Former Bristol City boss lined up for new role in League Two as Schalke defender visits HPC

Former Bristol City manager Gary Johnson is set to be appointed as the new director of football at League Two Cheltenham Town in a day of considerable drama for the Gloucestershire club.

Darrell Clarke left his position as manager earlier on Thursday to sign a two-year deal at Barnsley and hours later came news, via Gloucestershire Live’s Jon Palmer, that Johnson is set to return to Whaddon Road after who previously served in the dugout from 2015. -2018.

Johnson has been unemployed since leaving Torquay United in February when the Devon club announced they were appointing administrators. The 68-year-old had been in charge of the Gulls for the past six years and had secured promotion to the National League, but also relegation in the last year. Torquay finished 2023/24 in 18th place in the National League South.

In his three years with Cheltenham, he presided over relegation to the National League but led them straight back into League Two with a 101-point season in the fifth tier, his squad at the time including a young Rob Dickie, who was on loan from Cheltenham. Reading.

Johnson, who is still based in Portishead, has now taken up a role upstairs in Gloucestershire with the League Two club also set to appoint a new head coach following Clarke’s departure. The 47-year-old failed to keep the Robins in the third tier as they were relegated on the final day of last season and, with a year left on his contract, left for Oakwell.

Johnson certainly has a job on his hands with Cheltenham losing Clarke but also three of their most important players with midfielder and player of the season Liam Sercombe, goalkeeper Luke Southwood and long-serving defender Sean Long all leaving on free transfers .

Meanwhile, Bristol City fans thought they had been given a clue as to who their first signing of the summer was as Schalke defender Ibrahima Cisse posted a since-deleted picture on his Instagram page of outside the High Performance Centre.

The 23-year-old Mali youth international has two years left on his contract in Gelsenkirchen, but his presence in the West Country has certainly sparked interest, both in Bristol and back in Germany. However, Cisse is the younger brother of City coach/scout Khalifa and Bristol Live understands he was simply visiting his brother in the off-season.

Reports have also indicated that former City scouting boss Des Taylor is involved in takeover talks at Championship side Sheffield United as a US consortium bids to buy the club from Saudi owner Prince Abdullah.

Alan Nixon claims Taylor, who left Ashton Gate in 2017 before working with Eddie Howe at Bournemouth, is serving as a consultant to potential buyers.

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