Johnson Leaves Cobblers

[Northern Red]

Not totally GJ / Cobblers relevant but for info. I still keep in touch with Glen and unfortunately Northampton decided after their game at Whorefield they couldnt afford his services anymore so he was basically put on the Old King Cole. Probably got out whilst the going was..............

Pleased to say that he is now back in employment and still looks out for our results first?

In football or elsewhere? Glad he's sorted, I spoke to him a couple of times at away games and he's a top bloke.

[Isawjonshaw]

Never go back.

See Joe Jordan.

well said

[Donald]

He sabotaged his own career for his sons moment of glory with that wembley sub, and his career has nosedived ever since. I lost the respect I had for him that day. Prior to that that he did give u s two good seasons.

Yeovil will be mad to appoint him as he's not likely going to take them down, for a small Somerset club with small crowds and little money, they are punching above their weight, should stick with Skivo even if he takes them down, he will get them back up

[exiledinwatford]

1321297360' post=1467299']

and even more times when we were well beaten by far lesser teams and defensively we were a shambles, fitness was hopeless and a meeting place for alcoholics unanimous. All things GJ sorted out for us.

Can't have been "even more times" just look at our league position under Wilson. Bottom line though he didn't get us up - doesn't mean the quality of football was poor. Yep GJ sorted out those problems but apart from some good away performances the football was so dull even when we were winning!

[Robbored]

Yep GJ sorted out those problems but apart from some good away performances the football was so dull even when we were winning!

I was saying just that at the time and got viciously slagged for it and even now the odd malicious poster makes reference to it.

Now, looking back almost everyone agrees that the football served up by Johnson was dull and predictable. It seems I was right all along.

No apologies necessary..............

[Melksham Red]

Yawn.

Look at me look at me!!

You need a hobby mate.

[Riaz]

Cant believe how negative some city fans are about GJ, i know it all fizzled out but he was fantastic for us. Where would we be now if we never had GJ ?????

No need to go any further, is there? £600k spent on one player to play at League One level? Remember the draws at home to Stockport or Colchester? We made no progress in four years, so the guy was a failure.

and even more times when we were well beaten by far lesser teams and defensively we were a shambles, fitness was hopeless and a meeting place for alcoholics unanimous. All things GJ sorted out for us.

Some sense at last!

He sabotaged his own career for his sons moment of glory with that wembley sub, and his career has nosedived ever since. I lost the respect I had for him that day. Prior to that that he did give u s two good seasons

So he should'nt have brought on the player who helped us be top after 38 games? the players who's late injury that season co-incided with us falling away???

And to put a player like elliott, who played in the fa cup final at right back..... CRAZY!

I was saying just that at the time and got viciously slagged for it and even now the odd malicious poster makes reference to it.

Now, looking back almost everyone agrees that the football served up by Johnson was dull and predictable. It seems I was right all along.

No apologies necessary..............

The 2006/07 and 2007/08 - were the two most entertaining seasons for me, in my time since supporting city (1994).

Much better than the crap we've had recently

A city win, promotion campaign or play-off final season - is the sort of entertainment I want. NOT the crap we've been given this season (pre McInnes of course)

[Robbored]

Yawn.

Look at me look at me!!

You need a hobby mate.

MR, If you had taken as much aggressive and vicious stick as I did over my views on Gary Johnson and his style of football you'd feel vindicated when, albeit sometime later others finally agree with what I was saying all along.

Like I said, no apologies necessary.

[exiledinwatford]

Some sense at last!

So he should'nt have brought on the player who helped us be top after 38 games? the players who's late injury that season co-incided with us falling away???

And to put a player like elliott, who played in the fa cup final at right back..... CRAZY!

The 2006/07 and 2007/08 - were the two most entertaining seasons for me, in my time since supporting city (1994).

Much better than the crap we've had recently

A city win, promotion campaign or play-off final season - is the sort of entertainment I want. NOT the crap we've been given this season (pre McInnes of course)

The two campaigns you mentioned were hugely enjoyable as we had a winning side but generally IMO, the "entertainment" quality of football wasn't there. When the winning stopped there was nothing left.

[Alex_BCFC]

I remember playing us some decent football under GJ. Remember Sheff Utd at home when Noble and McIndoe scored in a 2-0 win - some excellent football. After we got to the PO final it did get worse though.

[Dolman Block B]

I was saying just that at the time and got viciously slagged for it and even now the odd malicious poster makes reference to it.

Now, looking back almost everyone agrees that the football served up by Johnson was dull and predictable. It seems I was right all along.

No apologies necessary..............

RR i must say mucker, you dig a deep unne for yourself mate? You will get raped for that

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Can't have been "even more times" just look at our league position under Wilson. Bottom line though he didn't get us up - doesn't mean the quality of football was poor. Yep GJ sorted out those problems but apart from some good away performances the football was so dull even when we were winning!

I think as you very well know I was answering your direct quote which was??? Mediocrity under Wilson? OK he didn't get us out of League 1 but the football at times was great.

What I find incredible is the amount of people now claiming how dull we were, I can't remember many other than one bitter attention seeker complain at the time, ring any bells?.

[Somerset_Sam]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3935157/Town-Rap-over-Gary-Johnson-exit.html

Recurring theme, cant always be just the players to blame.

Johnsons bully boy tactics were right at the time to get City out of div 1, but when it stops working he doesnt know what to do next.

[Robbored]

What I find incredible is the amount of people now claiming how dull we were, I can't remember many other than one bitter attention seeker complain at the time, ring any bells?.

Its not incredible at all. Other fans are now realising that she/he was right all along. They couldn't see it at the time of course.

[Ron]

well said

See Tony Pulis, Darren Ferguson...?

Wrote this in another thread the other day, but more relevant for here:

I've seen it banded around a lot recently that we played a slick, passing game during the promotion/play-off seasons and to my mind it's a complete fallacy; in 2006/7, almost half of our wins were 1-0s, and out of the top 7 only Yeovil scored fewer goals than us. We played effective football, but, Gary's first season aside, he never registered a goalscorer with more than 11 league goals a season. Gary's regime was built on a solid defence, how many times did we hear he wanted a 'Grandma in the goal' mentality, which we certainly did have. The other thing we achieved was incredible resiliance; the 7 games in a row where we fell behind but lost none of over Christmas 2006 the best showing of this. Gary's record of hit-and-miss signings in forward position was a near constant from the start, and I can clearly remember numerous games from both seasons where we played poorly in terms of attacking football, but ground out results. The one that really sticks in my mind as having caused a big sulk on here was after Murray's goal within 30 seconds vs. Millwall in December 2006, when he was criticised for not taking the game to Millwall and being too conservative as it went on.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Its not incredible at all. Other fans are now realising that she/he was right all along. They couldn't see it at the time of course.

I rest my case.

[Riaz]

Its not incredible at all. Other fans are now realising that she/he was right all along. They couldn't see it at the time of course.

I honestly cant remember you ever being right!

[cockneyrobin]

Ashton & Backwell United?

[Whale Eye Beef Hooked]

Ashton & Backwell United?

No thanks, he wouldnt get on with the locals

[Donald]

So he should'nt have brought on the player who helped us be top after 38 games? the players who's late injury that season co-incided with us falling away???

And to put a player like elliott, who played in the fa cup final at right back..... CRAZY!

No, he shouldnt have,

Not when it was the midfield of McIndoe, Marv, Carle and Noble which kicked started our season late on.

Taking our player of the season who had been a dominate force all season and moving in to Right back was mindlessly stupid. marv may have played their in a couple of games before. but he'd been playing fantastic all season in midfield. how many times have you seen him at right back since?

It made ZERO sense especially compared to moving and established and trusted player in Carey to a right back a position he'd played probably 100 games and bringing in Vasko.

It made no sense then, and even less sense now.

[Donald]

The two campaigns you mentioned were hugely enjoyable as we had a winning side but generally IMO, the "entertainment" quality of football wasn't there. When the winning stopped there was nothing left.

Indeed. The first season when Johnson took over was entertaining once he'd established himself, especially with Russell and Noble in midfield.

The following seasons, we're dull football, the promotion season, wasn't that much different that the final season of Wilson, apart fromm having that bit of luck when you needed it, but it was built on 1-0 wins, getting a goal and shutting up shop, worked for first 6 months in championship, but then we got found out, but Johnson couldn't change it, when your getting the luck there is never many complaints. I'll never forget the amount of games we clung onto results. Of course after wembley, we couldn't cling onto results if our life's depended on it, late goals against us week after week, but it was NEVER the managers fault strangely? week after week getting goal then trying to defend the lead for anything from 40-70mins.

Think the term I used at the time was Pulis-esq football, Entertainment wise the football was up their with Pulis and Osman, however for the first 2 years at city it was ignored due to the results,

the sign of a good manager is knowing when to change things when it ain't working, both in terms of tactics and personell on both a game and a season basis, despite a player's past you have to consider his future worth and throw loyalty out the window. He couldn't and hence we still have players like LJ and Macca with limited ability on long contracts.

[BCFC_Dan]

I've seen it banded around a lot recently that we played a slick, passing game during the promotion/play-off seasons and to my mind it's a complete fallacy; in 2006/7, almost half of our wins were 1-0s, and out of the top 7 only Yeovil scored fewer goals than us.

Um.. you can play a slick passing game without scoring a lot of goals. In fact quite often that tends to be the case as teams playing a passing game maintain possession by holding the ball in safe areas. Wilson's final team is a good example. By contrast a direct game will often result in high scoring as a lot of opportunities are created.

I'm not saying that Johnson's team did either particularly, but passing does not equal goals necessarily.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

What I find incredible about this debate is that some people are more than happy to use anything slightly positive about Wilsons reign and ignore the negatives which far outweighed the positives and eventually it spiraled totally out of control.

Whatever the rights and wrongs about GJ's reign, he came in and had an out of control drinking culture, a totally unfit squad, a totally split dressing room and injury prone prima donnas still dining out on long distant glories and apart from sorting that mess out his only other main task was promotion from the cesspit of the 1st division and then establish us in the championship. A task he achieved in spades and something had we not got within one game of the Premier League would i'm sure still be good enough to this day with small improvements each season. Unfortunately for him the play off was worst thing that could have happened, it proved that he could not live up to the new expectations of the fans and that mid table in the championship which was once the goal had now been superseded by a widening of the goal posts to include play offs or nothing and now entertainment.

As I said before apart from one bitter attention seeking poster, I cannot think of any others who complained about the 1-0 wins and the success it brought us, but of course now it's cool to look back in hindsight and rubbish those achievements and highlight the non achievements of a guy who achieved nothing especially considering the budget he was afforded over that period.

Look out Del whatever you do don't get us to a play off final, unless you can guarantee you can do it again and again.

[exiledinwatford]

1321439952' post=1467609']

What I find incredible about this debate is that some people are more than happy to use anything slightly positive about Wilsons reign and ignore the negatives which far outweighed the positives and eventually it spiraled totally out of control.

Whatever the rights and wrongs about GJ's reign, he came in and had an out of control drinking culture, a totally unfit squad, a totally split dressing room and injury prone prima donnas still dining out on long distant glories and apart from sorting that mess out his only other main task was promotion from the cesspit of the 1st division and then establish us in the championship. A task he achieved in spades and something had we not got within one game of the Premier League would i'm sure still be good enough to this day with small improvements each season. Unfortunately for him the play off was worst thing that could have happened, it proved that he could not live up to the new expectations of the fans and that mid table in the championship which was once the goal had now been superseded by a widening of the goal posts to include play offs or nothing and now entertainment.

As I said before apart from one bitter attention seeking poster, I cannot think of any others who complained about the 1-0 wins and the success it brought us, but of course now it's cool to look back in hindsight and rubbish those achievements and highlight the non achievements of a guy who achieved nothing especially considering the budget he was afforded over that period.

Look out Del whatever you do don't get us to a play off final, unless you can guarantee you can do it again and again.

I don't anyone is rubbishing the achievements at all. We are debating the quality of football during the reign of GJ. Try thinking of it like this -

Play attractive football and win - great we all agree that's best

Play negative football and win - second best but OK. Might not go to all games though

Play attractive football and lose - Wilson's team for me. Great to watch but frustrating and ultimately not good enough

Play negative football and lose - nuff said.

Point being that you can play negatively and bore teams to death for so long. As long as you're winning managers keep their jobs. However, when you start losing AND playing poorly it's a short trip to the dole queue. On the other hand if you play open, attractive and attacking football and stick to that philosophy even when you are losing their is hope that it will turnaround and the wins will come.

Under GJ I never thought he trusted the players to be let loose - can't imagine any of his team talks along the lines of " get stuck into these from the start and hammer 'em".

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I don't anyone is rubbishing the achievements at all. We are debating the quality of football during the reign of GJ. Try thinking of it like this -

Play attractive football and win - great we all agree that's best

Play negative football and win - second best but OK. Might not go to all games though

Play attractive football and lose - Wilson's team for me. Great to watch but frustrating and ultimately not good enough

Play negative football and lose - nuff said.

Point being that you can play negatively and bore teams to death for so long. As long as you're winning managers keep their jobs. However, when you start losing AND playing poorly it's a short trip to the dole queue. On the other hand if you play open, attractive and attacking football and stick to that philosophy even when you are losing their is hope that it will turnaround and the wins will come.

Under GJ I never thought he trusted the players to be let loose - can't imagine any of his team talks along the lines of " get stuck into these from the start and hammer 'em".

and try thinking of it like this:-

Whilst we were winning and heading towards the play offs, nobody complained (except one person).

After the play offs expectations changed and that is where GJ was found wanting.

But now far too many people are now claiming hindsight.

That is my point.

Wilson did improve us from the position in which he took over, but was never going to get us promoted (which was the goal) .

[Robbored]

and try thinking of it like this:-

Whilst we were winning and heading towards the play offs, nobody complained (except one person).

Thats not strictly true it wasn't just a lone voice, there were others who held the same ( and correct ) view. The majority were blinded by results because that's all that mattered to them.

There was a thread a few days ago about the 'feel good factor'. Well, I remember on several occasions leaving AG after City had won 1-0 or 2-1 under Johnson. The feeling I had was not the 'feel good factor' but more of the ''how did we win that?" Obviously I was delighted to win but at the same time wondering just how much longer City could hold their luck. As it happened, it lasted pretty much all season but went awol the following one.

[exiledinwatford]

and try thinking of it like this:-

Whilst we were winning and heading towards the play offs, nobody complained (except one person).

After the play offs expectations changed and that is where GJ was found wanting.

But now far too many people are now claiming hindsight.

That is my point.

Wilson did improve us from the position in which he took over, but was never going to get us promoted (which was the goal) .

"Whilst we were winning and heading towards the play offs, nobody complained (except one person)." - Only one person complained? Not on THIS forum surely? No one complained about "winning" but there were shedloads about lumping it up to Adebola, McIndoe not playing wide, selection of Sproule, non selection of Trundle and Noble, bringing on McCombe with 25 mins to go, let alone LJ!

If I'm claiming hindsight then you must have had a crystall ball? How did you know Wilson wouldn't have got us promoted the following season? (I'm not sure he would have done either)

Looking forward though I thought we played well against Brum and I enjoyed the football but against Burnley I thought we played better, attractive passing football, our guys looked comfortable on the ball and we won as well! Hope that's the taste of things to come....

[bcfcnick]

Robbered, like most managers he had his good points and bad points but there were some good times and some good entertainment. He was a fraction away of being the only manager in history to have achieved promotions from the top five divisions i.e Conference to Premier League. He played some flair players and any team with Noble, Basso, Russell, McIndoe is going to entertain at times. The likes of Maynard, Haynes and, yes, Lee Johnson were part of a side that mainly consisted of players suited to the passing game rather than the hoofball you imply was played throughout his term here. Yes, the pressure got to him and rather than revert to his Yeovil principles ( it's better to win 5-4 and entertain) than have a boring 1-0 he started to struggle. He was dependent on keeping a club mentality and team spirit alive. Most supporters liked that but, unfortunately, I think that 'culture' began to be lost when Basso felt, rightly or wrongly, aggrieved about something. It was right for him to move on but to depict his managerial history at City as a period of unmitigated boredom and failure is more in line with someone with an obsessional dislike of GJ and a personal grudge as opposed to an objective comment on the reality.

GJ does seem to be a major obsession with you and, for your own good, I'd either look at things more objectively or move on as it reflects on your other posts which are generally fair and sensible. Alternatively, you can stroll the streets in future years with anti GJ placards and a ' I was right about GJ and you were wrong' t-shirt which would be a bit sad. As a manager he isn't perfect and I think McInnes will prove to be a superior manager on many fronts but GJ did brilliantly for us for a good duration of the time he was here and there were some fun times on and off the pitch. I think his only failure has been Northampton. Taking a relegated side into or close to the play-offs as he did with Peterborough can't be regarded as failure. The chairman there is a bit impetuous and unpredictable although in fairness Ferguson has done well. I don't want any manager to lose his job but if there is a vacancy at Yeovil it would be good to see GJ back there and get some success.

[Nibor]

Thats not strictly true it wasn't just a lone voice, there were others who held the same ( and correct ) view. The majority were blinded by results because that's all that mattered to them.

I know that you understand this and are just looking for attention but it should be explained anyway.

Your view _was not_ correct.

The fact that GJ has had no success since leaving us, does not mean that your view of him at that moment in time was right.

It was quite plainly wrong to call him a conference manager and call for his resignation since he took us to the Championship and within a whisker of the Premier League.

I could hold the view that Angelina Jolie is a doddering old lady. I'd be wrong, even if there's a good chance that in the fullness of time she might be one.

You didn't say "will be a conference manager in a few years time" did you?

[Robbored]

I know that you understand this and are just looking for attention but it should be explained anyway.

Your view _was not_ correct.

The fact that GJ has had no success since leaving us, does not mean that your view of him at that moment in time was right.

It was quite plainly wrong to call him a conference manager and call for his resignation since he took us to the Championship and within a whisker of the Premier League.

I could hold the view that Angelina Jolie is a doddering old lady. I'd be wrong, even if there's a good chance that in the fullness of time she might be one.

You didn't say "will be a conference manager in a few years time" did you?

Do you think that the style of football served by Johnson was great to watch? I said way back that it was not and got slated for saying it. Now, some are saying exactly the same as what I said back then. Their view has changed and now I feel vindicated especially after the insults and abuse I took over what I saw on the pitch and had the temerity to post it.

That's all I've commented on in this thread.

No idea why you should get on your high horse about this. You rarely comment on my posts.