The runup to a game at Bristol Rovers was when John Gregory decided to check out of Wycombe Wanderers 15 years ago, leaving to take over at Aston Villa, and on Saturday the Memorial Stadium was where he reannounced his presence as a manager in the lower leagues.

More than six years have elapsed since Gregory last worked in the English game, at Queens Park Rangers, and 10 have passed since he was sacked by Derby County amid claim and counterclaim, having arrived at Pride Park six days after quitting Villa citing the pressure of the job.

A couple of assignments in the Israeli league and another in Kazakhstan are all that appear on his CV since the Loftus Road experience and so it came as a surprise that Gregory has resurfaced at League One Crawley. Many thought the man who was mentioned in dispatches to replace Glenn Hoddle as England manager in 1999 had been consigned to history.

"I always believed I would get back," the 59-year-old Gregory said after Saturday's hard-fought FA Cup draw at Bristol Rovers. "It was just a question of the right kind of club and whether I actually wanted to get involved. Once I had spoken to the board, I had no hesitation in coming."

Four days on the training ground and 45 minutes supervising a warm-up – "Richie Barker has left me some very good players" – were all the input Gregory had for this opener and he lost the captain, Josh Simpson, with a hamstring problem before kick-off.

Even so his new team earned a replay against a side from the lower reaches of League Two, which ensured they are in the hat for the third round for the fourth successive year. So far, so good.

"I'm delighted with how everyone's gone about their jobs this week," Gregory said. "It's great being back in the pouring rain in the FA Cup instead of being in my shorts and flip-flops over in Israel. It was slightly different but yeah, we loved it today, and really gave a good account of ourselves. Hopefully we get a nice sexy draw and get everyone motivated ready for the replay." Away at Birmingham, sexy or not, is Crawley's potential reward.

The replay takes place on Tuesday week but the main task for Crawley, who have moved through two divisions in three seasons, is to work on a league position of 15th. They are five points from the relegation places and nine from the play-offs, and reaching the latter is the minimum aim this season.

To that end Gregory welcomes the fact that he joined a club who are "financially secure" after his experiences at QPR, where he was caught up in the crossfire of a boardroom war, and Derby – "the right club at the wrong time". These followed on from the high-water mark of his Villa days, where he peeled off nine wins in his first 11 games to take them into the Uefa Cup and followed up with an FA Cup final appearance at the old Wembley in 2000.

Little has changed on the face of things, though the hair is a little greyer, and a tracksuited Gregory sent out his side in a 4-4-2 and spent most of his time in the technical area trying to influence proceedings, even joining the officials as they walked off at half-time to make a point about a perceived injustice.

Rovers came into the game more in the second half and, although both goalkeepers had work to do and did it well, the nearest anyone came to scoring were a flashing 20-yard shot from Oliver Norburn that hit the Crawley bar after an hour and a headed clearance off the line by Kyle McFadzean deep into injury time.

"I was quite happy to hear the final whistle," Gregory admitted. "We were blowing a bit by the end. We've got almost a month to sort ourselves out and we've got our eyes on people. The staff have done their homework and I know a lot of people. This group of players are here and I'm quite happy to work with them. I'm not going to bring players in unless they are better than what we've got. Even people on loan, you have to be very careful … some of the young boys from London clubs. We're about being passionate. I don't want anyone who's not prepared to battle for Crawley Town."

The parameters have been set, the logistics come next.