Gary Johnson Missing!

[BCFC_Dan]

I keep seeing this bully stuff being spouted yet I've lost count of the number of former players who have gone back to play for him again.

They can't all be gluttons for punishment, surely?

 

One thing he was fond of saying was "if you want to motivate players, get players who can be motivated". I suspect that can be qualified as "get players who can be motivated by your style". It seems to me that some players may respond well to a style of management that other people would deem to be "bullying". Those are likely to be the players who follow him around, even if in some cases, such as Michael McIndoe, they are also prone to falling out with him.

 

Some players may even enjoy the bullying style; either because they are particularly confrontational themselves, or because they simply enjoy seeing others being bullied and join in with the "banter".

 

I'm speculating here, but there is no reason why a bullying style can't have success. Johnson's problem is more likely to be that he cannot vary his style.

[One BCFC]

The grudge I have with GJ was putting his son infront of the up and coming David Noble and then signing Trundle and hardly playing him.

Then signing a load of mediocre/rubbish players on lengthy contracts which drained the club for at least 3/4 years.

GJ was good for 3 years but the success came at a cost and affected our academy and scouting network massively

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Not being able to express my opinion on Johnson would hinder my recovery.

That said, I am recovering albeit very slowly. Can't hurry healing and all that. Still can't see well enough yet to drive though. Real bummer living in the sticks as I do.

 

What about your gashead mates, surely they must owe you a few free rides? :laugh:.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

The grudge I have with GJ was putting his son infront of the up and coming David Noble and then signing Trundle and hardly playing him.

Then signing a load of mediocre/rubbish players on lengthy contracts which drained the club for at least 3/4 years.

GJ was good for 3 years but the success came at a cost and affected our academy and scouting network massively

 

it's ego my friend you get to a point where you believe that everything you touch will turn to gold and when it starts going wrong you end up like the guy in the skittles advert.

 

Trundle is a wonderful case in point, sign a guy for a lot money who has 3 seasons at most left doing what he does best (score goals) and try to turn him into a team player, it was madness.

 

I cannot agree with you about Noble, he was the master of his own downfall and I suspect that will be a recurring theme throughout his life, luckily another player who almost got sucked into that lifestyle managed to see the light in time and is now subject to bids from Burnley in prem, it comes to something when even Gazza realised how Noble was wasting his talent.

[One BCFC]

it's ego my friend you get to a point where you believe that everything you touch will turn to gold and when it starts going wrong you end up like the guy in the skittles advert.

Trundle is a wonderful case in point, sign a guy for a lot money who has 3 seasons at most left doing what he does best (score goals) and try to turn him into a team player, it was madness.

I cannot agree with you about Noble, he was the master of his own downfall and I suspect that will be a recurring theme throughout his life, luckily another player who almost got sucked into that lifestyle managed to see the light in time and is now subject to bids from Burnley in prem, it comes to something when even Gazza realised how Noble was wasting his talent.

He definitely has a huge ego for sure and I may be alone in saying this but I believe if it wasnt for all his awful signings after the playoff season we wouldnt have been in the mess we got in in the first place, forgetting the David James/Steve Coppell saga. Players like Clarkson, Akinde and Stern John were signed when we should have pushed on and then you had players like Nyatanga, Fontaine and McAllister on long contracts who were going nowhere and also were not good enough.

Once teams found out our way of Football we had no answer and that was the end and GJ threw his toys out the pram at Home Park.

Now all the deadwood has all finally cleared the future looks good.

[BCFC_Dan]

He definitely has a huge ego for sure and I may be alone in saying this but I believe if it wasnt for all his awful signings after the playoff season we wouldnt have been in the mess we got in in the first place, forgetting the David James/Steve Coppell saga. Players like Clarkson, Akinde and Stern John were signed when we should have pushed on and then you had players like Nyatanga, Fontaine and McAllister on long contracts who were going nowhere and also were not good enough.

Once teams found out our way of Football we had no answer and that was the end and GJ threw his toys out the pram at Home Park.

Now all the deadwood has all finally cleared the future looks good.

 

Well it's easy to say that now, but most of those signings looked reasonable at the time.

 

Clarkson was a promising young striker who'd done very well in Scotland. Something's gone very wrong with his career but it was looking good at the time.

 

Akinde was a gamble on a non-league player. Sometimes they work but he will have been cheap.

 

Stern John was a short term loan of a player proven at Championship level. He wasn't great but he was hardly costly.

 

Fontaine and McAllister were decent players for several years. Maybe Johnson was too loyal but he'd have taken stick if we'd lost Fontaine to a bigger club for nothing.

 

Nyatanga was a promising young defender with plenty of Championship experience. Again, he looked a decent signing at the time.

 

 

Sometimes things don't work out well but that doesn't mean there weren't sound reasons for doing those things.

[WhistleHappy]

Some quotes from yeovil fans, seeing Johnson for what he really is.

 

'Johnson doing what he accused madden & others doing,not getting what they want and throwing a tantrum,gone by early next week I reckon'

 

'The thing I don't understand about this whole GJ saga is that if one of his players acted like this they would be long gone! He has over spent with no one to blame but himself. Just because he wasn't allowed to sign another loaner he throws his toys out the pram. How about deal with the players YOU signed, work with what you have and take some responsibility'

 

' The way I look at it is if a player did what 'King Gary' done then he'd be out on his arse. His egos huge and he acts like a baby'

...sounds like a rare case of the fans hitting the shit if I'm not very much mistaken..

[Esmond Million's Bung]

He definitely has a huge ego for sure and I may be alone in saying this but I believe if it wasnt for all his awful signings after the playoff season we wouldnt have been in the mess we got in in the first place, forgetting the David James/Steve Coppell saga. Players like Clarkson, Akinde and Stern John were signed when we should have pushed on and then you had players like Nyatanga, Fontaine and McAllister on long contracts who were going nowhere and also were not good enough.

Once teams found out our way of Football we had no answer and that was the end and GJ threw his toys out the pram at Home Park.

Now all the deadwood has all finally cleared the future looks good.

 

Sadly when you have had a taste of success as an owner it would have been nigh on impossible at the time to have reigned him in, so perhaps as long they are ACTUALLY on the same sheet the combination of SC and Burt might be working ok, although I still believe that as long as the owner says yes or no we can or cannot afford this or that player, that SC gets the final say on who we actually sign.

 

You have to remember that GJ developed his ego over a period of sorting an out of control drinking culture to 2 years of unqualified success and one season that many clubs might view as stability finishing a respectable 10th, Wilson for instance came to us with an already huge ego and achieved nothing.

[Shaftesburyred]

[pongo88]

Johnson has, without a doubt, his faults but I find it amazing the criticism he gets from City and Yeovil fans. A lot of City fans forget that he got the team to within one (wonder) goal of the Premiership. A lot of Yeovil fans forget that he got the team into the Championship with crowds of less than 4000 and no real history of success in the league.

If he does leave Yeovil it's a certainty that he won't have to wait long until he get a good job offer. If SoD can become coach of England U19 team what on earth can Gary achieve?

[JudgeRed]

Anyone thought Gary Johnson might want to head to India with Jamie McAllister? Just a thought. Hahahahahaha 

[HIGHRIDGE BCFC]

Can't really blame a manager for not looking too far ahead when he could be out of a job after 5 or 6 defeats.

 

Football is all about the short term now and rarely does a manager get the time to build a club from the bottom up.

 

Trigger happy chairman and impatient fans, mixed with the new social media breed of fan means there's always a platform to discuss the merits or failings of players and managers.

 

Years ago you used to get the goals on a monday evening and that was that. Now you can get the goals within an hour of the full time whistle and there's a radio Bristol phone in where fans are calling for the managers head five minutes after the final whistle.

 

That's not even to mention some bizarre of the posts on here!

 

In my opinion Johnson has got to worry about the here and now because the chances are he's not gonna be around to worry about youth team players a few years down the line.

[BRISTOL86]

Amazing how people turn into experts with the benefit of hindsight. Can't remember too many people heading to Wembley on 24/05/08 fretting about the state of the reserve team in five years time....

[Somerset_Sam]

'King Gary'

 

'Doesnt matter if i'm ******* up the long term stability of the club, I'll sell you the dream'. 

 

Too many chairman have fallen into that trap, our own SL has come out since Johnson left and said the club cant opperate in the way it did when Johnson was in charge.  SL fell for it and has been paying for it (literally) ever since, in fact he didnt learn his lesson with Coppell or Millen when we were still splashing the cash.

If SL wasnt worth the money he is worth we would be in the same position as yeovil right now, penniless;  We are lucky that SL can pay for the mistakes made.

 

Yes we all enjoyed the first season in the Championship but some could see that there was no long term plan and this became more obvious over the next couple of seasons, but Gary could do no wrong.

 

I'll happilly admit I never liked Johnson, did a geat job getting us out of league 1 and that continued into the next season but it was always about him, when we won 'My team were excellant' when we lost 'the players werent good enough'.  He even blamed the fans after we lost at home to Leicester in that first season.

 

I understand why most City fans love him but I see a manager thats approach is short term gain for long term pain, but it doesnt matter cos he wont be there to suffer it.

[Phileas Fogg]

Well it's easy to say that now, but most of those signings looked reasonable at the time.

 

Clarkson was a promising young striker who'd done very well in Scotland. Something's gone very wrong with his career but it was looking good at the time.

 

Akinde was a gamble on a non-league player. Sometimes they work but he will have been cheap.

 

Stern John was a short term loan of a player proven at Championship level. He wasn't great but he was hardly costly.

 

Fontaine and McAllister were decent players for several years. Maybe Johnson was too loyal but he'd have taken stick if we'd lost Fontaine to a bigger club for nothing.

 

Nyatanga was a promising young defender with plenty of Championship experience. Again, he looked a decent signing at the time.

 

 

Sometimes things don't work out well but that doesn't mean there weren't sound reasons for doing those things.

 

Agree with you - for the amount of years we got out of Fontaine and McAllister they were bargains. Both would have been very cheap in football terms.

 

I think it started to go wrong for Clarkson after he got that freak bug one pre season, anyone remember that? Knocked him for 6 completely and he lost loads of weight apparently.

 

Johnson did make some very shrewd buys during his time here; a fair few duds though make no mistake.

[dezgimed]

Anyone thought Gary Johnson might want to head to India with Jamie McAllister? Just a thought. Hahahahahaha 

 

Inside joke or easily amused??

[Red-Robbo]

I've known enough people who have worked with Gary to know that away from the cameras, the jokey persona drops and he is quite humourless and unpleasant.

But just because I wouldn't want to go for a pint with him, doesn't mean I don't appreciate what he did here.

He's a flawed individual, which is why he never made it to the first rank of managers, despite having plenty of talent.

It has taken a lot for Yeovil fans to start to criticise him, as he is even more popular there than here, but his recent behaviour just smacks of petulance.

[Cider Jaaarn]

Cider,Out of interest, how many loan signings were bought in last season?

 

 

16, making a total of 181 appearances and scoring 18 goals.

 

Anything else I can help with

[Cider Jaaarn]

I've known enough people who have worked with Gary to know that away from the cameras, the jokey persona drops and he is quite humourless and unpleasant.

But just because I wouldn't want to go for a pint with him, doesn't mean I don't appreciate what he did here.

He's a flawed individual, which is why he never made it to the first rank of managers, despite having plenty of talent.

It has taken a lot for Yeovil fans to start to criticise him, as he is even more popular there than here, but his recent behaviour just smacks of petulance.

With respect other than the last sentence, that is a load of b''ls.

[RedM]

Yeovil, with or without Gary J, always seem to attract good loan players though. Many of them have gone on to better things, some have come to us! They are much better at the loan market than we are.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

I've known enough people who have worked with Gary to know that away from the cameras, the jokey persona drops and he is quite humourless and unpleasant.

But just because I wouldn't want to go for a pint with him, doesn't mean I don't appreciate what he did here.

He's a flawed individual, which is why he never made it to the first rank of managers, despite having plenty of talent.

It has taken a lot for Yeovil fans to start to criticise him, as he is even more popular there than here, but his recent behaviour just smacks of petulance.

 

Agreed as we know even flawed football managers usually need a calming influence but one not frightened to speak their mind when they see an injustice or perhaps a dodgy signing, Clough was never the same without Taylor and vice versa.

 

and GJ certainly never had that at BCFC.

[Cider Jaaarn]

My gut feeling is that Gary has once again found he has taken the club as far as he can. Maybe he fancies one last shot at a more ambitious job. The thing is though I think one day Yeovil will take him back yet again, if he does leave.

I like Yeovil and I like GJ, but they can't seem to stay together for long, but both need each other too.

 

Very true.

[Aizoon]

I'm not agreeing it at all but I kind of understand how managers like Gary J work. They thrive on short term success and just enjoy the moment. Short term gain for long term pain, but that of course is never their problem.

Of course they are more interested in having the money to spend now rather than reaping the benefits of an academy or youth team, by the time players develop the manager will be long gone.

My gut feeling is that Gary has once again found he has taken the club as far as he can. Maybe he fancies one last shot at a more ambitious job. The thing is though I think one day Yeovil will take him back yet again, if he does leave.

I like Yeovil and I like GJ, but they can't seem to stay together for long, but both need each other too.

Burton and Taylor sort of thing?

[Robbored]

The bottom line is that many of the Yeovil fans have finally found Johnson out. It took them a long time but at long last they have realised that his one dimensional bully boy "my way or the highway" managerial style doesn't have a long survival rate.

It didn't take Northampton or the Posh to rumble him either.

[pongo88]

The bottom line is that many of the Yeovil fans have finally found Johnson out. It took them a long time but at long last they have realised that his one dimensional bully boy "my way or the highway" managerial style doesn't have a long survival rate.

It didn't take Northampton or the Posh to rumble him either.

Alex Ferguson had a good survival rate with "my way or the highway". In fact, all top managers operate like that. To be successful as a manager you must be in control. Once the players have control it's the end.

[Cider Jaaarn]

The bottom line is that many of the Yeovil fans have finally found Johnson out. It took them a long time but at long last they have realised that his one dimensional bully boy "my way or the highway" managerial style doesn't have a long survival rate.

It didn't take Northampton or the Posh to rumble him either.

I suppose we have been a bit slow, it has been the trophies and promotions that blinded us. Gary has given us success and taken us to levels we never expected, so naturally he gets a lot of leeway from most. I have rarely criticised him but I don't think he recruited well in the summer. Tuesday nights capers were unprofessional and disrespectful to the club in general, the players and the fans. He hasn't been rumbled, we know his flaws and accept them, but his time is up for sure, I don't expect him to be around this time next week.

 

Peterborough, he left them in the top 6 but wasn't getting on with the chairman. I was told he went to Barry Fry with a resignation letter but Barry told him to hang on for a couple of days and he would be sacked anyway, so he did for the compo.

 

Northampton, a difficult one to gauge, no-one has done well there for a few years, Wilder seems to be turning it around now though.

[Red-Robbo]

With respect other than the last sentence, that is a load of b''ls.

Is it ****

So are you saying that you think people I know who are connected or have been connected to BCFC and who knows GJ much better than you are lying?

With respect, you've got your head up your arse.

[BCFC_Dan]

 

Too many chairman have fallen into that trap, our own SL has come out since Johnson left and said the club cant opperate in the way it did when Johnson was in charge. 

 

 

No, it can't. But equally it couldn't start moving forward without Johnson or someone like him.

 

You acknowledge that he did a good job in getting the club out of League One and I don't think anyone except Robbored can argue with his first 2 seasons, which weren't even all that expensive in terms of signings.

 

Steve Cotterill stated a few months back that there are two spirals in football: an upward one and a downward one and a club is either in one or the other. If you ask me, aside from a few elite examples, most managers fall into 2 categories: those that can maximise an upward spiral, and those who can turn a downward spiral into an upward one (plus, of course, those who can do neither, who are of no use to anyone).

 

So, a manager such as O'Driscoll, Coppell or McInnes, all of whom had success elsewhere, may be able to produce long term success but only if the club is already pointed in the right direction. They tend to be intelligent, sensible and fairly boring. Not one of them succeeded in righting a sinking ship at City but all had good intentions (except maybe Coppell, who just made a mess and then quit).

 

On the other hand, managers such as Johnson, Ward and, I suspect, Cotterill, operate in the here and now, use the transfer market to make immediate improvements and tend to be quite amiable characters in public, are all adept at turning a downward spiral into an upward one, but their methods are ill-suited to sustaining the upward momentum once it's been attained.

 

It's all about the right man at the right time. In 2006 and 2013 (arguably earlier), the club needed someone to reverse the direction. In 2009, it needed someone who could sustain an upward spiral.

 

As I've said before, the trick is knowing when to make the transition. With hindsight, the club should have replaced Johnson in around 2009 with a manager who could build for the long-term whilst riding the momentum established by Johnson. It would have been an extremely unpopular decision for the board to make, though. It may well have to make a similar decision in a couple of year's time.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

The bottom line is that many of the Yeovil fans have finally found Johnson out. It took them a long time but at long last they have realised that his one dimensional bully boy "my way or the highway" managerial style doesn't have a long survival rate.

It didn't take Northampton or the Posh to rumble him either.

 

From the guy who claims in one breath that luck evens itself out over a year but GJ was a lucky manager for 2 years at BCFC and you'll have to explain why some players went back for a 2nd and in some cases a 3rd bout of bullying from this guy because it really says more about the player than it does about GJ.

[Guest]

 finally found Johnson out. It took them a long time but at long last they have realised

 

Didn't take him long to realise who the man behind Robbored was.