Bristol City boss Lee Johnson is relying on Barnsley experience to see him through rough patch

Lee Johnson insists his experiences while in charge of Barnsley last season will help him come through his first truly rough spell as head coach of Bristol City.
City's young head coach is hurting and desperately seeking answers in the wake of a downturn in fortunes that has seen his team suffer seven defeats in eight games and drop from fifth to 17th place in the Championship table.
It is far from uncharted territory for Johnson, who endured a similarly demoralising run of results while managing Barnsley in League One last season.
Now that he is going through a similarly tough time at Ashton Gate, Johnson is prepared to draw upon the lessons learned in Yorkshire last season in the hope he can turn things around.
He told The Post: "I wouldn't say you draw strength from an experience like that, but you do learn a lot about yourself and those around you.
"My experiences from that bad run at Barnsley will, hopefully, stand me in good stead for the whole of my managerial career.
"It taught me that football has such huge swings in fortunes and emotions and that there is a craziness in terms of the mind-set created by results.
"While others are becoming fanatical about what is happening, you are the one who has to stay controlled and look after the things you can affect. You have to try and work out the answers and do it very quickly."
Just as he did during his playing days, Johnson takes every defeat to heart. But with experience comes perspective and he insists he and his players have to go through the pain of poor results before they can return to winning ways and start climbing the Championship table again.
He explained: "It is a horrible feeling after every defeat, almost like a mild depression. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve with my football and almost go into a state of mourning before quickly coming back round.
Just as he did during his playing days, Johnson takes every defeat to heart. But with experience comes perspective and he insists he and his players have to go through the pain of poor results before they can return to winning ways and start climbing the Championship table again.
He explained: "It is a horrible feeling after every defeat, almost like a mild depression. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve with my football and almost go into a state of mourning before quickly coming back round.

 

Even if I do consider the possibility of sacking LJ, there's no one out there who would come to us, who is worth sacking him for. At this very moment, I think we're still better off sticking with him, as there is no improvement to be gained from what I can see. I also think LJ is a good manager, and will be a better manager, but this is a massive, massive test for him it must be said.

 

Until you open the vacancy to all and sundry there is no telling of the quality of Manager who might apply.

The danger might be that we might have a reputation in English football for saying one thing and then either not doing it, or backtracking and moving the goalposts completely further downstream.

The other danger is that despite the potential quality of incoming CV's should the Managers job become available, that the owner/board might still prefer a yes man over a proven winner, or someone who has actually achieved something in the game.

Managers probably have other Managers as friends so word will get around for clubs that are a poisoned chalice to work for. I'm not saying that we are, just that we might be.

 

he jumped ship and came here .. OK they had started to win a few .. but heckingbottom saw the ship sail into the night and is currently just 2 wins from top 6 and we are 2 losses from just being outside of bottom 3

 

I have this urge to say "Shut up Lee" and let's move on, to what who knows but it has to be better than this drivel.

 

Juniors comments are mostly on the drivelLee side