Biography
Midfielder Greg Abbott joined the Tigers in December 1992 after spending four months out of the Football League playing for Guiseley. Abbott quickly became a trusted lieutenant of manager Terry Dolan, drawing upon their long history together at Bradford City. The Tigers were having a difficult season, an autumnal run of defeats was reversed by the loan signing of striker Martin Carruthers and Abbott’s subsequent signing was seen as a key part of rebuilding the squad Dolan inherited two years earlier from Stan Ternent.
Greg made his debut in mid-December, coming off the bench in an Associate Members’ Cup tie against Doncaster and scoring the late winner, and was immediately integrated into the City midfield. Consistent if not often spectacular, Abbott was a lynchpin of Dolan’s side for the remainder of the 1992/93 season, starting every game. When he missed a day-after-Boxing Day 0-0 draw at York in December 1993 that ended a run of 50 consecutive senior starts in all competitions. With the Tigers challenging at the top of the League Division 2 table at the start of the 1993/94 season Abbott contributed a share of goals, starting with the season opener at Barnet and taking his tally to six by early November 1993 when he scored both City goals in a 2-6 defeat at Blackpool.
Greg ended the 1993/94 season missing only six of the 52 matches played, but the 1994/95 season saw him struggle with injury and he was largely a peripheral figure in Dolan’s side. Abbott started the last 11 games of the season as a run of wins saw the Tigers pull away from any relegation threat, but it wasn’t until late september 1995 that Greg won back a regular first team shirt. Alas this was a season of poor form as City crashed out of League Division 2 and in the 1996 close season Abbott left the club and ended his senior playing career.
Gregory Stephen Abbott was born in Coventry and came through the youth team ranks at Coventry City in the early 1980s. He signed his first professional contract with the Sky Blues in January 1982 but was unable to win a first team shirt and in September 1982 he moved on to Bradford City, then a mid-table Third Division side. This began a nine season association with the Bantams that encompassed a Third Division title winning season in 1984/85 (an achievement shrouded by the tragic Valley Parade fire at the end of the season) and a play-offs defeat to Middlesbrough in the 1987/88 season that denied Greg a shot at First Division football.
He made his Bradford debut in February 1983 and by the 1984/85 season he was established as a versatile first team regular, playing in both central midfielder, on the flanks and at right back. His first goal for Bradford City came on New Years Eve 1983 against Lincoln City and he became a regular provider of goals during the mid-1980s due to being the Bantams’ regular penalty taker – his best return came in the 1985/86 season when he struck 13 times in all competitions, 9 of which came from the penalty spot. Bradford City were relegated to the Third Division at the end of the 1989/90 season and Greg dropped out of the first team in late January of the following 1990/91 season.
In the 1991 close season Abbott left Bradford City, his nine seasons yielded 343 senior appearances and 52 goals. He spent the 1991/92 season at Halifax Town, scoring once in 35 appearances as the Shaymen struggled at the foot of the Fourth Division table. Greg started the 1992/93 season at non-league side Guiseley before Terry Dolan swooped to cliam his signature in December 1992.
After a brief return to Guiseley Greg was invited to join the coaching staff at Leeds United and he coached various age groups over the next ten years, also enjoying brief tenures as Guiseley assistant manager in the 1997/98 season and joint manager of Thackley for part of the 1998/99 season. Abbott did punditry work for BBC Radio Leeds as well as his coaching roles, all of which prepared him for a move to Carlisle United in July 2006 where he was appointed assistant manager. A year later Abbott was appointed caretaker manager of the Cumbrians for two months, and was retained when new boss John Ward took over the full-time role – Carlisle ended the 2007/08 season reaching the League Division 2 play-offs only to miss out at the semi-final stage to Leeds United.
In November 2008 Ward was dismissed and Abbott again took over as caretaker manager, a role he accepted on a permanent basis a month later. Greg was Carisle’s boss for the next four and a half seasons, maintaining a mid-table position in League One and guiding the Cumbrians to the Associate Members’ Cup final at Wembley in March 2010, a match they lost 1-4 to Southampton. A year later Abbott’s Carlisle side went one better, defeating Brentford 1-0 in the Wembley final. After failing to win any of the first eight matches at the start of the 2013/14 season Abbott was sacked by Carlisle, a club that he managed for a total of 270 senior fixtures.
Abbott was appointed assistant manager at Notts County in November 2013, a role he vacated in March 2015. He then took scouting roles for Cambridge United and former club Bradford City before being appointed Head of Football Operations at Mansfield Town in December 2018. That role only lasted six months, between August 2020 and March 2021 Abbott was once again appointed assistant manager at Notts County. In May 2022 Greg returned to Carlisle United once again when appointed Head of Recruitment.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 14 December 1963, Coventry
Hull City First Game: 15 December 1992, Doncaster Rovers H (Associate Members’ Cup Preliminary Round), 29 years, 1 days old
Hull City Final Game: 20 April 1996, Wrexham A (League Division 2), 32 years, 128 days old
Clubs
Coventry City (1980-1982), Bradford City (1982-1991), Halifax Town (1991-1992), Guiseley (1992), Hull City (1992-1996), Guiseley
Hull City Record
Career: 141 apps, 18 goals
Greg Abbott| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992/93 | 27 (0) | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 (1) | 1 |
| 1993/94 | 40 (0) | 6 | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 1 | - | - | 2 (0) | 1 |
| 1994/95 | 22 (4) | 2 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | - | - | 1 (1) | 0 |
| 1995/96 | 31 (0) | 6 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | - | - | 2 (0) | 0 |