At 30 years old Gregor is an experienced defender who started his professional career at Airdrie. He went on to play for other Scottish sides including St Mirren where he won the Championship in 2017/18 and Dumbarton where he made over sixty appearances. Most Queens Fans will remember him playing against us for Morton as he spent a season at Cappielow before moving to Falkirk where he captained the league one side during the last campaign. Standing at over six foot tall he has been known to pop up with a few goals too.
On joining Allan Johnston’s squad Gregor said “I’m delighted to get it over the line, the manager had contacted me a few times over the past couple of years so I knew that I was a wanted player. He made it clear that he would love to work with me and stuff so I knew from the off that he really wanted me and in football to know that you are wanted by the manager makes it easy going to a new team so that ticked the boxes for me”.
“As people may know, I had a few offers from the Championship and it was just a matter of taking my pick. The fact the Allan made it clear he wanted me swayed it in the end”.
Having spent the season before last at Morton, the Championship is a level of football that the big defender knows well.
“I still had a year left on my contract at Morton but I took a chance and went to Falkirk last season. It obviously didn’t work out the way I was hoping for so my main aim in the summer was to get myself back up to the Championship, minimum, and for me Queen of the South are the perfect club to get me back to that level”.
Having joined the club he hopes he can help push them onto being successful and well up the table.
“As a club they will be disappointed that they have under achieved, they have some big players like Stephen Dobbie and they brought Kevin Holt back, so they have players that have played at the highest levels and when you have players like that you are expecting success. So people who know football will know that they have probably under achieved over the last couple of years. Success was a big factor in my decision. I want to be successful and I have seen things in the club that makes me belief they have all the factors to be successful”.
Like many Gregor admits he has found the enforced lay-off due to Covid 19 hard but also believes that the longer break will have given players time to re-focus “It has affected everyone, even out with football, a lot of businesses have been in the same situation but for someone who has only known football on a daily basis week to week for the last 10 years it’s been a difficult five months; not being able to do the things that you are used to. It has been nice to spend time with the family and it’s probably minutes that you would never have got but in terms of football I’m really excited to get back. I think people will have had time to think about their football career and will now realise that we are in a lucky position being in a job that we love doing. I think that will give us all a bit of excitement going back. As a footballer you don’t get many holidays and there have been complaints about that in the past but I don’t think there will be many complaints about going back this time”.
As the manager builds a squad he has brought it young players and those with a bit more experience like Gregor. The defender is more than happy to offer advice if it’s required “I was club captain at Falkirk and have captained other sides in the past and it’s something in my game that I feel has been successful. Motivating and helping others is going to be a massive factor this season and the older players need to help the younger ones if they want it. I’ve used it in the past and I hope to use it again”.