Gary Johnson: Sacked Yeovil manager 'could have saved club'
Last updated on .From the section Football
Gary Johnson has insisted he would have saved Yeovil from relegation had he kept his job at the club.
The 59-year-old was sacked as manager on Tuesday, with the Glovers bottom of League One and four points from safety.
But Johnson, who achieved three promotions across two spells with the club, told BBC Somerset: "I was ready, able and willing to see this through.
"There was still time. We'd made a conscious decision that we were going to get out of this."
Yeovil have been in the relegation zone since November and have only managed six wins from 28 games.
Johnson, whose contract was due to end in the summer, continued: "We needed that bit of time but it wasn't given.
"The chairman knew I was willing to stay and see it through. With 18 games to go they felt they needed to make that decision, which of course I was very disappointed with."
| The fight to stay in League One | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Points | ||
| 20 | Crewe Alexandra | 27 | 29 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||
| 21 | Colchester United | 27 | 28 |
| 22 | Crawley Town | 28 | 27 |
| 23 | Leyton Orient | 27 | 26 |
| 24 | Yeovil Town | 28 | 25 |
Johnson is widely regarded as one of Yeovil's most successful managers after taking them from the Conference to League One in his first spell in charge in 2001 to 2005.
He returned to Huish Park in 2012 to replace Terry Skiverton, who became his assistant.
At the time, Yeovil were in the League One relegation zone but Johnson turned their fortunes around and the following season they beat Brentford in the play-off final at Wembley to win promotion to the Championship.
With one of the smallest budgets in the second tier, Johnson's side finished bottom of the table and their decline has continued this season.
Skiverton and coach Darren Way, who both played under Johnson, have now been put in charge of Yeovil until further notice and have crunch games against fellow strugglers Crawley and Crewe coming up.
During his previous stint in charge, Skiverton kept the Glovers in the third tier and Johnson has backed him to do the same again.
"The only people that could see it through would be Terry Skiverton and Darren Way," he said.
"They know the players and which team will be the best team to play these two cup finals against Crawley and Crewe.
"If they went there'd be no hope. If they stay, we'll survive."
