Grégory Vignal (born 19 July 1981) is a French football coach and former professional player. A left back, Vignal played in the top division in five countries – England, France, Spain, Scotland and Greece – and in the second tier in a sixth, Germany. At international level, he was a member of the France under-18 team that won the 2000 European Championships, represented France at under-20 level in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, and was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

four times at under-21 level. He was head coach of

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football Leag ...

club Rangers from 2019 to 2020, and worked in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

's academy before returning to Scotland as a youth coach at Dundee.

Early life

Grégory Vignal was born on 19 July 1981 in Montpellier, Hérault.

Playing career

Liverpool and loans

Vignal began his career in the youth system of his home-town club, Montpellier. He soon established a reputation as a promising young player, and was signed by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in September 2000 for £500,000. He immediately impressed in his first reserve team outings and made his first team debut against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in the

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 ...

. He made a further six appearances during the 2000–01 season. Vignal returned for the following season having featured in the World Youth Championship with the France Under-18 squad, and staked his claim for the left-back spot with some impressive performances at the start of the 2001–02 season. However, he found it hard to displace the reliable and experienced

John Arne Riise John Arne Semundseth Riise (born 24 September 1980) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a left back and a left midfielder. He is currently the manager of Toppserien club Avaldsnes. With 110 caps, Rii ...

. He made nine appearances that season. He made just four appearances during the first half of the 2002–03 season and was loaned to

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

for the remainder of the campaign on 11 January 2003. During the 2003–04 campaign Vignal was again loaned out to Rennes for the first half of the season, and to

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

for the latter half. Vignal had a season in Scotland at Rangers as the club regained the Scottish Premier League title, playing 42 games in all competitions and picking up a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

winner's medal as well as the league title.

Portsmouth

At the end of the 2004–05 season Vignal's Liverpool contract expired, and with him available on a free transfer Rangers wanted him to sign a permanent contract with them; however, he failed to agree terms, instead opting to move to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He was then released from Portsmouth after failing to impress Harry Redknapp on his return in the 2005–06 season.

RC Lens and loans

Vignal then moved to

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

on a free transfer and was loaned out to

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

for the second half of the season in January 2007. After a trial, Vignal joined

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on a season-long loan on 27 July 2007. He scored his first goal for Southampton with a free kick in a 2–0 win over

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the FA Cup, and scored a penalty against Scunthorpe United in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

while playing with a broken arm in a cast. He scored another penalty in a 2–2 draw with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

before being sent off for an off-the-ball incident; the red card was rescinded on appeal. He scored four goals from 23 appearances in the 2007–08 season.

Birmingham City and later career

A trial with another Championship club,

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, in the summer of 2009 did not result in a contract, but a strong performance for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

newly promoted to the Premier League under the management of

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

, who had remained in contact with Vignal since they worked together at Rangersearned him a one-year contract with an option for a further year. However, injuries and the return to fitness and form of

Liam Ridgewell Liam Matthew Ridgewell (born 21 July 1984) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a defender. He was primarily a centre back but could also play at left back. He is currently a coach for the Portland Timbers. Ridgewell, wh ...

at left-back restricted Vignal to just nine first-team appearances, and Birmingham chose not to take up the option of a second year. In July 2010, Vignal had trials with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and Cardiff City. In September, he joined

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club Atromitos, but left again after three months and four appearances. In January 2011, while on trial with AC Arles-Avignon, Vignal injured a knee. It still gave him trouble years later after three operations, and despite a two-month spell with Scottish Premier League club

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

in late 2012 and a season with CFA (fourth-tier) club

AS Béziers As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer * "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder * , a Spanish sports newspaper * , an academic male voice ...

, he never played again at professional level.

Later career

In June 2013, Vignal took over the presidency of amateur club CE Palavas, based in the seaside

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Palavas-les-Flots Palavas-les-Flots (; Languedocien: ''Palavàs'') is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. Geography Palavas is a seaside resort, some six km south of Montpellier, at the Gulf of Lion and the Mediterr ...

where his parents lived. Under his presidency, the team achieved three consecutive promotions and reached the seventh round of the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

for the first time. He stood down as president in favour of his father in 2017 to concentrate on the role of technical director. Having spent the 2016–17 season as an assistant reserve coach at Montpellier, Vignal returned to Rangers in January 2018 as an academy coach, initially working with the under-14s and under-17s, and then with the under-18 team that won the 2018–19

SPFL Reserve League The SPFL Reserve League is the reserve team league for football in Scotland. The league began in 2018, as the SPFL Development League was replaced by a reserve team (i.e not age-restricted) format. History In its first season, 2018–19, the lea ...

and

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

. He also formed part of new first-team manager Steven Gerrard's support staff, and eventually left his academy role to scout for the first team. In July 2019, following Rangers' decision to aim for a fully professional women's team as part of a women's and girls' football programme integrated into a restructured club, Amy McDonald became women's section manager and Vignal took her place as head coach of Rangers women.

Malky Thomson Malcolm Thomson (born 29 December 1968) is a Scottish football coach and former player. He was appointed joint-head coach of Rangers WFC in January 2020. In 2015–16 he was head coach of Indian I-League team Salgaocar. Coaching career Early ...

came in to work alongside Vignal as joint head coach in January 2020, and Vignal left Rangers when his contract expired in June, having, according to the club, "played a pivotal role in the creation of the new full-time women's professional team ... ndensured a smooth transition for the Women's programme". Vignal spent seven months with

Olympique Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

's academy, before returning to Scotland in 2021, initially as an assistant under-18s coach with Dundee under

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

's management. He went on to take charge of the under-18s, and also worked with the reserves. He left Dundee in June 2023. Vignal holds the UEFA A Licence, and in 2022 was accepted onto the

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are is ...

programme run by the French Football Federation from their Clairefontaine Football Training Institute.

Honours

Liverpool *

: 2000–01 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 2000–01 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

: 2001 Rangers *

: 2004–05 * Scottish Premier League: 2004–05 Lens * Ligue 2: 2008–09 France U18 *

UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vignal, Gregory 1981 births Living people Footballers from Montpellier French men's footballers Men's association football defenders Castelnau Le Crès FC players Montpellier HSC players Liverpool F.C. players SC Bastia players Stade Rennais F.C. players RCD Espanyol footballers Rangers F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players RC Lens players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Southampton F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Atromitos F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players AS Béziers (2007) players Premier League players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Super League Greece players UEFA Europa League winning players France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in Spain French football managers Women's association football managers Rangers W.F.C. managers Scottish Women's Premier League managers Association football coaches Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Olympique de Marseille non-playing staff Dundee F.C. non-playing staff