Gary Johnson's spell in charge of Torquay United was the longest of his managerial career, which has lasted the best part of four decades, and it was one that was characterised by a series of highs and lows.
The highs included a first league title for the Gulls since the 1926-27 season in the 2018-19 campaign when United romped to the National League South title and the Gulls' play-off final defeat to Hartlepool United at Ashton Gate in 2021. Then came the lows as two years later, United were relegated back to the National League South and struggled to reach the heights of 2018-19 in the 2023-24 season.
When Johnson was first appointed, many eyebrows were raised at his arrival as many fans would have been expecting an appointment along the lines of Steve Tully or Lee Hodges.
The Gulls' journey under Johnson began with a 2-0 away win over Hungerford United on September 15, 2018, which was followed by a 7-0 rout of Wessex League side Lymington Town in the FA Cup second qualifying round a week later.
Then came the first real challenge of Johnson’s then brief reign – the visit of league leaders Woking to Plainmoor for a game he described as a ‘six-pointer’. Despite trailing 2-0 at half-time, United rallied to draw 2-2 - with Jamie Reid netting a brace for the Gulls.
Under Johnson, Reid was a player transformed as he finished the 2018-19 campaign with 32 goals to his name. He then went on to score a further 21 in the 2019-20 National League season.
Johnson also made good use of his connections with Bristol City, where his son Lee was manager. United had already loaned Jake Andrews and Opi Edwards from the Ashton Gate club, and they would be joined at Plainmoor by Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Saikou Janneh. He was also joined at Plainmoor by his brother Pete, who became his head of recruitment, and former Gulls defender Aaron Downes, who was appointed as his assistant.
It wasn’t until January 19, 2019, that United tasted defeat for the first time in the league when they were beaten 3-2 by Bath City at Twerton Park. By this time, the Gulls had set a new record for unbeaten league games of 16. However, Oxford City would find themselves on the receiving end of the backlash of that loss, as United won 7-2 – after leading 5-0 at half-time. It was also a game that saw Jake Andrews score a hat trick from midfield, while Reid and Janneh netted a brace apiece.
The second half of the season also saw United produce a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary which – amongst other things - captured the scenes in the dressing room before and after each game. This included a scene when Johnson tore into his charges, giving them the full ‘hairdryer’ treatment when they trailed 1-0 away to East Thurrock on a Tuesday night in February 2019. However, Johnson’s message had the desired effect as United turned things around to win 2-1, with Ruairi Keating scoring a late winner.
At the end of March 2019, the Gulls beat Chelmsford City 3-1 at Plainmoor which left them with one hand on the title. A 3-3 draw with second-placed Woking a week later at the Kingfield Stadium – which was secured with a Ben Wynter volley in stoppage time - effectively ended the Cards’ challenge for top spot. This meant that when United beat Eastbourne Borough 2-0 at Plainmoor in front of a crowd of more than 4,500, with goals from Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Jake Andrews, which saw them confirmed as National League South champions for 2018-19.
Defeats against Chippenham Town and Hungerford followed – the latter saw the Gulls receive the trophy in front of a National League South record crowd of 5,351 - before United said goodbye to the National League South with a 4-0 win away to St Albans City. It was a game that saw another record fall as Kalvin Kalala – who Johnson brought to Plainmoor from Cheltenham - opened the scoring with the fastest goal in the club’s history after 10 seconds.
Back in the National League, United started the 2019-20 campaign with a 2-1 win over Boreham Wood. It would be a season that would throw up several inconsistencies for the Gulls – partly due to injuries – as United recorded 4-2 wins against eventual champions Barrow and play-off winners Harrogate Town. Nevertheless, they would also lose 5-1 to Stockport County at Plainmoor in November 2019 and were thrashed 6-2 to Yeovil Town on Boxing Day 2018. Bizarrely the heavy defeat to Stockport occurred around a month after the Gulls had beaten the Hatters 4-0 at Edgeley Park – making the aggregate score from both fixtures 5-5.
The Covid-19 enforced suspension of the National League saw United end the campaign after 36 matches. The outcome of the season was decided using PPG (points per game) to calculate the league’s final placings, which saw the Gulls finish in 14th place.
In the extended close season before the start of the delayed 2020-21 campaign, Johnson was busy in the transfer market, as Danny Wright, top scorer in his National League title winning side with Cheltenham, joined as a replacement for the Mansfield Town bound Reid. Other notable new arrivals included Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Gary Warren, who joined the Gulls permanently following successful loan spells from Bristol City and Exeter City respectively, and experienced left-back Dean Moxey also arrived from Exeter. On the eve of the season, Johnson also made three loan signings in the form of Adam Randell (Plymouth Argyle), Sam Sherring (AFC Bournemouth) and Louis Britton (Bristol City).
United started the campaign with a 1-0 home win over pre-season favourites Stockport, with Lemonheigh-Evans netting a last-minute winner, in a match played behind closed doors – due to coronavirus restrictions. They followed this up with a number of other impressive results, including a 5-0 win away to Hartlepool United on October 31, 2019 (which was broadcast live on BT Sport), as the Gulls established themselves amongst the league's front-runners.
Other memorable results included a 6-5 FA Cup first round exit to Crawley Town, a 6-1 drubbing of Yeovil Town on Boxing Day and a 4-0 away victory over Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy fourth round – which marked Johnson’s 100th game in charge.
Over the course of the campaign, United would score a number of late goals in what became as known as 'Gary time'.
The remainder of the season saw the Gulls remain neck and neck with Sutton United, with both sides sharing the lead at various stages. The title race itself was decided in their penultimate game of the season, as United drew 2-2 with Barnet and Sutton beat Hartlepool United (more on them later) 3-0 to claim top spot.
Nevertheless, United could at least console themselves with their highest ever finish in the National League of second place - the Gulls' finished third and fourth in the division under Paul Buckle between 2007 and 2009 - as they prepared to face Notts County in the play-offs. The Magpies were promptly dispatched 4-2 after extra time to set up a final with Hartlepool United.
The final was played at Ashton Gate to avoid clashing with matches from the delayed Euro 2020 matches being staged at Wembley. The Gulls appeared to have taken the lead on eight minutes through Kyle Cameron, however referee Simon Mather deemed Cameron to have impeded Hartlepool goalkeeper Brad James - even though the replay of the incident showed that contact appeared to be minimal.
In the second half, Cameron had another effort disallowed for a foul on James, but just when it seemed as though Hartlepool would hold onto win, goalkeeper Lucas Covolan went up for a corner and headed home an equaliser for United to force extra time.
There were no further goals in extra time, as the final went to penalties. Despite Covolan saving two Hartlepool penalties, misses from Billy Waters and Danny Wright meant the Gulls remained level at 4-4 after Asa Hall, Joe Lewis, Armani Little and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans all converted.
Ryan Donaldson then made it 5-4 to Hartlepool before Matt Buse had his spot-kick saved by James, as the Pools secured their return to the Football League at the expense of the Gulls.
The close season saw a number of players leave Plainmoor as Ashton Gate hero Lucas Covolan earned himself a move to the EFL with Port Vale. Kyle Cameron and Aaron Nemane both moved to Notts County and Ben Whitfield joined Stockport County.
New arrivals included goalkeeper Mark Halstead from Morecambe, central midfielder Tom Lapslie from Colchester United and a number of young prospects, who included Dan Martin (Cardiff City), Ali Omar (Barnsley), Keelan O’Connell (AFC Bournemouth) and Klaidi Lolos (Plymouth Argyle).
Johnson also brought in a number of players following pre-season trials, including Dan Holman, who served under him at Cheltenham Town, and winger Gabby Rogers, a former United youth team player who had been released by Yeovil.
United made a slow start to the 2022-23 campaign, losing their opening three home games of the campaign against Altrincham (1-3), Woking (0-4) and Grimsby Town (1-3). However, a 1-0 victory over Southend United in September courtesy of a late winner from Connor Lemonheigh-Evans got the Gulls up and running at Plainmoor. The Southend win also marked goalkeeper Shaun MacDonald’s return to the club, after turning down a new contract in the summer.
For the remainder of the season, they would only lose two more home league fixtures (against FC Halifax Town and Solihull Moors).
Johnson also used the loan market to good effect, bringing in Sinclair Armstrong and Stephen Duke-McKenna from Queens Park Rangers and Stephen Wearne from Sunderland, who were then managed by Lee Johnson.
Memorable results from the campaign included completing a first ever league ‘double’ over Yeovil Town (3-0 on Boxing Day at Plainmoor and 2-1 in the return at Huish Park on January 2, 2022) and a 5-1 win over Notts County which saw Lemonheigh-Evans bag his first career hat-trick.
In the end, United finished 11th – only falling out of contention for a play-off spot with three games to go.
The summer of 2022 saw a number of departures as Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Joe Lewis both signed for League Two side Stockport County and Armani Little and Shaun MacDonald also headed to the EFL to sign for Forest Green Rovers and Cheltenham Town. Amongst others leaving for pastures new were the long serving Ben Wynter and the experienced Danny Wright.
To replace them, in came Kieron Evans on a season-long loan from Cardiff City, strikers Aaron Jarvis (Scunthorpe United) and Corie Andrews (AFC Wimbledon), midfielders Brett McGavin (Ipswich Town), Ryan Hanson (Dover Athletic) and Shaun Donellan (Maidenhead United), centre backs Ross Marshall (Stevenage) and Ollie Tomlinson (Plymouth Argyle) and right-back Dylan Crowe (Ipswich Town).
What came next was a season of struggle which culminated in relegation on the final day of the season, with a 1-1 draw with champions Wrexham. The Gulls also experienced a number of heavy defeats, losing 4-1 at home to Solihull Moors, 6-0 away to Wrexham, 4-0 away to Notts County and 5-1 at home to Chesterfield. Brief high points of the 2022-23 campaign included a 6-1 win over Aldershot Town, which was their first home league win in eight attempts that also saw Aaron Jarvis become the sixth player to score a hat-trick for the Gulls under Johnson - a feat he would emulate in the Gulls' 3-2 win over York City later in the campaign, a 2-2 draw with Derby County in the FA Cup first round and a five-match winning run in March-April 2023 which raised hopes that a 'great escape' could be achieved.
In the 2023-24 campaign, with the majority of the players who finished the previous campaign signed up, minus Frank Nouble who signed for Yeovil and young defender Nico Lawrence who returned to his parent club Southampton, hopes were high the season would turn out to be a memorable one. However, a 2-2 draw with Dover Athletic and a 3-0 home defeat to Worthing soon proved that the path ahead wouldn't be as smooth as first hoped.
However, a run of six wins from their seven league fixtures saw optimism of a swift return to the National League rise. Unfortunately, a slump followed which saw Johnson react badly to criticism - making reference to the 'right type of fan' in one of his pre-match pressers.
At the turn of the year, a run of one win in 11 league matches - plus an FA Trophy exit at the hands of Hereford United - prior to the announcement that Chairman Clarke Osborne will be placing the club in Administration preceded Johnson's decision to call it a day, bringing his reign as the club's third longest serving manager to an end.
Johnson isn't the first Torquay United manager to see his reign fizzle out after reaching a high point which could have changed the destiny of the entire club had fate been kinder to them.
In the 1987-88 season, the late Cyril Knowles led the Gulls to the brink of promotion, with defeat in a two-legged play-off final to Swansea City. Despite reaching the Sherpa Van Trophy final against Bolton Wanderers in 1989, United didn't get as close to promotion again under Knowles' reign.
Fast forward to the 1993-94 campaign, and the Gulls lost out to in the play-offs again under Don O'Riordan, this time to Preston North End in the semi-finals after Darren Moore's controversial red card. A mid-table finish then followed in 1994-95 before O'Riordan was dismissed after an 8-1 defeat to Scunthorpe United in October 1995.
A decade later, Leroy Rosenior led United to automatic promotion in the 2003-04 season and so nearly kept the Gulls in League One in 2004-05 - a 2-1 defeat to Colchester United on the final day saw the Gulls relegated back to the fourth tier on goal difference. Once back in League Two, Leroy couldn't re-create the same magic in the 2005-06 campaign and left in January 2006.
Then in the 2011-12 season, after succeeding Paul Buckle following United's League Two play-off final loss to Stevenage Martin Ling once again guided the Gulls to the play-offs, where they were beaten by Cheltenham Town in the semi-finals. In the subsequent 2012-13 campaign, Ling stood down as manager midway through the season due to the health reasons, which later turned out to be depression, and was eventually replaced in the summer of 2013 by Alan Knill.
Life after Gary Johnson begins with a home fixture with Aveley that sees his assistant Aaron Downes take interim charge for the first time.
Now is the time to get behind the Gulls and truly be One Club - United.
