I know most people are polarised in all this at the moment but I'm feeling positive about the entire charade. Maybe my distinct lack of outright love for the once beautiful game has made me more objective but here goes anyway. 1. Johnson is a boom or bust manager - Only a week away from meltdown and 6 defeats on the spin. 2. Patrick Cryne will have gone through hell this season, he must have been close to parting ways on numerous occasions but his instinct was to stick with it, at times when it must have been hard to get out of bed and open the curtains with the disaster that was happening around him. His own determination against the culture of doom around the club at the time must have been energy sapping. This might have gone horribly wrong but for a few consequential happenings that changed the course of our season. 3. We now get an injection of money that we never thought we would get, if we get say 200k, then thats at least a 700k swing from where we thought we were going to be just 5 weeks ago. 4. Recruiting another external Head Coach. We are a far better pull than we have been for years, so I would think we would have more than enough Managers wanting to speak to us, especially considering the support we gave Johnson, when the turd was half way around the U Bend. I'd imagine the respect from potential candidates increased dramatically during that period. 5. Johnson couldn't turn down that offer... no chance and none of us would either, irrespective of emotional viewpoints. His Club is Bristol City, the pull is there, the unfinished business from his old man, added to the fact its going to pay him 3 times more than we would, and have money to spend if they stay up or go down. Its a no brainer. I don't feel pain for his decision, once it was there, he was off, and I would be too. His record means it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. 6. At the moment some, if not most people are blinded by the last 5 weeks, its been a remarkable turnaround but we've been here before. We've also understood that his determination not to be more attacking or assertive in our play has left us losing games we should never have lost. I have always said that although our squad is transient that our first XI is reasonably strong for this division, and we are under achieving. I still think we are, we shouldn't be 12th. Its good enough to be in the top 6, and without that sounding all Sheff Utd, they should have a strong enough squad to be auto promotion challenges. They've players on 15k a week, the thunder cnuts. In summary, all points I make are positive ones, the reason for and against all lead to same outcome. This is good for all concerned. We're stronger than we were but behind where we should have been. He gets the job he's always wanted and we get paid. The opportunity is there to grasp; we aren't out of the play off race, we're at Wembley, and we are an attractive proposition for a wannabe boss. Lets not **** this up this time, because I feel the people are getting behind the team again, and the feel good factor seems to be returning, and it wasn't down to the ex boss, it was down to 100 different reasons that all added up to one thing, and a return of confidence. I'm not sure LJ had that much part to play in it.
http://www.otib.co.uk/index.php?/topic/175028-what-to-expect-from-johnson/ Guessing someone from on here posted this article but I pissed myself at how arrogant they are/ how much they don't seem to understand that the real reason LJ got us on a winning streak from a dire 3 months of stagnation is Adam Hammill who should not be in this league. A bit shocked at how their fans on their forum seem to be generally actually always thought brizzle fans were alright but seemingly not. As you say I think this is positive and if those crowing wurzels want to think they've got one over on us so be it I look forward to their ship sinking!
Thing is the are only saying the things we said when he left Oldham. Its what fans do. Like I said I'm happy, I don't think we are weaker (yet) than when he was here, he's done a great job for 5 weeks, maybe those 5 weeks have been the result of a years worth of planning and hard work, but his history doesn't point to that. I don't hate him, I don't feel anything part from I'm looking forward to the end of the season. It is what it is. The difficulty is choosing the right man to take over that can keep this run going, and maybe have enough about him or her (Cherie Lunghi is out of work at the moment) to maybe keep the better players together in the run in but also in the summer. Hammill could stay if he thinks we'll have a tilt at promotion next season etc.
it felt a bit bad the way he left us after taking us to wembley , but it was only what we did to oldham . time to move on , wembley and a late push for play offs
Captures my thoughts exactly. The only reason anyone should be unhappy about what's happened is if they think that the recent turnaround would have been sustained indefinitely, that there's nobody out there who can step in and do an equivalent job, and that loyalty should outweigh personal ambition. I don't think any of these things enough to believe that Johnson going is a bad thing. Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Thought it was the Wednesday board there for a minute , one or two seem decent, the majority seem to think they are some kind of sleeping Barcelona. Particularly like the bit about if there players don't like LJ's tactics they will just ignore him! , give it a few weeks and we can pop on and say we told you so
Shocking aren't they! Just been catching up on the posts I missed over night "What is the whole point of Barnsley? Rubbish club, rubbish town, rubbish stadium and fans who believe they should be in the premier." Calm down, pal, did tha mrs leave thi fo someone from tarn?
Top post TN Summed up my feelings exactly without having the rigmaroll of finding the right words and punctuations.
Re: A lot of sense there Not sure why everyone is placing so much reliance of the turnaround on Adam Hammill. He's undoubtedly been a factor but we're far from a one man team. He's missed a couple of games through injury which we still won. He didn't do much against Fleetwood and I'd say he hasn't been on top form the few games before his injury as either. It's not Hammill that's helped us keep clean sheet after clean sheet, he's not brought in Long and helped Mawson start to realise his potential. Hammill hasn't taught Hourihanne to defend and neither has he signed White, Brownhill and Isgrove. He hasn't set up all of Winnall's 1635 goals in the last few games and helped him find his shooting boots again. Hammill hasn't helped Davies pull off some great saves including two penalties to take us to Wembley and neither has he taught Watkins to effectively play the target man role. Hammill hasn't brought Williams into the team from out in the cold, teaching him to play out of position so effectively that he put in a couple of arguably MOTM performances. To pretty much put our upturn in form completely down to Hammill, as the two posters on the Bristol City forum have, is an insult to how hard all of the other players have worked. It's a number of reasons, one of which is Hammill, and the rest is down to LJ, the back room staff, the board and the other players.
Re: A lot of sense there I would say its down to Hammill in that he came in, raised morale and led by example after the losing streak and the other players rode on the crest of that wave since. To say that didn't happen is ridiculous
Re: A lot of sense there "He has almost single handedly turned our season around and has been the difference between where we are now and still being in the bottom 4 in my opinion" In my opinion that is ridiculous. He's certainly one of the catalysts, but there's 22 players on a pitch, to go from losing 8 in a row to winning 6 in row needs an improvement from all of our players. Without Hammill we wouldn't be 12+ points worse off that would see us in the relegation zone. We can more than hold our own without Hammill. I'd go as far as saying the change in morale is more linked to Hourihane being made captain.
Re: A lot of sense there I agree that Adam Hammill isn't the only reason our season turned. We were leaking goals for fun and the signing of White and loaning Long has made a big difference as well as Davies playing week in week out building consistency. This gave us the foundation. Isgrove has benefitted from having a counter on the opposite wing and Marley and Sam have forged a good 2 up front. Hamill without doubt has added some quality, creativity and experience that has significantly contributed to our success, but not in isolation.
Re: A lot of sense there When we lost those games he was inept, when we won it was just down to Hammill. Maybe Winnall. And Hourihane as captain. And Mawson playing better. And White. Maybe Bree too. Williams too, clearing 3 off the line. Davies with some cracking saves from outfield play and the penalty spot. Isgrove's hard work. And Watkins combining well with Winnall. Whatever.
