Following Torquay United's 2-0 away win over Hungerford Town in Gary Johnson's first game in charge - we will now look at five interesting facts about the Gulls' manager.
1. Johnson started his career in football as an apprentice with Watford at the age of 16 before signing a professional in 1973. He later went on to play in Sweden for Malmo, where Bobby Houghton was manager and it was there that his coaching ambitions were first nurtured.
2. In 1993, Johnson got his first taste of Football League management at Cambridge United after serving as reserve team manager under John Beck at the Abbey Stadium between 1988 and 1993. During his time working under Beck, the U's had risen from the Football League's basement division to the brink of the top-flight in a relatively short time. He is the fourth manager in recent times to have managed the Uniteds of Torquay and Cambridge, a list that also includes Ian Atkins, Roy McFarland and Martin Ling.
3. In April 2013, Johnson senior faced Johnson junior in the dug-out as Gary's Yeovil side came up against Lee's Oldham Athletic in a League One encounter. At the time both sides needed the points for different reasons as the Latics were fighting against relegation, whilst the Glovers were heading for the play-offs. In the end, Johnson junior's Oldham came out on top to win 1-0, in a what was the first managerial head-to-head between father and son since Bill Dodgin senior's Fulham faced Bill Dodgin junior's Bristol Rovers 40 years earlier.
4. In March 2017, Johnson underwent a triple heart bypass operation after being admitted for emergency heart surgery. The heart surgeon performing the surgery was Alan Bryan - father of the then Bristol City wing-back Joe Bryan - and the operation was so successful that Johnson was able to resume his duties as Cheltenham Town manager at the start of the 2017-18 campaign. Fast forward to December 2017 and the Johnson family had another reason to be gratuitous to the Bryan family, as Bryan junior scored the winner for Bristol City, now managed by Johnson's son Lee, in a Carabao Cup Quarter Final tie against Manchester United at Ashton Gate.
5. They are three current Football League managers who played under Johnson during his time as manager Yeovil Town, including his son, Lee, who is currently manager of Bristol City (who Johnson senior led to the brink of the Premier League in 2008), Darren Way (who is manager of Yeovil Town - another of Johnson's former clubs) and Nathan Jones who is in charge of Luton Town).
