Judgement day awaits

My first post in this blog, 32 days ago, was to lament the defeat of Bristol City by Stoke at The Britannia Stadium back in late April. That 2-1 scoreline effectively ended our chances of automatic promotion, and more worryingly, having sat in the top 6 since August 25th, our play-off place, which only weeks before had looked set in stone, was under severe threat.

What a difference a month makes. The £60 Million game, the (allegedly) richest in World Football, awaits us at Wembley this Saturday. The two most unfashionable teams around vying for a place in the Premier League, neither of whom have been in The Championship for longer than 3 years. The outspoken orange of Phil Brown against the diminuitive cheeky-chappy Gary Johnson.

Can Gary become the first manager to win promotions from every national league in the country? His past workings suggest so.

Michael McIndoe, probably our most outgoing player during media interviews, claimed last week that when asked by Johnson at the start of the season where they would expect to finish as a minimum requirement, each and every squad member chose the play-offs as their benchmark.

The rest of the footballing world would have found this crazy; we couldn't even win League One and had kept the majority of the same squad for 2007/8, yet we were arrogant enough to believe we were worthy of a play-off place. There would probably be a few dissenting voices in the City support, too, the odd doubter yet to be won over by one season of Johnson magic.

How he's done it, I'll never know. Our hero at Crystal Palace, David Noble, was signed on loan from League 2 Boston United amidst a crisis at Ashton Gate, with 8 consecutive defeats recorded following Johnson's appointment in September 2005, and those fans who had remained behind the team were not convinced that a little known creative midfielder would solve the club's problems.

After one more defeat, courtesy of a Louis Carey own goal, the ball ricocheting off his inner leg before dribbling over the line after hitting the far post (summing up our luck at the time perfectly), we went unbeaten into February. Johnson had defied his critics and the weekly chants of "You should have stayed at Yeovil", from opposition fans, soon subsided.

Gary is one of those special people whose choices you learn to trust, no matter how obscene they may look. In January, after linked with the likes of Leroy Lita and Derek Riordan, we ended up signing 32-year-old Dele Adebola for circa £200,000. But he's been fantastic, he's scored some great goals and, having flattered to decieve for most of his 5 year stint at Coventry, has scored half as many goals in 4 months for us as he did in his last 18 with the Sky Blues.

16 years after Johnson almost assisted the legendary John Beck's Cambridge United side to the inaugral Premiership from the Conference, Johnson has a chance to go one better this weekend. Saturday will be a massive day, and whoever wins will deliver a refreshing (if not welcome) change for Manchester United and Chelsea next season. Can Johnson and his son become the first manager/player to win promotions from the Conference right through to the Premiership? Hey, why not. This is a walk in the park compared to some of his previous challenges.

Ron Walker
Bristol City Fans