JOHNSON PROVES WORTH OF YOUNG ENGLISH BOSSES BRISTOL CITY v WOLVES TODAY: 1pm
at the highest level you can, and for as long as you can,” says Johnson.
“The best route for me is to take Bristol City into the Premier League via promotion, and that’s what we are striving to do. By the same token there is probably a route for young English managers to get to the Premier League by going out to come in – to go abroad and get noticed. Is the FA doing enough to support young coaches? What are our continental connections? What’s going the other way?
“One of my frustrations for some of my friends – not for myself because I’m at a brilliant club and I am still pushing – is that we should be getting these opportunities as well. I want to see our English Under-23 coaches, because they are high quality, being selected by top foreign clubs.
“I haven’t got an issue with foreign coaches here. I am asking if there is a route both ways. I want to see more done to highlight the quality of young English coaches. So many of them don’t get the opportunity.”
Bristol City’s success so far this season illustrates that Johnson is not a manager prepared to sit on his laurels. When three key players – Bobby Reid, Joe Bryan and Aden
Flint – were sold in the summer he transformed the style of the team into a possession-based side like so many at the top of the Premier League.
And he is constantly searching for new ideas to improve the team, including more conversations with Guardiola. “I have spoken to him a couple of times and that was great,” says Johnson. “You can see the way he is trying to improve individual players and how they execute the game plan. It’s a good time in football to learn.
“I went to visit the set-up at RB Leipzig, for example. I thought I’d come back with three or four things I could implement at Bristol City but actually I wrote down 40. It was well worth it. There have been two or three elements to our play that have been improved by the Leipzig trip. I won’t share them because it would give away our game plan.”
Many managers in the modern game prioritise the League campaign over Cup runs, but Johnson is wary of that approach. “It’s equal for us,” he says. “FA Cup matches like this are an opportunity to prove we are capable of competing at that level.
‘‘We have done it with several wins against Premier League opposition in the last 18 months and this is another chance.”