The late Tony Boyce, who served as chairman of Torquay United between 1964 and 1984, never met Gary Johnson.
However, Boyce, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 77, would have given his seal of approval to the Gulls' appointment of Johnson as successor to Gary Owers in September 2018 had he been alive at the time. Aware of the difficulty in attracting players to South Devon, Boyce always insisted that every prospective Gulls manager needed three qualities above all else, namely: 'contacts, contacts and contacts'.
With over 30 years in management, which has seen him take charge of Cambridge United, Yeovil Town (twice), Bristol City, Peterborough United, Northampton Town, Cheltenham Town and the Latvian national side, in addition to his two and a bit years as United manager, Johnson has those qualities in abundance.
It has been quite a journey for both United and Johnson across those previous 99 matches. The Gulls have won 58 of them, as they have risen from 14th in National League South to the summit of the National League, with the National League South won in the 2018-19 campaign along the way.
On the eve of what will be Johnson's 100th match in charge of United, in their re-arranged FA Trophy tie away to Boreham Wood tomorrow, he utilised his connections to bring in midfielder Max Sheaf from Hull City, who are currently managed by Grant McCann, who was Johnson's captain at Peterborough.
Earlier in his reign at Plainmoor, Johnson brought in the likes of Saikou Janneh, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, Opi Edwards and Robbie Cundy on loan from Bristol City, when his son, Lee Johnson, was in charge at Ashton Gate. Janneh, Lemonheigh-Evans, and Edwards all played a role in helping United finish the 2018-19 season as National League South champions - the club's first league title for over 90 years. All three would return to Plainmoor during their 2019-20 National League campaign, and Lemonheigh-Evans has since joined the Gulls permanently, along with Jake Andrews who was originally signed by Owers.
Whether we will see any loan players from Johnson junior's current club Sunderland only time will tell.
Another name who deserves a mention is Johnson's brother Pete, who serves as the Gulls head of recruitment, whose work often goes unseen, but involves many hours watching and assessing potential signings.
Although he will be marking his century of matches as United boss in the FA Trophy, Johnson's primary aim remains winning promotion back into the Football League. With the Gulls now eight points clear at the top of the National League table, Johnson's focus in the slightly longer term will be to maintain that lead following United's next two league fixtures - away to seventh placed Notts County and home to Sutton United, who are currently third.
