IN
the gasheads.com away guide to Cambridge we touched upon the animosity
between Ian Atkins and Gary Johnson and, with the Yeovil game coming
up this evening, old wounds seem to be reopening.
The problem dates back some 12 years when Johnson became caretaker manager
of Cambridge United only to be replaced less than two months later by
Ian Atkins. It was a decision that went down badly with Cambridge fans
who had wanted Johnson to stay on and, let's face it, even if he hadn't
won too many games, his style of football must have been like a breath
of fresh air after Beck.
Five months on, Cambridge were relegated, Atkins dismissed and Johnson
took charge again. But it didn't end there: Atkins insisted at the time
that he had been stabbed in the back, even alleging that Johnson's family
were involved in a campaign to get him out, an assertion he continues
to make to this day, while Johnson laughs off the complaints.
The excerpts from articles below will give you a better idea
of the type of allegations and counter-allegations that have
gone on and if you've been amused by Atkins' huge array of excuses
in the few months since he's been at the Mem, well, some of those
in the pieces below may sound familiar while others will doubtless
raise a smile…
On 18th October 2002, in an article in the Cambridge
News , just before Oxford visited the Abbey Stadium Atkins expressed
his frustrations about the way he was treated back in 1993:
"I'm not bitter
about [it]." [Atkins]
said, "It
was my first job as a League manager and learned a huge amount
in a short time. It was a great opportunity.
"There were some marvellous people at the club, and in the changing room,
director David Ruston for instance, and Danny O'Shea, who was later my assistant
at Northampton.
"But I was 35, a bit naive, and for a while I probably didn't really realise
the damage that was being done to me behind the scenes.
"There was a lot of backing for Gary Johnson because, although United had
won only one League game during his nine matches as caretaker, they'd had a good
result against Oldham in the Coca-Cola Cup.
"His uncle John Griffin (a scout for Crystal Palace) had some influence,
and I remember running out at Watford for one of my first matches, and hearing
shouts of: 'Resign, Atkins', which came from Johnson's brothers.
"Gary Johnson avoids me whenever we might be at the same match these days,
and he's probably right to do so. I took over the John Beck team which was beginning
to crack up, and there were injuries to a lot of the best players. They'd only
won four League games out of 19 - I remember all the figures - and that was a
big reason for us getting relegated.
"We took 31 points from my 27 matches, and if you project that over the
full season we would have stayed up. And if I'd remained in charge - as I believe
I deserved to - I'm sure I could have got that team straight back-up [sic].
"One thing I did do was bring Danny Granville into the team when some people
there wanted to let the lad go."
Gary Johnson was in charge of Yeovil at the time and would be celebrating
promotion at the end of the season. He responded to the claims by saying:
"Ian Atkins wasn't stabbed
in the back, he shot himself in the foot. He was the wrong man
at the wrong time when he took over at United.
"I keep on reading things over the years about how there was supposed to
be this conspiracy against him.
"He might have had a case if my uncle was centre-forward in his team and
my two brothers were playing in midfield. It's nonsense. He lost the job because
he couldn't save the club from relegation.
"Cambridge aren't the only club he's parted company with. He's been all
over the place since then, so I must have a big family with brothers all over
the country.
"As for avoiding him, I'd love to meet him next season in Division Three."
Two years on and some of the animosity still seems to be there. Last
week a local Cambridge paper ran the story again in a feature with Atkins
quoted as saying:
"I'd only been in the job for two
weeks, but I was coming out of the tunnel and there was someone
shouting `out, out, out.' Someone told me it was Gary Johnson's
brother, but I can laugh about these things now."
Johnson responded to The
Yeovil Express, saying:
"I don't want
to get into all that again, that has all gone now,"
Before asserting that the story about his brother was pure fiction on
Atkins part:
"Of course
that isn't true," he
told the paper.
Whatever the ins and outs there is clearly no love lost between Johnson
and Atkins and it promises to be an interesting evening for peoplewatchers
who will be able to watch the action on and off the field.
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