John Gregory has left his role as Crawley Town manager.

Gregory’s impending departure was reported in The Argus today with the club confirming the news this morning.

The former Aston Villa manager had stepped down from his role after the Boxing Day defeat at Leyton Orient in order to undergo major heart surgery.

Dean Saunders took over on an interim basis for the remainder of the League One campaign with the original plan for Gregory to return at the end of the season if his recovery had gone well.

Gregory has attended a number of Crawley games in the last few months as Saunders narrowly missed out on saving Reds from relegation.

He is understood to be in good health again but Crawley fans made it clear in the final day defeat to Coventry City that they would not welcome his return.

A decision on whether Saunders will now continue as manager on a permanent basis or if Crawley will look for an alternative is expected in the next few days.

Gregory said: “I would just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone at Crawley Town for their support over the last 18 months.

“Unfortunately I did not get the results on the field this season that I managed to get during the second half of 2013-14. Dean Saunders inherited the difficult task of trying to rescue our season with 24 games to go in January of this year.

“I would like to thank the board of directors, in particular, for standing by me and supporting me during the very difficult time I endured whilst undergoing open heart surgery.

“It was brilliant to see the stadium full for the last match of the season. I hope that the Crawley Town fans stand by their team and help to bring back the glory days again very soon.”

Crawley have also confirmed the club's entire backroom staff have also left the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

Head coach Paul Groves, chief scout Lil Fuccillo, head of sports science Niall Clark and physio Luigi Cerullo have all followed Gregory out of the door leaving the way clear for a new manager to bring in his own backroom team.