Former Forest Green boss Frank Gregan reveals his memorable moments from 2021 and hopes for 2022.
What was most memorable about 2021?
It wasn’t the worst year of my life by any means but I’ve always been one to try and be optimistic. Our first grandchild was born just prior to the start of the year which was exciting but made me think how on earth I was going to be able to persuade a young boy to become a Newcastle United supporter given the state of the club.
It was easy to convince his mother, my daughter, she was just beginning to understand football during the Keegan ‘entertainers’ era. She’s been stuck with a heap of garbage recently but it could have been worse, she could have been one of those glory hunters who picked Blackburn Rovers as their first love when they won the Premiership! How quickly things change. I think I’ll have the easiest task in the world convincing a six-year-old boy to support the “Richest Club in the World!”
What are your hopes and plans for 2022?
There’s no doubt that the biggest lesson I learned from 2021 was that family is the most important thing. I only managed one visit to my grandson in England and he came to Spain once. Fourteen days together in total. A pretty dire return for the first year of his life. When I moved to Spain it was to enhance the amount of time I would spend with my daughter. Instead of her popping home and dropping off her dirty washing before going clubbing I hoped to get some quality time. And so it transpired, weeks and weeks of undivided attention seeing each other at least once every month. That’s my hope for 2022, a silver bullet to annihilate this virus and enable the return of safe movement to ensure family reunions for us all.
