JONATHAN Greening may have only played six times for the Reds but saw the rise of John Stones in real-time and is looking forward to coming up against his old side as manager of tomorrow’s opponents Scarborough Athletic.
Greening signed for the Reds on an emergency loan from Nottingham Forest during the 2012/13 Championship season which ended in the ‘great escape’ at Huddersfield.
It was a perfect opportunity for the midfielder who was coming back from an injury and for the Reds who needed an experienced head in the team while they were languishing at the bottom of the table.
He told the Chronicle: “The manager at the time Keith Hill messaged me if I’d be interested.
“I’d been out six months with a broken ankle and I was just back training.
“At the time I think I’d just played a couple of u21 games and we had a good conversation so I asked the club if it was ok to go on loan for a month to get some games in.
“I ended up playing six games in the end which was brilliant because I was definitely short of match fitness.
“It was a really food fit and I enjoyed my time there as well.
“I loved every single minute of it.
“I really enjoyed the training under the manager and, David Flitcroft who was the assistant at the time.
“Training was really good fun, really up-tempo so I really enjoyed my time there and the players as well really made me feel welcome.”
One of those players was superstar John Stones who had just began what was to be an incredible career.
Greening admits there was something about him even at such a young age.
“You could tell what a good player he was,” he said.
“He had issues a few times in games where he had to come off a few times with cramp but he was going through a growth spurt.
“I remember the staff saying that they were trying to be careful with him.
“But you could tell from the quality in training, his first touch, weight of pass, calmness on the ball that he was going to be a very good player.
“I’d played with very good players before that so you can tell one when you see it.
“I knew he was going to make the step up to the Premier League but probably not the career that he’s had which has been absolutely unbelievable.
“He’s a really good lad and down to earth.”
Greening has had quite the career, winning the Champions League with Manchester United and promotion to the Premier League with West Brom – all memories he holds fondly.
He said: “I did feel like a bit of a fraud when we won the Champions League but only because I was 19 or 20.
“I went from a little team like York City to the champions of England and in my first year I ended up winning the treble.
“Looking back it was an amazing achievement.
“I went from York Schoolboys to York YT and then the first team before going to Manchester United for like £500,000 which was a lot of money back then.
“The more you think about it the more surreal it is.
“As I’ve got older and wiser I’m quite proud of the fact that I was part of one of the greatest squads to ever grace English football.
“The Champions League is one of the greatest comebacks of all time but it’s probably one of the worst finals there’s ever been.
“But to be a goal behind with two or three minutes to play and then Becks (David Beckham) puts in an unbelievable delivery and then two minutes later you score again it’s absolute mayhem.
“It was absolutely insane.
“Winning the Championship with West Brom is 100 per cent up there and we got to the semi-final of the FA Cup as well.
“There’s some great memories but with the good times there’s always bad times and I’ve been relegated twice from the Premier League, lost at Wembley.”
Greening, now the manager at tomorrow’s opponents Scarborough Athletic, has been managed by some of the best coaches in world football – and he’s taken a bit from all of them to help evolve his own game.
He said: “I’ve always wanted to go into coaching.
“I started doing my badges at a similar time to when I joined Barnsley.
“I’d been out for six months with a broken ankle that summer and I went to do my UEFA B licence which was two weeks away from home doing all the courses and then you have a practical exam six months later.
“Fortunately I passed that and the following summer I decided to go straight onto my A licence.
“In my last year at Forest I was still playing but I was helping out with the 21s and then retired.
“I took a couple of months off to think what I was going to do and then the York City u18s job came up.
“From there all the other coaching jobs have followed on.
“I’ve had some amazing managers from Alex Ferguson, Roy Hodgson, Mark Hughes, Steve McClaren, Tony Mowbray, Billy Davies, Bryan Robson and Nigel Pearson.
“I think you try and take a little bit from everybody but try and me yourself as well.
“We all have different opinions on how football should be played.
“Pep Guardiola’s not going to train my Scarborough team in the way I would.
“But coaching is really enjoyable – I really like it.”
