Johnson

[cider head]

reading that EP article i hope that does not translate in to ''i've lost the dressing room and they are not playing for me''

:noexpression: :noexpression:

[Andy082005]

Obviously I don't know Johnson personally, but its almost as if at times he will refuse to do something just to spite the fans. That may sound ridiculous....but the more and more you think about it, the more and more it really does look like that. Its almost as if he is saying "I'm in charge, I'm the one with the qualifications...Ill do it my way".

Even as far back as the season we got promoted, when the fans stated we needed a new striker.....he refused to go get one. The same last season, regardless of how good a season we had (and it was amazing), all the fans said back in January, we needed to go out and get 1, maybe 2, quality players for the run in.....did we get it?No! we didnt!, ok Dele has done well for us, but I wouldnt class him as the "quality" signing we needed to push us over the line.

Then there is the summer, quite clearly we needed to strengthen, this league was always going to be tougher this year, better teams and no longer the "surprise package"....we ALL knew we had to strenghten.....did we.......no....if anything, we weakened!!

On to the Trundle situation....ok, I think the whole "Trundle love in" is a bit much at times, but come on, he has been one of our more productive players this season when he has been on the pitch.....we can ALL see we need some one who can create something, yet he doesnt get on the bench some weeks!

McIndoe (prior to Saturdays better performance) and Lee J, both long over due a stint on the bench.....do not get dropped!

The list goes on. This bloke is stubborn as hell, and ive said it before, the whole "my way or the highway" attitude is getting boring and tiresome. There is a time to play this card......last season when we were doing well and grinding out results, the fans couldnt really comment....now though, when it is clear as day we need at least TWO new midfielders and he wont go get them.....its getting tiring, boring....and more importantly, rather concerning.

This isnt me pushing the panic button, because I always felt this season was about consolidation and I feel we will be more then safe come April, but the longer this dip in form continues......the more and more we start slipping towards that bottom 4. We cannot let this happen.......

Johnson needs to be a bigger man (no pun intended), and admit he has got a hell of a lot wrong this season (not to us the fans, he needs to admit this to himself), and he may have to look at different ways of doing things....for example, losing this "I'm sticking with the players who got us here"....imagine if Phil Brown had done that at Hull, would they be where they are now??

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes, all great managers and people in life do.....but its about learning from your mistakes, and doing things differently in the future to make sure you don't make the same mistakes again

['Orns]

Seen the interview with Johnson on Points West last night - his face didn't look overly worried when he was discussing the current problems. I think it's more of a call for everyone to come together and get behind each other. Reading between the lines it looks as though there will be changes in January. Johnson is no fool and knows what people have been saying on here that we need a freshen up better than anyone. Yeah, we're on a crap run right now, but this is a tough league, it was going to happen. We're not world beaters just yet!

[sunningdalered]

Obviously I don't know Johnson personally, but its almost as if at times he will refuse to do something just to spite the fans. That may sound ridiculous....but the more and more you think about it, the more and more it really does look like that. Its almost as if he is saying "I'm in charge, I'm the one with the qualifications...Ill do it my way".

Even as far back as the season we got promoted, when the fans stated we needed a new striker.....he refused to go get one. The same last season, regardless of how good a season we had (and it was amazing), all the fans said back in January, we needed to go out and get 1, maybe 2, quality players for the run in.....did we get it?No! we didnt!, ok Dele has done well for us, but I wouldnt class him as the "quality" signing we needed to push us over the line.

Then there is the summer, quite clearly we needed to strengthen, this league was always going to be tougher this year, better teams and no longer the "surprise package"....we ALL knew we had to strenghten.....did we.......no....if anything, we weakened!!

On to the Trundle situation....ok, I think the whole "Trundle love in" is a bit much at times, but come on, he has been one of our more productive players this season when he has been on the pitch.....we can ALL see we need some one who can create something, yet he doesnt get on the bench some weeks!

McIndoe (prior to Saturdays better performance) and Lee J, both long over due a stint on the bench.....do not get dropped!

The list goes on. This bloke is stubborn as hell, and ive said it before, the whole "my way or the highway" attitude is getting boring and tiresome. There is a time to play this card......last season when we were doing well and grinding out results, the fans couldnt really comment....now though, when it is clear as day we need at least TWO new midfielders and he wont go get them.....its getting tiring, boring....and more importantly, rather concerning.

This isnt me pushing the panic button, because I always felt this season was about consolidation and I feel we will be more then safe come April, but the longer this dip in form continues......the more and more we start slipping towards that bottom 4. We cannot let this happen.......

Johnson needs to be a bigger man (no pun intended), and admit he has got a hell of a lot wrong this season (not to us the fans, he needs to admit this to himself), and he may have to look at different ways of doing things....for example, losing this "I'm sticking with the players who got us here"....imagine if Phil Brown had done that at Hull, would they be where they are now??

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes, all great managers and people in life do.....but its about learning from your mistakes, and doing things differently in the future to make sure you don't make the same mistakes again

Good post - you cover a lot of ground though, and each area (ie bringing in a striker for the push last season, summer signings, GJ's stubborness, LJ/MM form, loans etc etc) is a thread in its own right.

To pick up on just the signings thing - its been discussed before, but maybe the sort of players that we need don't want to come to AG? Inspirational CM's with some high-level CCC or prem experience, a few years left in them, affordable AND who would be attracted to AG are fairly thin on the ground I'm guessing.

Bear in mind that NC cost Palarse £1M - so you've got to be looking at double that for a CM player capable of influencing a game. How much would Cisse from Reading cost? Would he come to AG? Answers are probably 'too much' and 'No, why would he?'.

GJ only really gets one or two bites at the transfer cherry each summer - we opted to spend most of our dosh on a striker this summer. Yes, NM was a bit more expensive than we would have ideally wanted to pay - but his name was very near the top of many peoples list. Should we have spent that money on a CM? maybe, but the way that LJ, MM and (sadly) Marv have been overrun this season must have surprised most of us (?).

As city fans we are passionate about our club - and this probably clouds our view of how, relatively, attractive it is to a decent player who has a choice of where they play. Apart from being able to pay the dollar, and against several of our CCC rivals we would struggle to compete on that score, what can GJ offer? the prospect of prem football - but so would the top 10 sides in the CCC. The same principles probably apply to loan signings.

[Guest RiZiVi]

Good old confident Gary, :noexpression:

[kingswood red]

Good post - you cover a lot of ground though, and each area (ie bringing in a striker for the push last season, summer signings, GJ's stubborness, LJ/MM form, loans etc etc) is a thread in its own right.

To pick up on just the signings thing - its been discussed before, but maybe the sort of players that we need don't want to come to AG? Inspirational CM's with some high-level CCC or prem experience, a few years left in them, affordable AND who would be attracted to AG are fairly thin on the ground I'm guessing.

Bear in mind that NC cost Palarse £1M - so you've got to be looking at double that for a CM player capable of influencing a game. How much would Cisse from Reading cost? Would he come to AG? Answers are probably 'too much' and 'No, why would he?'.

GJ only really gets one or two bites at the transfer cherry each summer - we opted to spend most of our dosh on a striker this summer. Yes, NM was a bit more expensive than we would have ideally wanted to pay - but his name was very near the top of many peoples list. Should we have spent that money on a CM? maybe, but the way that LJ, MM and (sadly) Marv have been overrun this season must have surprised most of us (?).

As city fans we are passionate about our club - and this probably clouds our view of how, relatively, attractive it is to a decent player who has a choice of where they play. Apart from being able to pay the dollar, and against several of our CCC rivals we would struggle to compete on that score, what can GJ offer? the prospect of prem football - but so would the top 10 sides in the CCC. The same principles probably apply to loan signings.

It is only fair to point out that Nick Carle didn't cost us anywhere near £1m. when WE signed him. Letting him go might prove a lot more costlier than that though, methinks.

Still we have a ready made replacement, .............don't we?

[The Humble Realist]

I'm sensing a bit of a witch hunt for GJs head here, everything the guy does lately seems to be getting criticised, yet i bet if we win on saturday the same fans will be clapping him off and joinin in with his celebratory air punch at the end although i bet a lot of the negative fans clear off 5mins before the end to beat the traffic, get on here and write summet negative like "We won 2-0 but we could of lost 4-0-drop Lee J"

Johnson cant win, he says "we're doing our best to turn things round" fans doubt him, he says "we're in sticky situation" fans say Johnson lost his belief

[William Stand]

I'm sensing a bit of a witch hunt for GJs head here, everything the guy does lately seems to be getting criticised, yet i bet if we win on saturday the same fans will be clapping him off and joinin in with his celebratory air punch at the end although i bet a lot of the negative fans clear off 5mins before the end to beat the traffic, get on here and write summet negative like "We won 2-0 but we could of lost 4-0-drop Lee J"

Johnson cant win, he says "we're doing our best to turn things round" fans doubt him, he says "we're in sticky situation" fans say Johnson lost his belief

Its just football Stucks......win & nothing matters, lose & everything is analysed. Why seemingly sane fully grown adults hang on the every word of a football manager lord only knows. You're right though - if he's positve some will say "heard it all before" .......

[cheese]

Its just football Stucks......win & nothing matters, lose & everything is analysed. Why seemingly sane fully grown adults hang on the every word of a football manager lord only knows. You're right though - if he's positve some will say "heard it all before" .......

Umh, some did say that - there are plenty of posts saying so.

If you're not winning there is nothing you can do that is right. If you say that this group of players will come good, you're being happy clappy and not addressing reailty. If you say that you need to get some different players to freshen things up then you would be having a devastating affect on the incumbents.

People will call for you to be honest - but they also won't be able to handle the truth.

[kingswood red]

Umh, some did say that - there are plenty of posts saying so.

If you're not winning there is nothing you can do that is right. If you say that this group of players will come good, you're being happy clappy and not addressing reailty. If you say that you need to get some different players to freshen things up then you would be having a devastating affect on the incumbents.

People will call for you to be honest - but they also won't be able to handle the truth.

I think it would be fair to say that it isn't only the fans that can't handle the truth.

There are plenty of Managers and Chairman who bury their heads in the sand, not saying that applies to our club of course,

[westy]

I glimpsed the headlines on the back page of the EP today in the supermarket but as I refuse to buy it I didn't read the whole article. Does anyone know a link?

It's not worth buying but it's worth reading

[bh_red]

I'm sensing a bit of a witch hunt for GJs head here, everything the guy does lately seems to be getting criticised, yet i bet if we win on saturday the same fans will be clapping him off and joinin in with his celebratory air punch at the end although i bet a lot of the negative fans clear off 5mins before the end to beat the traffic, get on here and write summet negative like "We won 2-0 but we could of lost 4-0-drop Lee J"

Thing is and I know I'll get hammered for this, Johnson keeps saying, I'm going to make changes etc, however Lee doesn't get dropped, some think it's about Lee J and his father/son relationship but that's not the issue, when a manager keeps on saying "there will be changes" etc and then each time there is a change the same certain player doesn't get dropped regardless, it's not about LJ though, as it's happended in the past with other managers, Danny Wilson's constant picking of Lee Peacock being the next most recent one when any player gets picked constantly regardless of how they are playing, it gets picked up on,

I find it VERY hard to believe that in nearly 2 and a half year, any player doesn't put in a performance bad enough in that time, that he gets dropped for the following game? unfortunately that appears to be the case when a players does appear to be undroppable regardless of form.

unfortunately in LJ's case many jump on the father/son relationship issue and use that as the sole issue, it could well be the case, but only one person knows that and that is Gary. Personally I'm sure many beleive that in LJ's case if he's not playing well, he should be dropped, however sometimes that does get clouded over by some.

It's understandable though that when some of the things happen that have happened recently in terms of results and more importantly PERFORMANCES, then any manager is going to get stick.

[edson]

Thing is and I know I'll get hammered for this, Johnson keeps saying, I'm going to make changes etc, however Lee doesn't get dropped

Nor does Louis, nor does Basso, nor does McAllister, nor does McIndoe, nor does Elliott. Nor did Orr until the contract situation.

That seems to get glossed over though. Why is that?

[RedM]

Just a though, I haven't read everything on here regarding team selection etc but what about Millen & Co? I would hope as assistant manager etc they have a say in who plays and why, otherwise they are just pointless and expensive members of staff?

Ultimately of course Gary has the final say and on the whole takes the praise or the flack, but I can't believe the coaching staff don't have input?

[William Stand]

Nor does Louis, nor does Basso, nor does McAllister, nor does McIndoe, nor does Elliott. Nor did Orr until the contract situation.

That seems to get glossed over though. Why is that?

Clearly Johnson has a group of players that he "trusts" - this trust seems to be based on (in his eyes) good performances over a sustained period of time & I would hazard a guess that they are players that even when they have an off day, they still do a job for the team. The most blatant e.g of this is with Basso - Johnson sufficeintly trusts him that he can have an off day(s) & will still retain his place. Right now Weale doesn't have the same level of trust that Basso enjoys so harsh as it may be, when he errs, he gets dropped.

A common complaint is that Johnson favours old Yeovil players, in fact when he signed Weale, many said he was itching for a chance to drop Basso in favour of his ex Yeovil man. This clearly wasn't the case to the extent some now feel Weale recieves a raw deal.

To me this illustrates that whatever you think of Johnson, he's a pragmatist - I don't agree with all his decisions, but i think he makes them for the right reasons, I.E what he genuinely thinks is right for the team.

[cinker]

Just a though, I haven't read everything on here regarding team selection etc but what about Millen & Co? I would hope as assistant manager etc they have a say in who plays and why, otherwise they are just pointless and expensive members of staff?

Ultimately of course Gary has the final say and on the whole takes the praise or the flack, but I can't believe the coaching staff don't have input?

Dating back a bit but they do look a bit like "Little & Large" don't they............

[edson]

Clearly Johnson has a group of players that he "trusts" - this trust seems to be based on (in his eyes) good performances over a sustained period of time & I would hazard a guess that they are players that even when they have an off day, they still do a job for the team. The most blatant e.g of this is with Basso - Johnson sufficeintly trusts him that he can have an off day(s) & will still retain his place. Right now Weale doesn't have the same level of trust that Basso enjoys so harsh as it may be, when he errs, he gets dropped.

A common complaint is that Johnson favours old Yeovil players, in fact when he signed Weale, many said he was itching for a chance to drop Basso in favour of his ex Yeovil man. This clearly wasn't the case to the extent some now feel Weale recieves a raw deal.

To me this illustrates that whatever you think of Johnson, he's a pragmatist - I don't agree with all his decisions, but i think he makes them for the right reasons, I.E what he genuinely thinks is right for the team.

That is pretty much how I see it.

[bh_red]

Nor does Louis, nor does Basso, nor does McAllister, nor does McIndoe, nor does Elliott. Nor did Orr until the contract situation.

That seems to get glossed over though. Why is that?

Basso fair enough......he's the number 1 keeper and rightly so, similar COULD be said about the captain, however many of these have been subject to "mystery injuries" that has caused them to miss games, although some have been dropped due to fitness when not fully and not performing, which didn't happen to LJ despite not being 100% for majority of last season?

[cheese]

Basso fair enough......he's the number 1 keeper and rightly so, similar COULD be said about the captain, however many of these have been subject to "mystery injuries" that has caused them to miss games, although some have been dropped due to fitness when not fully and not performing, which didn't happen to LJ despite not being 100% for majority of last season?

So, to be clear, if something Johnson says doesn't fit with your "world" view he must be lying and injuries are no longer injuries but become "mystery injuries" so that it can fit with your conspiracy theories?

[chinapig]

Basso fair enough......he's the number 1 keeper and rightly so, similar COULD be said about the captain, however many of these have been subject to "mystery injuries" that has caused them to miss games, although some have been dropped due to fitness when not fully and not performing, which didn't happen to LJ despite not being 100% for majority of last season?

Louis put paid to this kind of conspiracy theory in his blog recently, explaining he had had toe and muscle injuries. Unless he is lying too of course.

[RedM]

I think 'mystery injuries' are part of many football clubs. i do know for a fact that this happened to a past player here (before Johnson's time). This was confirmed to me by another player I was talking to. When the subject of player x's injury came up it was written all over his face that it was err, exaggerated to put it mildly! Having said that injuries aren't only of the physical kind, mentally this player wasn't right. I suppose saying a player has a slight strain is kinder than saying his head is shot. I see GJ does rightly is very aware of their heads.

If you ask the right questions you get very honest answers from footballers, they aren't the brightest bunch sometimes!!!

[kingswood red]

Clearly Johnson has a group of players that he "trusts" - this trust seems to be based on (in his eyes) good performances over a sustained period of time & I would hazard a guess that they are players that even when they have an off day, they still do a job for the team. The most blatant e.g of this is with Basso - Johnson sufficeintly trusts him that he can have an off day(s) & will still retain his place. Right now Weale doesn't have the same level of trust that Basso enjoys so harsh as it may be, when he errs, he gets dropped.

A common complaint is that Johnson favours old Yeovil players, in fact when he signed Weale, many said he was itching for a chance to drop Basso in favour of his ex Yeovil man. This clearly wasn't the case to the extent some now feel Weale recieves a raw deal.

To me this illustrates that whatever you think of Johnson, he's a pragmatist - I don't agree with all his decisions, but i think he makes them for the right reasons, I.E what he genuinely thinks is right for the team.

I totally agree with you, that Gj makes genuine decisions for what he considers are the 'right' reasons.

That does not of course mean that they are always, the 'right' decisions.

It must be said that, as far as team/player selection goes, he is making more wrong than right ones at the moment, or we would be top of the table wouldn't we?

[chinapig]

I think 'mystery injuries' are part of many football clubs. i do know for a fact that this happened to a past player here (before Johnson's time). This was confirmed to me by another player I was talking to. When the subject of player x's injury came up it was written all over his face that it was err, exaggerated to put it mildly! Having said that injuries aren't only of the physical kind, mentally this player wasn't right. I suppose saying a player has a slight strain is kinder than saying his head is shot. I see GJ does rightly is very aware of their heads.

If you ask the right questions you get very honest answers from footballers, they aren't the brightest bunch sometimes!!!

Interesting points. I remember when Mourinho sold Robben to Real he had much to say about how Robben would want 3 weeks off every time he felt a minor twinge. No doubt some players play through injury and others can't wait to put their feet up.

[cheese]

I totally agree with you, that Gj makes genuine decisions for what he considers are the 'right' reasons.

That does not of course mean that they are always, the 'right' decisions.

It must be said that, as far as team/player selection goes, he is making more wrong than right ones at the moment, or we would be top of the table wouldn't we?

I don't think that necessarily follows. If every decision was the correct one then we could only be better off than where we are or where we are. Top would assume that we have better players or that, where they are not better, making the right decisions would negate the affect of having lesser players than our rivals who may be making mistakes - although they may not make mistakes either. :noexpression:

[William Stand]

I totally agree with you, that Gj makes genuine decisions for what he considers are the 'right' reasons.

That does not of course mean that they are always, the 'right' decisions.

It must be said that, as far as team/player selection goes, he is making more wrong than right ones at the moment, or we would be top of the table wouldn't we?

I don't think we are currently in a position to compete with the likes of Wolves, Brum & Reading. If all the selections were right, we defended better, create & scored more, then I think we could be a top 6 side.

[cider head]

GJ GET THEM IN THAT DRESSING ROOM FOR A BIT OF THIS!!!

If ANY ONE OF UM' is not up for it then walk out of ashton gate in january.

It is the fans that suffer as we pay to watch and we pay partly towards the 5k a weekers

players and managers can move on to the next honey pot but us as fans are still here watching

the next set attempt to pick up the pices.....sort it out Bristol city.

Al Pacino's Inch By Inch speech from Any Given Sunday

I don't know what to say really.

Three minutes

to the biggest battle of our professional lives

all comes down to today.

Either we heal as a team or we are going to crumble.

Inch by inch play by play till we're finished.

We are in hell right now, gentlemen

believe me and we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us

or we can fight our way back into the light.

We can climb out of hell. One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you.

I'm too old. I look around and I see these young faces

and I think I mean I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.

I uh.... I pissed away all my money believe it or not. I chased off

anyone who has ever loved me. And lately,

I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life things get taken from you.

That's, that's part of life. But,

you only learn that when you start losing stuff.

You find out that life is just a game of inches.

So is football. Because in either game

life or football the margin for error is so small.

I mean one half step too late or to early

you don't quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast

and you don't quite catch it.

The inches we need are everywhere around us.

They are in ever break of the game

every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch

On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us

to pieces for that inch.

We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.

Cause we know

when we add up all those inches

that's going to make the ******* difference

between WINNING and LOSING

between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this

in any fight

it is the guy who is willing to die

who is going to win that inch.

And I know

if I am going to have any life anymore

it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch

because that is what LIVING is.

The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.

You gotta look at the guy next to you.

Look into his eyes.

Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.

You are going to see a guy

who will sacrifice himself for this team

because he knows when it comes down to it,

you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen

and either we heal now, as a team,

or we will die as individuals.

That's football guys.

That's all it is.

Now, whattaya gonna do?

City sort it it out.................

[Seend Red]

I'm sensing a bit of a witch hunt for GJs head here, everything the guy does lately seems to be getting criticised, yet i bet if we win on saturday the same fans will be clapping him off and joinin in with his celebratory air punch at the end although i bet a lot of the negative fans clear off 5mins before the end to beat the traffic, get on here and write summet negative like "We won 2-0 but we could of lost 4-0-drop Lee J"

Johnson cant win, he says "we're doing our best to turn things round" fans doubt him, he says "we're in sticky situation" fans say Johnson lost his belief

Much of your post was irrelevant to the original point.

Aren't you concerned that a man who 3 weeks ago was telling us not to judge until the end of the season and telling us we shouldn't comment as we don't know what we're talking about now claims that actually we are in trouble as he dosn't know where his next win is coming from and that he can't change his squad for another 5 weeks.

Which raises another issue as Lansdown has already said he's getting to the point of saying no to Johnson in regards to new faces!

All a bit of a mess at the moment and to be honest if this is more of Johnson's brain games then it's all becoming a little tiresome.

[bh_red]

Louis put paid to this kind of conspiracy theory in his blog recently, explaining he had had toe and muscle injuries. Unless he is lying too of course.

not lying, but possibly "following his bosses orders"

next people will be saying they believed it when McIndoe was injured after the Wolves game and wasn't dropped for speaking to the media in the way he did.

[Guest]

[edson]

not lying, but possibly "following his bosses orders"

next people will be saying they believed it when McIndoe was injured after the Wolves game and wasn't dropped for speaking to the media in the way he did.

If you really believe that, then I'm afraid you are hugely mistaken.