John Leslie McGreal was born on 2 June 1972 and is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is currently an U21s coach at Ipswich Town.
28 Facts About John McGreal
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John McGreal helped his new club to win promotion into the Premier League with victory in the 2000 play-off final.
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John McGreal played 54 Premier League games in two seasons, before Ipswich were relegated back into the First Division in 2002.
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John McGreal stayed with the club for another two years before signing with Burnley in June 2004.
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John McGreal played a total of 489 league and cup games in 16 seasons as a professional in the English Football League and Premier League, scoring seven goals.
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John McGreal briefly stood in as the first team's caretaker-manager in November 2015, before being given the job on a permanent basis following the club's relegation out of League One in May 2016.
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John McGreal missed just four league games during the following campaign as Rovers posted a 14th-place finish.
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John McGreal was signed as a long-term replacement for Tony Mowbray.
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John McGreal left the club in the summer in search of a longer contract offer elsewhere and manager Joe Royle said that "I never wanted to lose him and of the eight players that left the club in the summer he was my biggest regret".
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John McGreal refused the offer of a new deal to remain with Ipswich in the summer of 2004 and instead opted to sign for Burnley on a three-year deal.
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John McGreal formed an excellent centre-back partnership with Frank Sinclair and made 45 appearances in his first season with the "Clarets".
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John McGreal then returned to the Ipswich area, and following advice from Town manager and his ex-teammate Jim Magilton, he studied for his UEFA B Licence.
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John McGreal was a "calm, cultured" defender in the mould of Alan Hansen.
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John McGreal was later appointed manager of the under-18 side alongside his former Ipswich teammate Wayne Brown, and led the side to the Football League Youth Alliance South East title and won the Youth Alliance Cup in April 2014.
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John McGreal was named as interim manager at Colchester United alongside Richard Hall following Tony Humes dismissal as manager on 26 November 2015.
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John McGreal won the award on 6 January 2017, becoming the first Colchester manager to win the award since Paul Lambert in January 2009.
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John McGreal released eight players, whilst losing top-scorer Chris Porter, who left on a free transfer to sign with Crewe Alexandra.
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John McGreal brought in goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin and midfielder Ryan Jackson.
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John McGreal made a series of loan signings to bolster the squad, which included the arrivals of Ryan Inniss, Brandon Comley, Kyel Reid and Brandon Hanlan.
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John McGreal released four senior players and seven from the U-23 team.
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John McGreal released Mikael Mandron in the summer, along with Ryan Gondoh.
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Colchester lost out to Exeter City after extra-time in the play-off semi-finals and John McGreal was dismissed by the club on 14 July 2020 as Cowling felt that "significant changes are required that will be best served with a new head coach".
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John McGreal said he was "deeply saddened" with the decision to end his 11-year association with the club and that "the memories of this season will live with me forever".
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On 26 May 2021, John McGreal was appointed manager of recently relegated League Two side Swindon Town, but on 25 June, after less than a month in the job, John McGreal left Swindon by mutual consent, as ownership issues prevented him signing new players.
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On 2 December 2021, John McGreal returned to Ipswich Town, a club he made 150 appearances for, in a coaching role that would see him work with the U23s and Development squads.
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Just four days later, following the sacking of manager Paul Cook, John McGreal was named as interim manager.
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John McGreal oversaw 4 games in charge, drawing 2 and losing 2, before new manager Kieran McKenna was appointed.
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John McGreal is able to work alongside a director of football or head of recruitment and work with and develop a young squad.