Gary Johnson (footballer, born 1955)

Gary Johnson (born September 28, 1955) is a British football manager. He is currently the manager of Bristol City.

Management career

He was formerly with Cambridge United, Kettering Town, Watford (as director of their youth academy) and Yeovil Town. He has also managed the Latvian National Team.

Cambridge United

Johnson was manager at Newmarket Town F.C. where he was persuaded to join Cambridge United as Reserve Team manager in 1988. Appointed as Assistant Manager in 1990, Johnson helped John Beck organise the U's remarkable rise in the early 1990s, in which they came within two matches of becoming the first club to rise from the old Fourth Division to the top flight in successive seasons. Johnson was briefly caretaker manager in late 1992 and then took charge from 1993 until 1995.

Kettering Town

After being sacked by Cambridge, Johnson took over as manager of Kettering Town, but was sacked in the 1996-97 season and moved to Watford, as director of their youth academy.

Latvia

He was approached by the Latvian football authorities for help, and became coach of their national team for two years from 1999 to 2001.

Whilst coaching Latvia, he spotted the potential of Marian Pahars and recommended him to Southampton's manager Dave Jones, who invited Pahars for a trial before signing him in March 1999.

Yeovil

Returning to England, Johnson was appointed manager of Yeovil. In his first year in charge the Glovers won the FA Trophy and finished third in the Football Conference; the following year they won the greater prize of the Conference championship and promotion the Football League. Yeovil were immediately contenders in the League and were Division Three champions at the second attempt.

Bristol City

Despite turning down an approach from Derby County in the summer of 2005, Johnson became Bristol City's target when their manager Brian Tinnion resigned that September. Yeovil agreed compensation terms and he became City's manager on 26 September 2005. Despite a long losing streak through October and November, City's fortunes turned around under Johnson and a good run of form in the second half of the season saw them in play-off contention, eventually finishing ninth. Johnson won the League One Manager of the Month award for April 2006 and is also having a good 2006-07 season so far. He was then named Coca-Cola League One Manager of the Month again in March 2007, after successfully managing his side to 16 points from seven games the previous month, allowing Bristol City to be firmly held in automatic promotion places.

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Cambridge United		October 22 1992	April 1 1995	135	41	57	37	30.37
Yeovil Town		June 19 2001	September 23 2005	221	116	59	46	52.48
Bristol City		September 26 2005	Present	78	36	24	18	46.15

External links

• Gary Johnson management career statistics at Soccerbase