Source: Team_Talk
Chairmen must be strong - Johnson
Johnson, who is the third longest-serving manager in the Championship, insists that stability is key to success and that clubs do not benefit from constantly changing the man at the helm.[LNB]Tony Adams and Luiz Felipe Scolari were sacked from their positions at Portsmouth and Chelsea respectively on Monday.[LNB]Adams' spell in charge on the south coast spanned just 16 league games, while Scolari was appointed as Avram Grant's successor at Stamford Bridge only last summer.[LNB]Gibson, unlike Pompey owner Alexandre Gaydamak and his Chelsea counterpart Roman Abramovich, has resisted any temptation to hit the panic button and replace Gareth Southgate, despite eight defeats in a winless run of 13 league games that has plunged Boro into the relegation zone.[LNB]Johnson, who has been linked with the vacancy at Fratton Park following Adams' dismissal, said: "Steve Gibson at Middlesbrough is a good example of a chairman who stands by his managers.[LNB]"People were calling for Bryan Robson's head for a long time and then it was Steve McClaren and now it's Gareth Southgate.[LNB]"But the chairman is strong enough to resist outside pressures and do what he thinks is right, and because of that Boro have remained in the Premier League and made who knows how many millions of pounds on the back of it."[LNB]The City boss added: "If only more chairmen were like that. There are 92 people qualified to be managers in the Football League, but there are millions of unqualified managers who have an opinion.[LNB]"Those people are able to have their say in the media, on the terraces or in phone-ins on the radio, and they are not shy of saying what they think.[LNB]"Club chairmen are bound to hear what is being said, but the problem comes when they allow it to influence their judgement.[LNB]"You only have to look at the top of the Premier League to see how it works. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have been at Manchester United and Arsenal for a long time and both clubs have benefited from that stability."[LNB]Asked about his relationship with his own chairman Steve Lansdown, Johnson said: "Fortunately, I have a good relationship with my chairman and we work together to take the club forward.[LNB]"I think that way you are better able to come through adversity and be successful."[LNB][LNB]
