On a day that will bring a great deal of drama to the Gloucestershire club, League Two Cheltenham Town is expected to name former Bristol City manager Gary Johnson as its new director of football.
Earlier on Thursday, Darrell Clarke resigned as manager to take a two-year contract at Barnsley. A few hours later, Jon Palmer of Gloucestershire Live said that Johnson is expected to return to Whaddon Road after working in the dugout from 2015 to 2018.
Since leaving Torquay United in February after the Devon club revealed they were appointing administrators, Johnson has been unemployed. The 68-year-old had led the Gulls for the previous six seasons, winning both promotion to the National League and relegation the previous season. In the 2023–2024 season, Torquay placed 18th in the National League South.
In his three years at Cheltenham, he oversaw the team’s relegation to the National League but also saw them return to League Two with a 101-point campaign in the fifth division. At the time, Rob Dickie, a teenage player on loan from Reading, was a member of his squad.
Following Clarke’s departure, Johnson—who is still headquartered in Portishead—has assumed an upper management position in Gloucestershire, where the League Two team will also be appointing a new head coach. With one year left on his contract, the 47-year-old moved for Oakwell after failing to maintain the Robins in the third division after they were demoted on the last day of the previous campaign.
With the departure of three key players—midfielder and Player of the Season Liam Sercombe, goalkeeper Luke Southwood, and seasoned defender Sean Long—on free transfers, Johnson will undoubtedly have his work cut out for him at Cheltenham.
The 23-year-old Mali youth international’s contract with Gelsenkirchen is still in effect for another two years, but his presence in the West Country has generated interest in Bristol and in Germany as well. But as Bristol Live notes, Cisse is the younger brother of City’s coach and scout Khalifa, and he was just spending some time with his brother during the off-season.
Additionally, it has been reported that Des Taylor, the former City Head of Scouting, is in negotiations to acquire Sheffield United, a Championship team, from Saudi owner Prince Abdullah. An American group is leading the deal.
Taylor, who left Ashton Gate in 2017 to work at Bournemouth with Eddie Howe, is allegedly acting as a consultant for the potential buyers, according to Alan Nixon.
