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Anthony Johnson causes a stir with tweet posted after Salford lose League Two playoff final

Anthony Johnson causes a stir with a tweet he posted after his former side Salford City lose the League Two playoff final on Monday.

It wasn’t to be for the Ammies, a disappointing end to the season, struggling to threaten when going forward, and fell to a 3-0 defeat.

The result means the club will face an eighth season in the fourth tier, having had four promotions in the five seasons before that.

The likes of Gary Neville, David Beckham and Paul Scholes watching on at Wembley, disappointed at not being able to see Salford reach League One for the first time in their history.

Karl Robinson and his assistant Alex Bruce (son of Steve Bruce) frustrated at the performance from their side, saying they had “let people down”.

In 2018, Salford parted company with joint managers Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley just weeks after they sealed the National League North title, their third promotion in four seasons.

Salford’s statement said there had been “irreconcilable differences” while the parties were attempting to agree new contracts led to the decision.

Owner Gary Neville said the announcement is “regrettable”, but after a meeting between himself, senior management and the managers, “it was clear there were differences between us that could not be resolved and it was therefore decided to part ways, and whilst this is disappointing, it is the right decision for all concerned.”

Anthony Johnson said at the time: “Although we are naturally disappointed we felt the time was right. To go out on a high, after securing another promotion, makes us ready for the next challenge. We have had a great time at Salford City with a great set of players who have delivered what we asked and as a manager that is all you want.”

After Salford lost the playoff final to Notts County Anthony Johnson (@amjonno) tweeted: “We left Salford City 8 years ago after winning 3 promotions. Since then they’ve won 1 promotion, and that was the season after we’d left with the majority of the squad we put together. I do sometimes wonder…”

Graham Alexander came in for the 2018/19 season, and guided the club to League Two, winning a playoff final on penalties against AFC Fylde, then in his second season, he took the club to the EFL Trophy final (which was postponed due to COVID, the league season also came to an end with Salford finishing 11th, then Alexander was dismissed by the club in mid-October following a 2–2 at home to Tranmere Rovers despite the club sitting 5th in the league and unbeaten in the opening five games, with Paul Scholes immediately replacing him.

Salford co-owner Gary Neville later admitted he made a mistake sacking Alexander, saying he “should have never left this club last season. I should have never made that decision that I made”.

@Ab63131: What’s the level those promotions were achieved at? Are you saying Salford would be in the prem if they stuck with you 🤦🏻

@amjonno: No smarty pants, I’m saying they’re a league above where we got them to back in 2018, that’s it, that’s all I’m saying, and sometimes I wonder wether we’d have done at least the same…

@TidyTouch10: You and your buddy are non league managers and that’s the level you’re decent at. If you we’re that good, you’d still be there or given a chance higher up. You should steamroll the upcoming season with Bury and have few games left to spare…

@amjonno: You haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about have you Danny, just like that tweet you deleted about Oliver Hodgson. We’ve been offered plenty of chances, we turned them down, so don’t sit on here posting things you haven’t got a clue about!

@TidyTouch10: So all these others that have replied saying similar don’t have a clue either do they not? Higher you go, harder it gets. I deleted that tweet because I didn’t want Ollie to see. Wasn’t fair. I just want the best for the lad to kick on. Emerging talent groups are a waste IMO.

@amjonno: I couldn’t care less what some no name troll has to say about me on here, but you’ve replied to me quite a few times on here, and to be fair to you you post under your name. But to answer your question of course they’re all clueless, as are you! I 100% believe we would have won promotion to League Two, why wouldn’t I? We left Salford due to contract issues, after winning a league with Harrogate, Stockport and York in it. So to suggest we didn’t have opportunities to go higher is absolute rubbish. Going full time isn’t the be all and end all for me and Bernard, we have other things outside of football!

@TidyTouch10: I’ll say it as it is and I certainly won’t hide behind some fake account name. I have no need to. You’ll obviously back yourself which is fair enough, what kind of man are you if you don’t beleive in yourself. You think I’m clueless. I think you’re delusional. 👍🏻

@amjonno: As you should… There’s a difference though in our opinions on one another – you’re proving you’re clueless as I know what’s happened and you don’t, hence you haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. We’ve won 7 promotions, all the way into the National League. Simon Weaver the Harrogate manager who finished second to us in NLN won promotion into L2, but I’m deluded into thinking we could as well… Ok

@TidyTouch10: Hey look, credit where it’s due. It’s no mean feat to do what you, bernard and your staff all did there and I’m fully aware that’s not easy…. at any level. They did get rid of you lot too soon. But i think they did with Graham too, who bounced and done great with Bradford.

Speaking to SCFC TV after the playoff final, Karl Robinson said:

“We were beaten in every area of the pitch today. I have no qualms with the result. We had too many players that didn’t turn up for the occasion.

“It hurts. It hurts everybody in there. But this is going to be the lowest ebb in the football club’s history. We have to be better.

“I want to thank the players. I asked the players in there and what I said was results don’t define football clubs. It’s important you get them but it’s the people being true to themselves and everybody galvanising each other.

“It’s only going to go in one direction this football club, I have complete confidence in that. I really do. I just wish that next year could have been a visual step in the right direction with a league change.”

Karl Robinson speaking to Sky Sports:

“We’ve been the best versions of ourselves and then today we got beat in most aspects of the game. I have no other words than that. You have to be respectful in defeat, you have to be honest in defeat.

“We didn’t stick to the game plan. We got carried away. Sometimes you can under-care, sometimes you can over-care, and today we just weren’t good enough.

“We are going to be a generational football club and we are going to use this as a springboard now. Every single one of my players has always given their all and I thank them for that.

“What Salford are outstanding at are responding. That’s the city and the football club, they are aligned in those sort of messages.

“We have to be better. Today wasn’t good enough. The football club will keep improving year in, year out.”

As mentioned, Anthony Johnson causes a stir with a tweet posted after Salford lose the League Two playoff final..

@NeilHowarth_: I’ve said before and I’ll say again. You 2 should definitely be doing what you do best, higher up the leagues. Man management. Winning promotions. It’s not rocket science

@fitoutdoors1: You saying Scholes, Neville and Butt ain’t a clue…? 👀 headline right there 😂

@andrew17taylor: I think you have a valid point. Not the same story but similar, when you compare Salford to Wrexham where they have stuck by Parkinson on all of their journey and that seems to have been rewarded. Continuity is the key word

@Jimbokav1971: To be honest, I don’t think you’re the only one who wonders.🤔 There are obviously no guarantees, but they probably got rid of you and Bern too early and did exactly the same with Graham Alexander. Since GA, their managerial recruitment really hasn’t been great.

@GLvale1: They’ve topped out mate. 1500 home gates and only being able to muster 5000 to Wembley. They are probably playing 3 leagues above their natural weight as it is. There is a limit to these things.

@SteveWorrall6: Extremely good point but you were two down to earth lad’s getting the best out of players – you didn’t suit their criteria / I do laugh Salford now and it’s only because the way you two were treated / the decisions that lot have made have been shocking

@Turkishcypriot8: You raise a valid point. You guys done an amazing job at Salford. They have had the biggest budget for such a small club, not sure how the current board can keep losing so much money with no returns on the pitch.

@pavyg: Yes. @GNev2 is proving to be as bad a Football owner as he was a Football manager.

@Chris13828347: Can’t buy your way out of L2 like non league. Yes, having money and bringing in top players is huge but need more than just chucking money at it

@Bantammatt1980: Getting rid of Alexander is what fucked them. Doing wonders for us at Bradford

@Tommy_Oldham1: Easy for any club in Non League with a rich owner and bags of money its easy to snap up the best players and climb the leagues. The EFL is a totally different Yes having money helps but you need a good infrastructure also, it took Forest Green ages to get promoted to League One.

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