Monday 9 January 2012

GARY JOHNSON RETURNS FOR SECOND SPELL WITH GLOVERS

Gary Johnson's mission, now he has chosen to accept it, is to keep Yeovil Town in League One following his return to the Huish Park hotseat.

He will succeed Terry Skiverton as manager of the Glovers and Skiverton will remain with Yeovil as his assistant.

After being linked to the Bristol Rovers vacancy, Johnson has returned to a place he still holds very dear to his heart and enjoyed great success with during his first reign in charge between 2001-2005.

In his first season with the Glovers, the 2001-02 campaign, Johnson led Yeovil to FA Trophy glory as they defeated Stevenage at Villa Park in the final.

A year later, Johnson ended their 108 wait for league football as they won promotion from the Nationwide Conference as champions.

Yeovil's first season as a football league club, the 2002-03 campaign,  proved to be one of consolidation as they finished 8th in Division Three.

This proved to be the foundation for further success as they won promotion again in the following the season, the 2004-05 campaign, as winners of the newly named Coca-Cola League Two.

Several months after their rise to the third tier of English football, Johnson left Huish Park to take charge of Bristol City who he led to promotion from League One in 2007.

He then led the Robins to the brink of the Premiership a year later when they were defeated in the Championship Play-Off final in 2008 by Hull City.

After leaving Ashton Gate in 2010, spells at Peterborough United and Northampton Town followed before making the return to the club he led to the promised land of the Football League in 2003.

As well as Skiverton, who captained the Glovers for all of their triumphs under his reign, Johnson will also be working alongside coaches Nathan Jones and Darren Way, who both served under him as did midfielder Gavin Williams, who is currently in his fourth spell at Huish Park.

He will also be familiar with Kieran Agard and Jon Obika, who recently agreed to extend his current loan stint at Yeovil until the end of the season, as they both played under him at Peterborough.

It is also worth noting that this is not the first time that Yeovil had entered into such an agreement regarding appointing a new manager whilst demoting the incumbant manager. Johnson's successor in 2005, Steve Thompson, became the assistant manager to Russell Slade in 2006 and remained in the role until Slade's departure in 2009 to make way for Skiverton.