Lee Johnson's Legacy

I liked Lee Johnson and I supported him, even in his darkest hour. I liked him because even when the pressure was at its greatest, he continued to explain his decisions, he maintained his even temper in the face of the provocation from the media and because he is intelligent and bright. The most important of those qualities, in my view, is his intelligence.

My football club has struggled ever since it emerged from Administration. It has struggled because it has failed to find a way forward, a way of operating and a sound business model that will enable it to compete in a competitive world and punch above its weight. Its strategy has been muddled. It has gone from one extreme to the other as the owner chose to invest and to then to choke off his investment and impose a policy of frugality. The results that have been achieved on the field, by that the long list of managers that have passed through the club over the years, have very much depended upon whether their reign was through a period of feast, or a period of famine. It was time to try something different.

The reign of Lee Johnson represented that change of direction that the club needed, and if Ben Mansford was responsible for the change of policy, he should be congratulated for it. Johnson was our first chief coach, but it was more than that. The success of the guy in charge of the team was judged by more than the short termism that comes from results on the field. I do not know exactly what he was targeted to achieve, but it was obvious to me that after 8 league defeats and an FA cup exit to a non-league club, there was more to it than results. There had been too many good men shown the door because the board had lost patience. Too many times, results were judged in isolation with no regard for other factors. It was costing too much money and the constant changes of direction that came from the changes in personnel at the top did not allow for the development of the long term strategy that is key to long term success. There are plenty of fans for whom the manager is a hero or a villain based upon his last result, who want to hire and fire on a whim. It is important that they are ignored. It is important that the club is run according to principles and a long term plan. It is important that the club is run intelligently. Lee Johnson was the first of a new breed, a guy who knew the game from the inside, but who had the intelligence to see the bigger picture, and adapt his knowledge of the game to manage within that bigger picture. He was judged not just on short term results, but also upon his ability to improve the players, and therefore to add to their worth. He was judged on how well the club was organised, how efficiently it was run and on the effectiveness of his short term and longer term planning. He was judged, not on what had happened today. He was judged on how well he planned for tomorrow, and those who judge him absolutely on what happens today will never ever see that.

I hope that our next coach is an intelligent one. I hope that our next coach will build on the legacy of our last coach. I hope that the change of coach does not mean that we throw everything out and begin again with new principles. I have no idea who the next guy will be, and that is entirely right and proper, because if we are to discover a hidden gem, he will be someone with a good reputation within the game, but who is unknown to us on the outside. He will be a young and intelligent coach who knows the game from the inside, but who can appreciate the bigger picture. Someone who can carry on the work of our last coach. Continuity is the buzz word relevant to our next appointment. There is no rush to appoint a new guy, because our season is virtually over. It is more important that we get the right guy.

 

I just hope he doesnt talk in spin and waffle !

 

I just hope he doesn't think Sam Winnall is a winger. Josh Scowen a full back or that in order to play Hourihane as a central midfielder he needs accompanying by 234 defensive midfielders.

Just joking Red Rain I echo both your sentiments and your hopes.

 

IMHO Johnson's legacy is in the performance Conor Hourihane put in on Thursday night. Conor was a talented lad when he came to us, but he was nowhere near capable of bossing the midfield like he did in that cup game. I reckon most of us thought such a combative display was beyond him. He was a luxury player, a scorer of great goals and someone who delivered a mean set piece, but capable of going missing for long periods and without a tackle in him. Now he's the captain, he's the one organising the team and he's still scoring match winning goals and delivering fantastic set pieces, but he's also putting in leg breaking challnges on the edge of his own box and simply refusing to let the opposition past. Great credit has got to go to Conor for working on his game, but it also goes to the manager who saw it in him and helped him get there.

And Conor isn't the only one.

 

Good post and one even the hardest "non supporter" of LJ would find it difficult to disagree with

 

The development and improvement of Conor this season has been very impressive and reflects very positively on Conor, Johnson and the whole staff.

 

The Wilson in Johnson out brigade will have you thinking he was capable of that all along. He did it at Plymouth in league 2 they say.

You're right though Johnson put great time, effort and detail in Conors game and all of a sudden he looks Championship worthy.

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Pathetic.

 

What is?

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I was going to respond with all that is all well and good but the question you've failed to answer many times is how much credence or importance do you give those secondary factors when you are staring a relegation in the face. That applies regardless of head coach.

But you won't answer so why have I bothered?

 

Absolutely agree. I've enjoyed listening to Lee's interviews from day one. He's bright and personable and far more articulate than most. He may go on to be a really good manager, he may not. I don't think we can judge as yet. There are some that judged though. Probably the same few who'll be judging the next bloke as soon as he loses a couple of games. Or if he fails to tell them that we're a premier league team just waiting to return to our rightful place.
I can't say I'm fully ok with the timing of his decision to leave, it leaves a bit of a bad taste. But, he's got a family to provide for and everyone knows that in football you look after yourself because in the end, whoever you are, you'll get the bullet. I'm sure he made his decision on the basis of a better pay packet and his previous strong links to Bristol City. But I'm sure in the back of his mind the vitriolic and persistent abuse he's received on here from some will have reinforced the notion that loyalty gets you nowhere.
No doubt someone will say that if he lets what's said on here affect him he needs to grow a pair. I'm sure it didn't. But to hear the mindless chelping from some day in day out won't have gone totally unnoticed.
Anyway, I'm ranting. Onwards and upwards. I just hope the next incumbent doesn't lose a few games in a row or the noisy minority will have their knives out again.

 

You are trolling again. Bringing up the same topic in different posts for no real reason.

 

Will you give it a rest. I love Danny Wilson. I always will. He has proved, without any shadow of a doubt, over 1000+ league games in charge, that he is an extremely competent football manager. I thought he was treated incredibly harshly this last time around and, like thousands of others, believed his sacking was unjustified. But that doesn't mean I can't like Johnson and recognise the good things he brought to the club. The two managers aren't in competition for my emotions. I'll have fond memories of them both.

 

There is no "Wilson in, Johnson out" brigade. The suspects wanted both sacked but failed to offer any other opinion. Let's not forget the BBS sages decided Connor was rubbish only 2 months ago and wouldn't be fussed if we sold him.

 

You are not staring relegation in the face in December. There is half a season left any anything can happen, and indeed anything did.

I answer when posters deserve an answer. I answer debate and reasoned argument. I do not answer personal abuse.

 

I agree with most of your post but the bits I've bolded are very snide. We didn't lose a few in a row, we lost 8 league games in a row leaving us bottom of the third tier and in the middle of that we were knocked out of the FA Cup by Altrincham, a part time side.

I sincerely hope people don't get on any new manager's back after a few bad results, but lets not pretend that run of results earlier in the season didn't deserve criticism. The constant chirping of a few on here became tiresome, but the fact Johnson was under scrutiny was fully justifiable.

Also, literally no-one thinks our rightful place is in the Premier League. They just expect better than bottom of League One.

 

They will for me too.

I'm not saying it was one of the other. I'm saying many of those that wanted Danny to stay haven't given LJ the credit he deserves. Especially for his work regarding the development of Hourihane.



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Just don't get involved in my posts if you think I'm trolling. It's that simple.

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I thought Wilson did work on this and we did see some improvement but then Danny was outed and Conor went backwards again with the new man coming in.
This season Johnno has attempted what Danny did and yet again we are seeing improvement and the added responsibility of the armband has helped too.

Hope he keeps this up because he seems more of a rounded player nowadays.

It aint down to one manager its down to em both and Conor Himself.

 

I will probably take the opposite approach.

As Jay says it's not mutually exclusive to think that Danny's treatment was shabby but also be able to appreciate the good things that Johnson did without ignoring the poorer aspects of both.

Johnson and the coaching staff did some great work on Hourihane. They also spent a lot of time on Ben Pearson that looked like it was paying off in his last few games for us.

Johnson is a young guy interested in being innovative and driving teams forward through tactical change. He made a lot of mistakes with us but that's only to be expected. You could say the opposite was perhaps a problem for Wilson the second time round stuck in his methods a little and making mistakes as a result. Johnson when the dust settles had a couple of good periods and a could of bad. In the annuals of our club because he left he did he will be little more than a footnote.p (if he had stayed who knows). Wilson like Glavin and Taylor and Rimmington and Winstanley and Clarke and Johnny Steele are in the DNA of the club.

I think the transition to a head coach role and the idea of a transfer committee based on statistical analysis is a good one. Johnson fitted this model far better than Wilson. It also makes him imminently replaceable as the communication form the club indicates. Johnson's time will be finally remembered as a period of transition with a hopeful ending. It's difficult to be stronger than that. Wilson left us with some good players but ultimately failed and didn't meet the requirements of remodelled club.

It's as straightforward as that. You don't have to ignore the virtues or faults of one person to appreciate the same things in another. It's called balance.

But trolling a club legend reflects very poorly on you as does bringing the topic up in threads that have nothing to do with that person.