How Gary’s reign as City manager got off to a winning start against Brentford
GARY Johnson had been Bristol City manager for just 24 hours when the Robins took on Brentford at Griffin Park in a League One fixture on September 24, 2005.
Brian Tinnion had resigned following a 7-1 annihilation at Swansea City two weeks earlier, and caretaker boss Keith Millen took charge for the 1-1 home draw with Blackpool and 3-1 midweek defeat at Nottingham Forest, which followed.
Johnson breezed into Ashton Gate on the Friday afternoon before the Brentford game, admitting his knowledge of the team he was inheriting came largely from television and radio.
The now Torquay United manager had attracted City with his work at Yeovil Town between 2001 and 2005, a spell which saw the Glovers win the FA Trophy and earn promotion to the Football League as runaway winners of the Conference.
Prior to that, Gary had been coach of the Latvian national team. Now he took on the job of reviving a City side, who had won just once in ten games at the start of the 200506 campaign.
With so little time for preparation, Johnson delegated responsibility for team selection against Brentford to Millen, who made significant changes.
Bradley Orr replaced Jamie Smith at right-back and Scott Brown was moved to the left wing. Grant Smith lost his place, with Luke Wilkshire switching to the middle of the park.
Matt Heywood took over in central defence from Clayton Fortune, while Dave Cotterill was recalled on the right of midfield. Millen also gave a debut to Cameroon trialist Guy Madjo up front alongside Marcus Stewart, signed that summer on a free transfer from Sunderland amid a blaze of publicity.
But by his mere presence Johnson appeared to make a difference, accompanying his new charges to the ground on the team coach and giving the pre-match team talk before taking his place in the dugout.
Brentford had won five and drawn two of their opening nine League One games, but by the 12th minute they were trailing. Craig Woodman’s cross from the left was nodded down by Madjo into the path of Stewart, who finished clinically for his second City goal.
It was 2-0 five minutes before the break when Darren Pratley upended Brown 30 yards out and Wilkshire found the top corner with a sweetly struck free-kick.
Brentford found a way back into the game midway through the second half when Woodman marred an otherwise strong game by failing to clear inside his own box, allowing Paul Brooker to stab home from close range.
Happily for Johnson, the Brentford substitute was not the only Brooker on the field. Seven minutes later, City’s Steve, who had replaced Stewart after the Brentford goal, met a Brown cross with a powerful header that rocketed in off the underside of the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Brown was played through by Wilkshire and sent crashing to the ground by onrushing Bees goalkeeper Stuart Nelson. Wilkhire took responsibility for the spot-kick, but the Australian saw his tame shot saved by the diving Nelson.
Instead of being 4-1 up and out of sight, City had to endure a nervy last ten minutes after Brentford defender Sam Sodje took advantage of poor marking at a free-kick to head past Steve Phillips.
The hosts fought tenaciously for an equaliser and it was backs-tothe-wall for Johnson’s men, who held out for a 3-2 victory.
But, for a 20-minute spell at the start of the second half, City had produced some of their best football of the season, breaking sharply out of defence with wingers Brown and Cotterill prominent. Stewart was denied a second goal by Sodje’s last-ditch intervention and fund the net from a Cole Skuse through ball, only to be ruled offside. The former Bristol Rovers striker was also narrowly wide with an acrobatic volley and went close again from Madjo’s clever backflick.
After the game Johnson was quick to praise the reception he had been given by City fans who had made the short journey along the M4.
“The love affair with the supporters began as soon as I got off the bus,” he said. “About 40 of them came over and gave me a great welcome. It brought a lump to my throat.
“The fans were fantastic and it is important we keep going in this vein and entertaining them in this manner.
“I got into a few of the players before the game and they responded magnificently. It was a very happy dressing room at the end and I’d say it’s the biggest and best response to my first game in charge anywhere at any time.”
Brown’s day was marred by being denied the chance of a first City goal, having been ready to take the second-half penalty squandered by Wilkshire.
“Luke swiped the ball away from me as I went to grab it,” he said. “I was gutted that he did.
“Then again, I was going to take the free-kick leading up to our second goal and I’m glad it was Luke who took that.”
Soon Johnson was transforming City’s squad with a series of loan signings, including Osei Sankofa, Kelly Youga, James Quinn, Marc Joseph, David Noble, Liam Fontaine, Adam Green, Mark McCammon, Calvin Andrew and Bas Savage, the gangly striker who became a cult hero with some fans.
Gary also recruited a new goalkeeper in Adriano Basso, who like Noble and Fontaine, both later signed permanently, would go on to play an important role in the 2006-07 promotion season.
A year after that, Johnson guided City to the Championship play-off final at Wembley where a crowd of 86,703 saw them lose to a Dean Windass wonder goal, which took Hull to the promised land of the Premier League.
In the latest article of our flashback series, RICHARD LATHAM , former Bristol City reporter for the Bristol Evening Post, recalls a great start for manager Gary Johnson as the Robins beat Brentford 3-2 at Griffin Park in 2005. The sides meet in a Championship game at the Brentford Community Stadium tomorrow