This Witch Hunt

[Martyn Hocking]

Very good post Pete Legend. There is a witchhunt going on. GJ's criticised when he does and doesn't speak, when he plays wingers and when he doesn't, when he picks Sno and when he doesn't. You'd think that most on here would realise you can't please everyone all of the time.

there are a harcore minority with a warped agenda, who want to see upheaval in the club. What is wrong with these people? Who are these people who ring up on the radio saying things like 'the clock is ticking Mr. Johnson'. Who are they speaking for? Who the hell do they think they are?

A very good question! Agree 100% with you.

[Martyn Hocking]

Liecester are 5 pts above us in 6th place (from top)with a game in hand.

S****horpe are 4pts below us in 6th place (from bottom)

these are facts, do the maths and smell the coffee; all is NOT WELL.

We need points imput

Were you even at AG today?

[Nogbad the Bad]

Were you even at AG today?

He's qouting the league table - he doesn't need to have been at AG today to do that!

[mindjuicer]

I am very concerned that he seems from what he says in public to think all the problems rest with the players and the fans, not his decisions.

GJ blames everyone else when things go wrong but likes to take all the credit when things go well.

GJ, like 90+% of men, has a problem publicly admitting fault. It doesn't really affect his ability to run a club though.

Genuine concerns about GJ are IMHO:

1. Why his team, whoever he picks, plays like a bunch of inept, startled rabbits.

2. Strategic decisions like lack of left winger for half the season, not playing Sno, playing with 2 wingers on the bench today.

3. Questionable ability to sign decent strikers.

[Nibor]

GJ, like 90+% of men, has a problem publicly admitting fault. It doesn't really affect his ability to run a club though.

I wouldn't mind him not taking responsibility so much if I really believed it was just vanity. But I think from what he says and how he says it that GJ genuinely feels he hasn't made any errors.

The problem with that is that you can't be self critical and change your approach if you think you're already getting it right and you're just being let down by others.

These days in a post match press conference I can't help feeling like he's trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.

I also wonder whether he's capable of the arm around the shoulder as opposed to the hand grenade - if you shout at kids too often they learn ignore it quite quickly, footballers might take longer but they will in the end.

[mindjuicer]

The problem with that is that you can't be self critical and change your approach if you think you're already getting it right and you're just being let down by others.

Do you think SL would be as successful in business as he is if he couldn't spot such a flaw in people?

I also wonder whether he's capable of the arm around the shoulder as opposed to the hand grenade - if you shout at kids too often they learn ignore it quite quickly, footballers might take longer but they will in the end.

Too many handgrenades would help explain why our players avoid the ball, are easily 'shell-shocked', have low confidence, make mistakes etc. I'm a big fan of Don't Shoot the Dog.

[Nibor]

Do you think SL would be as successful in business as he is if he couldn't spot such a flaw in people?

No but bear in mind SL is not a football man, he's going to find it easier to pick out mistakes made in his industry by far.

He's also got several major disincentives to acknowledging any problems with the football management - namely the off the field stadium work, the amount of money he's back the manager with and the contract.

But I take your point, he's no fool at all and I imagine there were hard questions asked in the last couple of weeks.

[simonwheeler]

Now I love Alan Walsh to bits he will always be a TRUE LEGEND and "if" Johnson finally seen sense and done the decent thing and pissed off tomorrow I would gladly welcome Walshy as caretaker Manager and unlike the current **** give him 100% support I was a tad surprised to see at approx. 14:00 yesterday behind the Atyeo whilst the Coventry coach driver attempted a 37 point turn in trying to get the Coventry bus into a parking place that you could get most cruise liners into (Just where did they get that AWFUL orange coach - did they get it cheap off of the Lib Dems after the last general election campaign?), anyway back to Walshy. Now whilst all this was going on there was our coach attempting to fit a kids seat in the back of his "aging" Merky Dismal??? Now call me old fashioned but as much as I love the legend that is AW I would have thought that with our current shite state of results (10 points from a possible 36 Gazza, hint, hint, in some places like Peterborough, Preston and Shepherds Bush that would have been a certain letter containing your P45 by now) his time would have been better spent giving his time to attempting to get our boys to understand just exactly what maniac formation Dear old Gazza has dreamt up for todays game. With the amount of spare time that they get before and after training I would have thought one afternoon in the week would have been a better time for this???Now this also leads me on to ask the question just WHY was Walshy fitting said kiddies seat in the back of HIS club car??? I cannot believe that just because he went on "holiday" to Costa Derby for a few weeks the club would have taken away little Lee J's Ka, so putting the seat in to give little Lee a lift home is probably not the answer although I do think that he would look cute sat in the back with a lollipop and his BCFC bib, but, no my friends as Walshy must now be nearing the point where the "delights" of child bearing have been found out for what they truly are - FOREVER EXPENSIVE and then like the Tax man - YOU CAN NEVER GET RID OF THEM, do I suspect a far more worrying scenario............................Has the EX England captains car been seen recently parked outside Walshy's palatial Clevedon abode..........................KEEP SMILINGAnd PS Johnson must STILL GO

[aa_bcfc]

Pete - witchhumt is exactly the word. A very sad way to treat a manager who has done more for BCFC than all the keyboard warriors put together.

You forgot to mention that he is very well paid for the privilege of being the manager. In 52 years of paying to support the club I would like to think I have done my bit.

[Martyn Hocking]

He's very well paid because he has a track record of success as a manager at both Yeovil and BCFC. Like you, I've put my money into the club for many years but I don't think that gives me the right to question Steve Lansdown's choice of manager.

[aa_bcfc]

He's very well paid because he has a track record of success as a manager at both Yeovil and BCFC. Like you, I've put my money into the club for many years but I don't think that gives me the right to question Steve Lansdown's choice of manager.

I'm afraid we differ there then. I believe it gives me every right to question whether Johnson is still the man for the job. And for the record I don't think he is.

[Tom Fleuriot]

Personally, in reference to the OP, I think there is an element of truth in there.

Many of the fans are concerned about performances and offer criticism that, while I may not agree with it, are targeted and balanced by praise (Nibor springs to mind).

But it's clear that there is a small group of fans that have been negative about Johnson since he dropped Marcus Stewart, and have been insistent on a "glass completely empty" interpretation of every action. These people are now scenting blood in the water and are determined to create a frenzy by ramping up hyperbole.

I feel a lot has gone wrong this season, and GJ has made mistakes. But I also feel negativity of fans has contributed in some part to morale and performance, encouraging a self-fulfilling prophecy. "Witch hunt" in the true Monty Python style, isn't entirely incorrect.

[SuperRed]

GJ, like 90+% of men, has a problem publicly admitting fault. It doesn't really affect his ability to run a club though.

Genuine concerns about GJ are IMHO:

1. Why his team, whoever he picks, plays like a bunch of inept, startled rabbits.

You seem to have faith in GJ as manager yet you state the above. GJ has bought these players, he picks the tactics, and he manges these players, surely if he cannot get any of his players playing well, having spent millions in getting this group of players, then that tells you there is something wrong. Yet you still seem to be 100% behind him. Why?

[red badger]

But you and many like you need to remember is WE DIDN'T.

Me and many like me?....what, City fans with no agenda who wish our club well?

The point is that there are people on here who like to ramp up the situation to something like a crisis with suggestions that our boss "is out of his depth"....there's no evidence of that whatsoever. I'd agree that we've had a dire run of draws at home but we've rarely been beaten...what is it?... twice at home in the league in the past 12 months? 4 times last season and this? The margin between success and failure in this division is very tight. I'm as frustrated as the next person at our failure to create or convert more chances but I don't personally think changing the manager is necessarily the answer.

[The Casual Connoisseur]

"I feel a lot has gone wrong this season, and GJ has made mistakes. But I also feel negativity of fans has contributed in some part to morale and performance,"

The morale of the players is determined by results, results are determined by performance, performance is determined by tactics and personnel, tactics and personnel are determined by the manager.

The buck has to stop somewhere, Gary Johnson gets paid to manage, for a while he has not been doing this, it's plain to see he is trying, his methods are that of a increasingly desperate man, I don't want him paraded through the streets of Bedminster, put into stocks and drowned , I want him to hold his hands up and admit that things are not going correctly and resign, I know that won't happen but I would like him to at least admit he needs help if not publicly then to the chairman. Rather than saying we are looking at a top 6th finish, whilst we are bereft of ideas and slowly slipping closer to mid table, which was a realistic aim at the start of the table, he made his bed by telling us fans that the team would push for top 2, that was clearly never going to happen with the imbalance and lack of competition in our squad at the start of the season.

[Red]

Jesus Cheese, you aint changed fella have you. Steve will make the right decision, you have to trust me on that.

Hi Arn, tried to pm you mate. Anyway Arn you are 100% right and the way the season is panning out questions have to be answered soon.

I have never liked GJ style of management. (not saying he is not a bad manager at a certain level)

if GJ goes then Millen should follow.

[cheese]

Jesus Cheese, you aint changed fella have you. Steve will make the right decision, you have to trust me on that.

Neither have you Arn - didn't deny the point though did you. And I don't need to trust you for anything - my faith is in SL.

[mindjuicer]

You seem to have faith in GJ as manager yet you state the above. GJ has bought these players, he picks the tactics, and he manges these players, surely if he cannot get any of his players playing well, having spent millions in getting this group of players, then that tells you there is something wrong. Yet you still seem to be 100% behind him. Why?

100%? More like 80% I'd say.

I have a habit of defending people who are wrongly accused or scapegoated.

I also have a feeling that GJ is going to get forced out, his replacement won't be as good and we'll be heading to relegation just as the bills for the new stadium come in.

[SuperRed]

100%? More like 80% I'd say.

I have a habit of defending people who are wrongly accused or scapegoated.

I also have a feeling that GJ is going to get forced out, his replacement won't be as good and we'll be heading to relegation just as the bills for the new stadium come in.

Surely if you think that "his team, whoever he picks, plays like a bunch of inept, startled rabbits" then there has to be more than 20% of you thinking it would be best if Johnson left. You say Johnson is a scapegoat, but surely if the players he has bought and who he sends out with his tactics play ineptly then it has to be his fault. I don't see how you can support Johnson whilst stateing that the the team play like inept startled rabbits, surely a replacement then couldn't do any worse like you fear?

[myol'man]

Now I love Alan Walsh to bits he will always be a TRUE LEGEND and "if" Johnson finally seen sense and done the decent thing and pissed off tomorrow I would gladly welcome Walshy as caretaker Manager and unlike the current **** give him 100% support I was a tad surprised to see at approx. 14:00 yesterday behind the Atyeo whilst the Coventry coach driver attempted a 37 point turn in trying to get the Coventry bus into a parking place that you could get most cruise liners into (Just where did they get that AWFUL orange coach - did they get it cheap off of the Lib Dems after the last general election campaign?), anyway back to Walshy. Now whilst all this was going on there was our coach attempting to fit a kids seat in the back of his "aging" Merky Dismal??? Now call me old fashioned but as much as I love the legend that is AW I would have thought that with our current shite state of results (10 points from a possible 36 Gazza, hint, hint, in some places like Peterborough, Preston and Shepherds Bush that would have been a certain letter containing your P45 by now) his time would have been better spent giving his time to attempting to get our boys to understand just exactly what maniac formation Dear old Gazza has dreamt up for todays game. With the amount of spare time that they get before and after training I would have thought one afternoon in the week would have been a better time for this???Now this also leads me on to ask the question just WHY was Walshy fitting said kiddies seat in the back of HIS club car??? I cannot believe that just because he went on "holiday" to Costa Derby for a few weeks the club would have taken away little Lee J's Ka, so putting the seat in to give little Lee a lift home is probably not the answer although I do think that he would look cute sat in the back with a lollipop and his BCFC bib, but, no my friends as Walshy must now be nearing the point where the "delights" of child bearing have been found out for what they truly are - FOREVER EXPENSIVE and then like the Tax man - YOU CAN NEVER GET RID OF THEM, do I suspect a far more worrying scenario............................Has the EX England captains car been seen recently parked outside Walshy's palatial Clevedon abode..........................KEEP SMILINGAnd PS Johnson must STILL GO

Top prize for strangest post on this thread!!

Walshy i'm afraid, although top bloke and City legend (we'll forgive him for hitting the post in the semi-final) is nothing more than a water carrier.

If he was put in charge it would make Tinnion look like a tactical genius.

Back to the original post, it's not a witch hunt by a few keyboard warriors and phone-in freaks, it's the opinion of a lot of City fans before and after a lot of games this season, and especially the one's who have stopped coming.

For what it's worth i say stick with GJ til the summer and see where we stand then.

My guess is we'll finish about mid-table, is that good enough?

[downendcity]

You're holding up Preston's decision to ditch Irvine and bring in Ferguson as an example of how a club should react to a bad run of results????????

Strange that no one responded to this comment.

Using Preston's sacking of Irvine suited the poster who referred to it, because it appeared to show a club mirroring City's recent experience - reaching the play offs but then struggling to repeat that achievement and in fact struggling more recently. The poster also made a virtue of the fact that preston didn't stand on sentiment but sacked Irvine when things were going wrong, implying that we should do the same with GJ.

What the poster failed to do was highlight the improvement brought about by Fergie Jnr's appointment! He could also have referred to how Boro fans were delighted to see the back of Southgate, and would have been pleased with the appointment of the more experienced Strachan. He could then have highlighted just how much of an impovemen that managerial change brought to Boro' in the last 4/5 months. When Strachan was appointed I think Boro were in second or third plaace, and were certainly above us in the table. So for all Strachan's experience, and our "dire" form since the autumn, GS has acheived what? His team now lie 1 point above us with a game in hand and coudn't even beat us after our 6-0 home thrashing by Cardiff? I bet the Boro' fans are delighted with the managerial change. Had GJ been sacked would City fans wanting him out have been plelased with the more experienced Strachan as replacment?

Unfortunately, there are so many similarities to the way Danny Wilson was pilloried in his last season. He was sacked as a result, and look where that landed us? I know that at the moment things are not right and need to change, but do we really want to risk the same retrograde step we took when we appointed Brian Tinnion? I am siuire many will say that it couldn't hapen again. But just look at Preston and Boro'.

If results continue to be poor, and if we get sucked into the reeghatio fight, then I accept that Johnson's position will becoem difficult to defend. However, in my mind there is a little too much danger of "out of the frying pan and into the fire" with the clamour for Johnson's head over the last 2/3 weeks.

[Tunley Legend]

What about us supporters who want Gary to turn things round in an ideal world? It is not a witch hunt but genuine questions over whether Johnson is capable of turning things round that are occupying our minds and how long we should give him before deciding he has hit a brick wall and can take us no further NOW AND IN THE FUTURE (forget the past)? There are people on here who believe that a record of two wins in EIGHTEEN matches is nothing to worry about - I would suggest that people like you who believe in total blind faith are FAR MORE DANGEROUS to the football club than those who are asking questions. I bet Steve Lansdown and the other Directors are asking questions - and if they are not then they will be when they see the uptake (or lack of) on the season tickets next season.

[marshy]

Strange that no one responded to this comment.

So for all Strachan's experience, and our "dire" form since the autumn, GS has acheived what? His team now lie 1 point above us with a game in hand and coudn't even beat us after our 6-0 home thrashing by Cardiff? I bet the Boro' fans are delighted with the managerial change.

Hardly fair to judge Strachan yet he's only just arrived, Johnson's been at City quite some time. The writing was on the wall for Southgate when a fan threw his season ticket on to the pitch in disgust in front of the dug-out. Gibson, as a successful businessman, had given Southgate far too long to turn things around but knew his business couldn't survive with an unhappy customer base. It will be very interesting to see how things pan out here over the next few months.

[mindjuicer]

Surely if you think that "his team, whoever he picks, plays like a bunch of inept, startled rabbits" then there has to be more than 20% of you thinking it would be best if Johnson left.

How can there be if I don't know who his replacement would be? Without selling about 5 of the first team, or getting in a good shrink, this problem isn't going to go away. Would GJ's replacement do this? Who knows?

My main concern is that he is forced out prematurely. I have not been openly backing GJ for a while, rather defending him or perhaps giving him the benefit of the doubt.

SL doesn't need us to tell him what to do, so GJ is our manager and should be encouraged. He should not be put under pressure such that he feels he has to pick defensive 5-3-2s at home just to keep his job.

You say Johnson is a scapegoat, but surely if the players he has bought and who he sends out with his tactics play ineptly then it has to be his fault.

Firstly, I don't believe the concept of fault has any usefulness outside of a courtroom. All that matters is where we go in future.

Are we assuming that GJ is somehow compelled to buy the kind of player that plays like an inept, startled rabbit when the team is under pressure?

That's a pretty wild statement but if so, then maybe it's best to find a replacement who isn't so compelled and knows how to root it out of the team.