Johnson joining an elite list of managers

Now the third longest serving manager in Torquay United’s history, after celebrating his fifth ‘anniversary’, manager Gary Johnson’s drive and enthusiasm for the job shows no sign of waning.
Johnson, who will be 68 later this month, took over on September 13, 2018, soon after leaving Cheltenham Town, with assistant Aaron Downes following him into Plainmoor days later.
The Gulls, just relegated to the National League South under Gary Owers, were in the bottom half of the table.
Johnson turned things around then, led the club to the championship eight months later and took them to the NL Premier Play-Off Final in 2021 before the shock of relegation back to South level last season.
But the former Yeovil Town (twice), Bristol City, Northampton Town and Cheltenham boss, insisted: “We’re as excited now as we ever have been, and as keen.
“We are pretty loyal people. We enjoy our job, and we see the potential here.
“We’re not Man City or Man Utd, where you can build with the best players in the world.
“You get a bit of stick along the way sometimes, although you try to appease people, and you’re there to be shot at.
“We’ve had a step forward and a step back. We’ve had our fun, and we want it again.
“We’ve had promotion, got to the Play-Off Final, and we’ve brought through some talented players whom we’ve now lost.
“We’re working towards getting the next promotion back into the National League and beyond.
“Our aim is still to get back into the Football League as soon as we can.”
Only Eric Webber (1951-65) and Frank Brown (1932-38) have enjoyed longer stints as Torquay’s boss than Johnson.
This is the longest he’s spent in one job, beating the four and a half years he was in charge at Bristol City (2005-2010).
And, in an era when the average tenure of managers in English senior football is less than two years, Johnson is also one of the longest serving in the domestic game.
He’s behind only men like Simon Weaver (Harrogate Town 14yrs), John Coleman (Accrington Stanley), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Mark Robins (Coventry City).
Loyalty works both ways, and United’s owner Clarke Osborne has shown similar faith in Johnson, sticking with him after last season’s relegation.