Grégory Vignal

Grégory Vignal (born 19 July 1981) is a French former professional footballer. A former left full back or midfielder, he is now a first team coach for Olympique de Marseille joining in 2020 after leaving the post of head coach of Rangers W.F.C. in the Scottish Women's Premier League.

Grégory Vignal
Vignal playing on tour with Southampton in 2007
Personal information
Full name Grégory Vignal[1]
Date of birth (1981-07-19) 19 July 1981
Place of birth Montpellier, France
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Olympique de Marseille (first team coach)
Youth career
1997–1998 Castelnau Le Crès FC[2]
1998–1999 Montpellier
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2000 Montpellier 0 (0)
2000–2005 Liverpool 11 (0)
2003 → Bastia (loan) 15 (0)
2003 → Rennes (loan) 5 (0)
2004 → Espanyol (loan) 8 (1)
2004–2005 → Rangers (loan) 30 (3)
2005–2006 Portsmouth 14 (0)
2006–2009 Lens 22 (0)
2007 → 1. FC Kaiserslautern (loan) 9 (1)
2007–2008 → Southampton (loan) 20 (3)
2009–2010 Birmingham City 8 (0)
2010 Atromitos 4 (0)
2012 Dundee United 0 (0)
2013 AS Béziers 13 (1)
Total 159 (9)
National team
2001 France U20 9 (0)
2002–2003 France U21 4 (0)
Teams managed
2019–2020 Rangers W.F.C
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Vignal played in the top division in five countries – England, France, Spain, Scotland and Greece – and in the second tier in a sixth, Germany, though never played in more than 30 league games for any club.[3][4][5] At international level, he represented France at under-20 level in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship[6] and has also been capped at under-21 level.[7]

Playing career

Liverpool and loans

Born in Montpellier, Vignal began his career at his home-town club, Montpellier. He soon established a reputation as a promising young player, and was signed by Liverpool in September 2000 for £500,000. He immediately impressed in his first reserve team outings and made his first team debut against Rotherham United in the FA Cup. He went on to make 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. He went on to make nine appearances that season.

He made just four appearances during the first half of the 2002–03 season and was loaned to Bastia for the remainder of the campaign in mid-January 2003.

During the 2003–04 campaign Vignal was again loaned out to Rennes for the first half of the season, and to Espanyol for the latter half.

Vignal had a season in Scotland at Rangers as the club regained the Scottish Premier League title, playing 42 games and picking up a Scottish League Cup 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. 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 on a free transfer and was loaned out to FC Kaiserslautern for the second half of the season in January 2007.

After a trial with the club,[8] Vignal joined Southampton on a season-long loan on 27 July 2007.[9] He scored his first goal for Southampton with a free kick in a 2–0 win over Leicester City in the FA Cup,[10] and his first league goal came from a penalty against Scunthorpe United[11] while playing with a broken arm. He scored another penalty in the 2–2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers before being sent off for an off-the-ball incident.[12] However, he later won an appeal against the card. He scored four goals from 23 appearances in the 2007–08 season.

During the summer of 2009, Vignal had a trial with Queens Park Rangers which did not bring the offer of a contract.[13]

Birmingham City and later career

Vignal then played in a friendly match against Sporting Gijón as part of a trial with Birmingham City, newly promoted to the Premier League. After producing what manager Alex McLeish described as a "strong performance",[14] Vignal signed a one-year contract with the club, with an option for a further year, subject to medical examination.[15] Injury disrupted his season, which combined with the form of Liam Ridgewell at left-back restricted the player to just nine first-team appearances. The club chose not to take up the option of a second year.[16]

In July 2010, Vignal had trials with Sheffield United[17] and Cardiff City.[18] In September 2010, he joined Atromitos. He then left the Athens club in December 2010.

On 12 September 2012, Vignal signed a contract with Scottish Premier League club Dundee United until January 2013,[19] but left in November without having made a first-team appearance.[20] He returned to France, where he signed for CFA (fourth-tier) club AS Béziers ahead of the 2013–14 season.[21]

Coaching career

After a period working with Rangers as a coach for their youth academy teams, in July 2019 Vignal was appointed head coach of the club's senior women's team with the incumbent Amy McDonald moving to a role as the overall women's section manager.[22][23] He left Rangers in August 2020 to take up a first team coaching role at Marseille.[24]

Honours

Club

Liverpool

Rangers

Lens

International

France

References
  1. "Grégory Vignal". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  2. "Portraits" (in French). Castelnau Le Crès FC. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  3. "La fiche de Grégory Vignal". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  4. "Gregory Vignal All time playing career". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  5. "G. Vignal". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  6. "FIFA Player Statistics: Gregory Vignal". FIFA. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  7. Garin, Erik (5 June 2006). "France – U-21 – International Results – Details". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  8. "Vignal on trial". Southampton F.C. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008.
  9. "Saints complete capture of Vignal". BBC Sport. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  10. "Southampton 2–0 Leicester". BBC Sport. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  11. "Scunthorpe 1–1 Southampton". BBC Sport. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  12. "Wolves 2–2 Southampton". BBC Sport. 4 March 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  13. "QPR decide against signing Vignal". BBC Sport. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
  14. Tattum, Colin (10 August 2009). "Gregory Vignal makes 'strong' case to fill Blues' problem left-back position". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  15. "Vignal signs in". Birmingham City F.C. 13 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 August 2009.
  16. "Quintet depart". Birmingham City F.C. 14 May 2010. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  17. "Trio link up with Blades". Sky Sports. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  18. "Deportivo edge it against City". Cardiff City F.C. 31 July 2010. Archived from the original on 3 November 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  19. "Defender Gregory Vignal signs Dundee United deal". BBC Sport. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  20. "Time up for Gregory Vignal and time out for Gary Mackay-Steven". Daily Record. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  21. Lauricella, Mathieu (13 August 2013). "Béziers: Grégory Vignal s'engage" [Béziers: Grégory Vignal signs up]. Foot-National.com (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  22. "Rangers Women: Gregory Vignal made head coach as club aim to add pro players". BBC Sport. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  23. "Rangers Women's Programme Investment Increased". Rangers F.C. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  24. "Gregory Vignal: Where are they now". beyondthekop. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  25. "Bugnet strike adds to French summer of success". UEFA. 24 July 2000. Archived from the original on 5 January 2001.
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