David Harry Gregory (born 6 October 1951) is an English former

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 lea ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, Bury,

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

Career

Gregory was born in

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

and began his career with the local club

. In his first season with the "Posh" he made 13 appearances mostly from the bench as he slowly adjusted to life in professional football. He became a useful forward for Peterborough in the Third Division scoring 40 goals in three seasons which attracted the attention of bigger clubs. He was signed by

George Eastham George Edward Eastham, OBE (23 September 1936 – 20 December 2024) was an English footballer who played as a midfielder or inside forward for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as being a member of England's 1966 World Cup-w ...

and there were high hopes that he would make the step up a division. However, he struggled to adapt to the change in level and managed just four goals for the "Potters" in 1977–78 and was sold to

in August 1978. Despite scoring four goals in his first six matches for Rovers he was moved on to Bury. He re-found his scoring form in the third tier scoring 16 times in 1978–79 and seven times in 1979–80. He moved to

in December 1980 and his six goals helped "Pompey" gain promotion to the Third Division. He scored 15 goals in 1980–81 but he failed to find the target in 1981–82 and left for Welsh side

. He scored just five goals in 1982–83 as the "Dragons" suffered relegation to the Fourth Division. Wrexham had a poor 1983–84 season as they finished in 20th position but Gregory scored a career best of 20 goals and helped Wrexham reach the final of the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

, which at the time allowed entrance into European competitions. He played in both legs as Fourth Division Wrexham overcame Portuguese club

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

but Italian side

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

proved too strong. He remained at Wrexham until the summer of 1986 and ended his career with a season at his first club,

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Anglo-Scottish Cup The Anglo-Scottish Cup was a tournament arranged for teams in the English and Scottish football leagues during the summer for several years during the 1970s. It was created in 1975 as a new incarnation of the Texaco Cup, with a similar format ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

Honours

; Peterborough United *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

champions: 1973–74 ; Portsmouth *

fourth-place promotion: 1979–80

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, David English men's footballers Stoke City F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players English Football League players 1951 births Living people Men's association football forwards Footballers from Peterborough