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McGreal: Strong Bond Between Boys of 2000 Will Last Forever - Ipswich Town News

John McGreal says plenty of his former Town team-mates, as well as his first Town manager George Burley, have been in touch since he took the role as interim boss at Portman Road on Monday.

"Tommy Miller, Veno [Mark Venus], David Johnson, Scowy [James Scowcroft], all these guys have wished me luck, Jamie Clapham,” he said.

"We had a really strong core of lads and a really tight bond as well, so they’ve been brilliant.

"I think that will last forever from what we did in that era, getting promotion, getting into the Premier League, the UEFA Cup, that was a callback to the 1970s and 1980s when they were a different type of player and type of breed, a winning team then.

"We had a good team and we’ve still got those connections. I saw Matty Holland the other night as well [at Charlton], he touched base with me as well, so it’s a great group of lads.”

He says he still has a close relationship with Burley, the man who brought him to Portman Road from Tranmere for a fee of £750,000 in the summer of 1999.

"I still text the gaffer,” he said. "He gave me a good text the other day and even when I was at Colchester he was a bit of a mentor for me.

"We used to debrief the game every now and again, so he's been a great help over the years, and again he gave me a lovely text the other night.”

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