Bristol City’s Lee Johnson: ‘We are not really fancied and that suits us’ After three years in charge, the Championship’s second longest-serving manager has built a confident and maturing side mounting an unlikely promotion charge “Are we going to have a party?” Lee Johnson asks, tongue in cheek, on being reminded that next Wednesday marks three years since he returned to Bristol City as manager. “There has got to be something because, in this day and age, to last three years is ridiculous.” That is depressingly true; 194 managers have left positions across English football’s top four tiers in that time, making the 37-year-old the second-longest serving in the Championship, behind Millwall’s Neil Harris. It has not been plain sailing but it is impossible to ignore the progress of his vibrant, young team – unbeaten in 12 matches having last tasted defeat on 24 November. The Robins are dark horses for promotion. City can extend their run at home to Swansea on Saturday but it is not just the players who are hungry to improve, with Johnson escaping what he describes as the rat race to broaden his own palette last week. He spent a couple of days at RB Leipzig to observe Ralf Rangnick’s side at close quarters, following an invitation from Paul Mitchell, the Bundesliga club’s head of recruitment and formerly of Southampton. “I thought I would come back with about four or five things that I could learn and I actually I wrote down 40,” Johnson says, smiling. “It was not a bad trip, considering I can bring back all of that knowledge to Bristol City. “It is an interesting group that they have got there, the Red Bull group, with the likes of New York and Leipzig and the other clubs that are involved. It’s a bit like Manchester City in terms of the structure, even though the philosophy is different, and they are very innovative. We shared a lot, a lot about coaching, and I gave as good as I got as well. We had some good tactical debates and looked at all the sports science stuff and everything they do in terms of analytics. I’m very grateful because they gave me full access.” Of the looming anniversary, Johnson acknowledges what has been a bumpy ride at times, particularly in his first full season when he was forced to move house after his address was leaked online, and he was on the receiving end of a death threat while his father, Gary, was awaiting a triple heart bypass. City had spectacularly stalled, losing eight league games on the bounce. The outlook could not be more different now, with his team seventh after six wins on the spin and in the FA Cup fifth round for the first time since 2001. “Look, I’m very grateful,” he says. “I’m at a brilliant club and I think generally in that three years it has been successful. We have had hurdles along the way, of course we have.” Better still, some of City’s key players appear to be ripening at the perfect time, none more so than the Republic of Ireland winger Callum O’Dowda, 23, who arrived from Oxford in 2016. The defender Adam Webster, 24, a summer signing from Ipswich, has equally impressed. Marlon Pack, one of the more senior heads at 27, is another year more experienced in midfield. “They are coming into their prime, athletically they are peaking because of their age and our strengths are improving,” Johnson says. “From all our sports science team I know that every one of our players has added at least 8-10% to their strength gains, which is good. There are many positives; we will just keep chipping away in every element. We get our head down, we are not really fancied, and that probably suits us.” The average age of the starting lineup who outclassed Bolton in the Cup last Friday was 24.6, minus Lloyd Kelly, 20, an elegant England Under-21 defender fast-tracked through the academy, and Josh Brownhill, 23, a reliable midfield menace. Johnson’s first steps into coaching came while he was a player at the club, with City’s Under-14s. That age group included Joe Bryan, who joined Fulham last summer, and several youngsters have made strides into the first team since, including Bobby Reid, now of Cardiff, and Joe Morrell, who rejected Liverpool as a teenager. The thought of integrating players such as Taylor Moore, Tyreeq Bakinson and Zak Vyner – excelling on loan across the Football League this season – is an exciting prospect. The same can be said for Antoine Semenyo, a 19-year-old wanted by Chelsea. City came mightily close to an unlikely promotion to the Premier League via the 2008 Championship play-off final, when Johnson was in midfield and his dad in the dugout, and they have not finished higher than 10th in the division since that defeat to Hull. Penetrating the top six once more is the next challenge. City have the second-best defensive record in the division but the one thing missing, until the arrival of Kasey Palmer at least, was added sparkle in the final third, according to Johnson. Palmer, one of three players on loan at Ashton Gate from Chelsea, has sprinkled a helping of stardust, shining in his favoured No 10 role since joining in January. Arguably one of Palmer’s biggest assets, like his fellow loanee Tomas Kalas – who won promotion with Fulham last year – is that he has been in this position before, helping Huddersfield to the Premier League in 2017. And, who knows? Perhaps there could yet be a party after all. “There is a feelgood factor around the club, from the fans to the players and the staff at the minute and that is kind of how it was at Huddersfield,” Palmer says. “It was like [us playing the role of] the underdogs and everybody just kept on going, so I don’t see why we can’t do that this year. The togetherness here is strong; I’ve seen that from the group since day one. The bond is good in the group, it’s quite a young [one], and long may that continue.” https://www.theguardian.com/footbal.../jan/30/bristol-city-lee-johnson-championship
Wow, 3 years in charge and Championship’s second longest-serving manager. I have to say, although slightly shocked and maybe a tad disappointed when LJ was first appointed, I think he's been the best appointment that SL could have made and even now, for us, he's a top, up and coming manager. Yes, there has been slumps and even bad decisions....but the guy just gets on with it, always trying to get things right. The fact that he now knows that as well as entertaining football, there is another way if we need to grind out results...I think it also really helps, that it comes across Bristol City is a special club to him..I still feel that he's the man that gives us a chance of going up....if given the time. Big thumbs up to SL, for continuing to support him at his time here unlike most owners whom I'm sure would have panicked with a kneejerk reaction and got rid. Happy clapping here!!
TBH, I think we only 'fly under the radar' in the eyes of fans, who tend to judge how good a team is by their historical standing over how they are in their current state. The manager and coaching staffs of all teams in the Division will do their homework on us and will be well aware of who we are and how we play - being able to do much about it is the challenge! I like to scout out the forums of teams we're playing against before and after matches and take some pleasure in seeing some of their fans' reactions. Often the rhetoric is 'we ought to be able to beat teams like Bristol' and usually if we win it's more down to how s**t they are, rather than how good we've been. Recently this has been most fun!
In some ways it's a sad state of affairs that a three year stint is considered a long time for a manager to be in a job. It's rare, but that things have ultimately gotten better and better, even after some poor runs that might have meant the end for other managers at other clubs, it goes to show that the perceived 'wisdom' to replace the manager when things aren't going well isn't necessarily true. I'm with you onefor in that when he was appointed, I was worried that his dividing of the crowd as a player would count against him (which it has, I think), whilst his comparative lack of experience would only fuel the arguments of favouritism (again, true), creating a potentially toxic atmosphere that even the most hardened of managers would struggle to thrive in. I think SL and the board should be given kudos for sticking by him during the roughest spots, not for the sake of it, but because they must've reasoned that a change wasn't required to improve things. They must have thought even during those times that even though we were losing, it wasn't down to any serious shortcomings of his or that he had lost the support of his players. Though it is a results-driven business, I think it's important to look at more than just the form book and thankfully they did when many, including myself, had gotten to the point where we had said 'enough is enough'. He seems like quite a modern manager at a modern, forward-thinking club, which is often the antithesis of the average football supporter. Most would run their club similar to one like Nottingham Forest, who have had something like 12 managers in 10 years, spent millions in fees and wages and even changed ownership as a result of their failing to cash in on their short-sighted strategies/gambles. A club of their stature should have gotten back to the Premiership at some point in that time, but instead they're behind us, as they have been for long swathes of that period. I think we're still only part of the way along a long term plan/ambition to reach the Premiership and stay there and arguably we're ahead of schedule to be in the position we are now. Though it'd be a bit disappointing/frustrating if we don't end up in the playoffs this season, it's still a good time to be a City fan and the next few years could be genuinely exciting.
‘Under the radar’ is good insofar as the perception of the opposition players MAY lead to some complacency, but other than that I can’t think of any benefits; less TV money and publicity - which makes us less attractive when bidding for players. It will be interesting to see who Britt Assombalonga chooses now that we are reportedly competing with Villa and Blackburn for his signature. I personally think we would be 3rd on his list - because of our lack of ‘success pedigree ‘. Remember Zack Clough? Unfortunately his reaction to the thought of coming to us is probably commonplace amongst players.
Bristol City, 7th, 44pts That Lee Johnson’s side are even in the conversation is a marker of the remarkable strides they have made since heading into December with one win from five matches. Unbeaten in 11 games – and having won their past five – they are the division’s form team. The midfield duo Marlon Pack and Josh Brownhill have grown more streetwise, while Johnson has the luxury of a triumvirate of Chelsea loanees in Jay Dasilva, Tomas Kalas and Kasey Palmer – a January signing. No longer “flogging the same players” as Johnson admitted they were at this stage last season, he has rotated with great success. Scavenged for their best players last summer, that City want to add another striker this month suggests they quietly fancy their chances. Verdict Outside play-offs https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...p-promotion-race-premier-league-leeds-norwich
I never panic when we lose a few [ although after 6 losses on the bounce last got a tad worried.. then 7 … then 8 thought it has got to end or else!] as I see after just 10 games the season is 46 games long at the end should the final table reflect W 15 D 15 L16 then "FINE " after 23 games should it be W 6 D 9 L 8 .. then fine... if a sequence is L L L L D L D W fine or W W W W D D W W L L L L D L D W then fine 46 games is what matters...…… Imagine after 15 games we have played the top 10 teams and only have 10 pts!...……
