Lee Gregory has admitted his former Sheffield Wednesday teammate tried to get him to leave the club in January.
Lee Gregory had a particularly disappointing final season at Sheffield Wednesday, despite his promotion heroics the year before.
The striker was a regular under Xisco Munoz and looked to be continuing his form as he netted in the opening day defeat to Southampton.
He then started Danny Rohl‘s second game in charge before he was dropped, making only two appearances on the bench and managing one minute of action for the rest of the campaign.
Gregory was heavily linked with a return to League One, with Derby County eager to snap him up.
It was expected that he would leave Hillsborough, but Wednesday wanted to keep him and he was left to watch on from the stands.
Following the Owls’ survival, the 35-year-old confirmed that he would be leaving the club at the end of his contract.
It didn’t take him very long to find a new home either, with newly-promoted Mansfield Town taking him back to the third tier.
Gregory will reunite with former Wednesday defender Aden Flint, who joined the club last summer.
Despite looking likely to join Derby in January, Gregory has now revealed Flint had encouraged him to move to Field Mill.
Aden Flint urged Lee Gregory to join Mansfield Town
Speaking to club’s official media, the forward said: “He’s [Flint] one of the guys who actually was saying about coming here in January.
“He was saying how great it was and that we were going to get promoted – and I come in January. It didn’t come off, but I’m glad it’s happened now.”
Gregory began his professional career with Mansfield but failed to break into the first team before moving to FC Halifax Town.
The veteran links up with his former club, who haven’t played in the third division of English football since 2002.
The striker’s situation was handled poorly
Gregory will undoubtedly smash it for The Stags and it’s nice to see him link up with a former Owl too.
All the interest in Gregory back in January really begs the question as to why he wasn’t allowed to leave, as Wednesday’s determination to keep him suggested they could give him a chance in the second half of the season.
Given his importance to the club last term, his situation could have been handled a lot better and he should have really been given the opportunity to play football elsewhere.
However, at least he was able to be part of the squad that stayed up in the Championship and can now return to League One and make his mark once again.
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