Then there was a muted demonstration from supporters before Monday's game, with the words "Ellis Out" held up - a reference to Villa chairman Doug Ellis, who has been accused of being slow to loosen the purse strings.

Gregory said: "Off-the-field politics is part of life here. It rears its head from time to time. It does work its way into the dressing room. They (the players) know what is going on at this club.

"They want to know where the club is heading and if there will be any additions to the team in the next couple of weeks.

"When Leeds United signed Robbie Fowler it has an amazing effect on the dressing room.

"The lads tried to blot out the off-the-field politics and, to be fair, they showed a bit of guts to keep battling on when they went 1-0 down.

"We haven't performed at home in the past month as we did in the first three months of the season but it was a vital victory for us.

"We are now level on 27 points with three other teams, I've got the game at Derby on Saturday and then two more home games to follow."

Gregory admitted: "There was a certain amount of fortune about the winning goal but then we've had a couple of matches recently when we did not deserve to lose and things eventually evened themselves out.

"Ipswich were possibly unlucky to lose and that is the best they have played in the last few weeks, but my lot kept bounding away and we'll take the three points."