Former Manchester United midfielder Jonathan Greening (seated right) with Paul Marshall and Tadcaster’s owners James Gore, Kent Mayall and Matthew Gore after signing for the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division side
The prospect of playing with his in-form younger brother helped lure former Premier League midfielder Jonathan Greening to ambitious Toolstation NCEL Premier Division side Tadcaster Albion.
Tadcaster announced the signing of the season last night after a meeting at the Marriott Hotel in York.
Greening is expected to make his debut for Tadcaster tomorrow in the league game with Maltby Main at i2i Stadium.
The former Manchester United, Middlesbrough, West Brom and Nottingham Forest midfielder actually retired from the full-time game earlier this week.
But, after Taddy chanced their arm and asked him to join their promotion bid, Greening took them up on the offer and he will line-up with his brother Josh, who has scored seven goals in two games, for the first ever time.
“I was training with Colin Cooper at Hartlepool and I was going to sign on there, but I couldn’t do the training everyday and play three games a week,” Greening said.
“My body’s feeling a bit older now, so I decided to call it a day professionally.
“But then the opportunity came up to go and play for a little club like Tadcaster Albion.
“I really respect the owners. They’re really nice guys and obviously to play with my little brother who I don’t think I’ve seen play since he was about 11. It makes it quite nice.
“Josh is absolutely on fire at the moment – scoring seven goals in two games. But he’s a striker and I’m a midfielder so it’s a bit different. I don’t think I’d be able to score seven goals!
“There’s a bit of rivalry there. I’ve not seen him play for a long time but I know he’s a good little player. It will be nice to go on the same pitch and all the family will come and watch, and have a bit of banter.
“It will be good just to play a game without the pressure of 50 or 40 thousand people on your back.”
The deal to bring Greening to Tadcaster was done inside two days and began with a joke made by club chairman Matt Gore to manager Paul Marshall’s son during the 5-1 win over Retford United on Tuesday night.
Mr Gore said: “I was standing next to Paul’s (Marshall’s) son at the game on Tuesday night while he was face-timing Jonathan’s daughter, and I jokingly said: ‘ask her for her dad’s number’ and two seconds later I was given it.
“I texted him and said I’d love to meet up with you to talk about what we’re doing with the i2i Sports Football Agency, the International Football Academy and Tadcaster Albion, and he said he’d love to meet up and learn more.
“During the meeting, he said: ‘I’ll come and watch on Saturday’ and I said: ‘don’t come and watch, come and play’. He said alright and it went from there. It’s amazing what you get if you dare ask!”
Tadcaster are riding high in the league and have won five consecutive league games and Marshall added: “It’s amazing really. There are a couple of strange stories to it. One is that he was talking to my son on Facetime because his daughter goes to school with my son.
“He sort of mentioned it to me and we thought he was having a bit of fun, but then on Wednesday i2i Sports decided to speak to Jonathan. They’ve spoken to him before, and obviously we had a meeting with him and he’s delighted to sign. It’s unbelievable for the club.
“When we went to meet him at the Marriott he was brilliant. Absolutely top drawer. It’s just an unbelievable signing for the club. Loads of other clubs have been trying to sign him but he’s decided to come to Tadcaster.”
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