISHING NEW HIGH
HE’S won a Champions League winners’ medal, League Cup and Championship titles – but none tastes sweeter than leading Scarborough Athletic to promotion for rookie boss Jonathan Greening.
The 43-year-old was an unused substitute in Manchester United’s famous European Cup triumph over Bayern Munich in 1999, playing under the great Sir Alex Ferguson.
He then went on to star for the likes of Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion, Fulham and Nottingham Forest, gaining valuable experience along the way, before hanging up his boots in 2014.
Greening then turned his hand to coaching, working with Forest’s U21s and York City’s academy before setting up the i2i Soccer Academy, leading the search for the next big star in north Yorkshire.
Eventually, hometown club Scarborough came calling after Darren Kelly quit last April and the Seadogs haven’t looked back since, eventually sealing an emotional return to Step 2 on Monday in front of a sell-out 2,800 crowd at the Flamingo Land Stadium.
“It’s been a crazy 11 months,” Greening told The
NLP. “It’s not been easy, our budget is one of the lowest in the division so we’ve had a few bumps in the road, but you’ve got to keep going. I learned that as a player.
“We lost 6-0 to FC United in October and 4-0 to Liversedge in the cup. But we stuck to our guns as I’ve always had a belief in this group of players.
“As a result, we started to turn things around and went on a 17-18 game unbeaten run, losing just once since New Year’s Day.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this group of players and what they have achieved. We followed that up by winning the North Riding County Cup on Wednesday – to win two trophies in my first year as a manager is incredible.”
The only surprise, however, in Greening’s journey to the dugout was that it took nine years – and several failed attempts – before he finally got the nod from the club where he used to work as a ballboy as a youngster.
Laughing
Greening’s rise to the top saw him pick up many traits from some of the game’s top coaches and managers but former winger admits some of his name-dropping tales are often laughed off by his players.
“Whenever I start to tell a story, the lads say ‘here we go’ and just start laughing,” he joked.
“I think they do enjoy listening to them though as I was lucky enough to play with some of the top names in the game. I’ve learned from the best over the years. Working under the likes of Sir Alex, Steve McLaren, Brian Kidd, Mark Hughes and Roy Hodgson. It’s hard not to take a little piece from all of them, but I just try to be myself.
“I’m not a name like Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard where I can just command a big club, I’ve had to start lower down and work my way up. Alex Ferguson did that and he would always say you have to be prepared for the odd failure in order to be successful.
“I love the game of football and I am very ambitious to succeed. I want to be as successful as possible so to win promotion with my hometown club is the best possible start.”