ISL 2019 | Chennaiyin FC extend John Gregory’s contract for another season
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Chennaiyin FC have decided to hand manager John Gregory another year contract despite the side finishing rock bottom in the Indian Super League last season. The Marina Machans, however, reached the final of the Hero Cup and are in prime position to advance from the AFC Cup group stage.
Gregory had led Chennaiyin to their second ISL title in his first season in the 2017-18 campaign as the South Indian side became the first side from ISL to qualify for the Asian Football Confederation Cup. However, the Englishman’s next season was a nightmare as CFC finished last and also became the first defending champions to finish below all other sides.
However, just when the Super Machans thought that the season was all but over, the side spurred back to life by reaching the final of Hero Cup where they lost to FC Goa and leading their AFC Cup group stage. The tables have turned over the last two months and Gregory has been offered a new contract for another year.
“It truly is a great feeling extending my stay with the Chennaiyin family. My journey so far in India has really given me the whole range of emotions and experience, after the ISL title triumph in the first season followed by the disappointment in the same competition last season. And I feel I have some unfinished business here,” said the 65-year-old manager reported PTI.
Gregory was awarded the League Managers’ Association Special Achievement Award in May 2018 and two months after he also got the ISL Coach of the Year by the Association of Indian Football Coaches (AIFC) after he won the title.
After losing 13 of the 18 league matches, CFC have now kept eight clean sheets in their last eleven games in all competitions and haven’t conceded a goal in five AFC Cup matches, including the qualifying play-off round against Colombo FC.
