While many Torquay United fans are calculating how many points the Gulls could finish the 2020-21 season with under PPG (points per game) – should the campaign be suspended early because of Covid-19 - there is one stat that has slipped under the radar.
United's trip to Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy fourth round on Saturday will mark Gary Johnson's 100th game in charge of the Gulls in all competitions.
In terms of league placing United have made a huge strides under Johnson. Their 1-0 defeat at home to Chippenham Town in Gary Owers' final game in charge on September 8, 2018 left the Gulls in 14th in National League South. Within days Owers was relieved of his duties and Johnson was unveiled as United manager ahead of their trip to Hungerford Town on September 15, 2018, which the Gulls duly won 2-0.
Johnson was later joined at Plainmoor by his brother, Pete, as his head of recruitment - a role that he has held under Johnson at a number of clubs, including Yeovil Town (twice), Bristol City, Peterborough United, Northampton Town and Cheltenham Town. He also drafted in former United centre back Aaron Downes, who was his captain when he led Cheltenham to the National League title in 2015-16, as his assistant.
By the end of the 2018-19 campaign, the National League South had been clinched with three games to spare with a 2-0 home win over Eastbourne Borough on April 13, 2019. After consolidating their status in the National League in the shortened 2019-20 campaign, United are currently top of the National League at the time of writing - eight points clear of second placed Hartlepool United.
This represents an increase in places of 38, and only Danny Cowley at Lincoln City (2016-2019) and the late Justin Edinburgh at Leyton Orient (2017 and 2019) can claim to have had an impact that is comparable to the one that Johnson has had at Plainmoor. If Johnson does indeed go on to lead the Gulls back into the Football League by the end of the 2020-21 season, he will have secured a seventh career promotion - which would put him one behind Neil Warnock who has eight - and a third at National League level - that would see him equal John Still's record of three promotions from the fifth tier.
What is perhaps more remarkable is that Johnson is the first manager to reach the milestone since Paul Buckle, who took charge of United for 226 games in all competitions between 2007 and 2011. Kevin Nicholson came close to reaching a century of matches as Gulls boss, the former United left-back was eight short of the figure on 92 matches when he was dismissed early on in the 2017-18 campaign.
However, none of this will matter to Johnson if United fail to win on Saturday against Boreham Wood.
Torquay United's record to date under Gary Johnson in all competitions: Played 99, won 58, drawn 12, lost 29.
