The sacking of LJ has now become a distant memory, many of us were looking for a complete change and hoped for a big name manager, some were concerned for his departure and said we would live to regret our actions, we appointed Dean Holden his number 2. Yet here we are ~ * Dean Holden & new coaches established * 11 games gone, still in the top 6. * Won 6 - Lost 3 - Draw 2 - GF 15 - GA 11 - Points 20. * Players gone - Elisson/Szmodics/Taylor/Baily Wright/Korey Smith/Afobe/Morrell/Palmer/Williams. * Players arrived - Martin/Brunt/Williams/Mawson/Sessegnon Major changes in our structure, fan base seem to have forgotten the issues that devided us, the shadow of LJ has has disappeared, we have moved on and it proves it's the club that matters not any individual. I don't think he has been missed.
Past managers should be remembered for their legacy. LJ put into place technology and academy structure. Cotterill got us back into the championship on the back of our first championship in my lifetime. Even old SOD sewed the seeds of change at the club, that LJ embraced. As a fanbase we need to be more honest, I hate excuse making. Swansea at home, Bournemouth away and Norwich at home, excuses:- they are good teams (yep, so are we) 2 of them came down from the premiership (yep, and have not been consistent). Swansea was a fair result, we should have beaten Bournemouth on the night and Norwich exposed our weaknesses. Lose to Wycombe or Luton, "anyone can beat anyone in this league" indeed lets remember that and not make anymore excuses, we should feel we can compete against anyone in this division and when we don't be honest and call it what it is.
The only thing I will say, IMO LJ structured us well to be competitive in the Championship, (yes with funds, but funds alone guarantees nothing). The longest we've been in the 2nd tier of English football since the 70s. Maybe his downfall was minimal experience of management at this level, a few years too early.. Dean has not been here long enough to judge, if he will progress us on from LJ......we need to end up in playoffs to achieve that IMO. But so far, doing a decent job and only time will tell.........RP will comment on the funds given, but not sure that's an excuse as under current circumstances, not sure many clubs have.....apart from the clubs dropping down from Prem with parachute funds which is the same every season!!
I agree with Jiffie; Cotts got us to the Championship (with a cup bonus to boot), LJ established us there but ran out of ideas (and team captains!), DH has done well so far but time will tell. He’s not done a lot wrong so far for me.
LJ kept us up - then consolidated - did a decent job - made some mistakes, but then don't they all I don't miss the anti Johnson family rhetoric from some on here - at least Holden will be judged on what he actually does
No Jiffie, you're wrong. There was so much anti-LJ rhetoric from many on this site that they never judged him fairly or gave him any plaudits on anything he did well, but were all over him like a tramp on chips the moment something went wrong. Too many on this site saw him as the Donald Trump of our club! People can't hide now and say they gave him a fair go, when they didn't! Some people have to have the b@lls to stand behind all the grief they gave LJ!!
Actually I genuinely don’t know why GJ was sacked. We weren’t doing that well, admittedly but we weren’t in the relegation zone and we had some dire times after he went, before Cotts got us back there. There were rumours about him losing the dressing room blah blah - the sort of rumours which always surround a manager in trouble, but no hard evidence. There was speculation about Basso falling out with GJ but again this was only reported on OTIB and no credible source. This was given as the reason Basso refused to sign a new contract but never proven. Then there was the Nick Carle debacle and fisticuffs with McIndoe - and Hartley never seemed to fit in either. Go on then Jiffie; why exactly was GJ sacked?
I cannot speak for others, I haven't been on this forum long enough and LJ was already a dead man walking when I joined and like his father, SOD and Cotterill ultimately the masters of their own destiny determined by their own failures and that is the case with every single manager in history, except maybe Ferguson. As for the Trump of our club, GJ could almost certainly claim that crown.
The difference between LJ being sacked and all the others is, they were all steering the club to relegation from either the Championship or L1. LJ is the only manager in our history who has been sacked because he couldn’t get us to the top 6 of Englands second tier of football.
I was a critic of LJ, always was and I don't mind admitting it, let's be honest he never achieved any honours with our club or the other 2 he was involved with, compared with previous managers he will just become a name on the list of our history, achieved nothing, nothing to mention.
That was his brief and he failed to achieve it, end of. Stevie Wonder could have predicted every season under LJ. He had my support until November/December last year, when it became obvious to me we were stuck in groundhog day. But as I have already done, I can more than accept the stabilisation and mainly behind the scenes advances we made because of him. And now his successor has added to those advances by bringing in top coaches and hopefully once our missing midfielders are back from their injuries, we will have a better idea of exactly what Holden is trying to achieve.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/gary-johnson-sacked-after-dressing-3360530 What actually happened started in the tunnel and had to be broken up by Devon and Cornwall police, what was said beyond sick, SL had no option, he had more than lost the dressing room that night.
Not according to this if you read the article mate "Lansdown said: “Whatever happened took place in the dressing room and these things occur in football. “It had no bearing on the decision for Gary to leave - that decision was based purely on football matters. “We have had a disappointing season and when I met Gary we decided it was in the best interests of the club to make a change. “There was pressure building among supporters and an air of negativity had developed which we need to get rid of as soon as possible.” Johnson was known at Ashton Gate for his hardline stance with players and is regarded as a disciplinarian. But he insisted: “I am leaving on good terms with all the players"
Gary Johnson left by mutual consent. He would have been sacked for gross misconduct - attacking a player (Sproule). Basso fell out with the entire squad. He was always an outsider and his actions isolated himself further.
Believe what you like, if he had said what he said to you under the similar circumstances, I guarantee you would have twatted him. it was disgusting.
