Gregory Downs (born 13 December 1958) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Originally a centre-forward, he switched to left full-back early in his career. Downs began his career with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

where he was

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

in 1982, the year they won promotion to the First Division a year after relegation. He remained at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. N ...

until 1985, when moved to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

where he won an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winner's medal in the 1987 final, where they achieved a surprise 3–2 win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He spent five years at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game o ...

, playing 146 league games and scoring four goals. On leaving in 1990, he dropped down to the Third Division to sign for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, playing 17 times in the disappointing 1990–91 campaign where the Blues recorded their lowest ever finish of 13th place. He was then signed by

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

, who had appointed former Coventry boss

John Sillett John Charles Sillett (20 July 1936 – 30 November 2021) was an English football player and manager. He played for Chelsea, Coventry City and Plymouth Argyle. He won the Championship with Chelsea in 1955, playing alongside his brother Peter Si ...

as manager for the 1991–92 season. Sillett left

Edgar Street Edgar Street is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was wound up. It is now the home of Hereford FC, a phoenix club formed to rep ...

after one disappointing season in charge, and Downs was appointed player-manager in his place, an arrangement which lasted for two seasons until he was succeeded by

John Layton John Henry Layton (born 29 June 1951) is a former English footballer and coach who spent much of his career at Hereford United, both as a player and a manager. He played centre back. Layton was manager of Hereford United during the 1994−95 ...

. In three seasons at the Bulls, he played 108 times in the league's basement division, scoring twice. After retiring from professional football in 1995, Downs joined the police. However, he continued playing non-league football into his mid forties. In 2006, he joined

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 households ...

as assistant to

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

Damian Hilton. The pair resigned in November 2007; though Hilton had second thoughts and was re-appointed manager, Downs left the club.

References

External links

Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downs, Greg 1958 births Living people English footballers English football managers Malvern Town F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Raunds Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Redditch United F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Bridgnorth Town F.C. players Dereham Town F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Connecticut Bicentennials players Great Yarmouth Town F.C. players British police officers Hereford United F.C. managers People from Carlton, Nottinghamshire Footballers from Nottinghamshire Association football defenders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers FA Cup Final players