His players would run through a brick wall for him and 38,000 disciples from the West Country will follow him to Wembley today; they believe Gary Johnson can lead Bristol City into the promised land.

The 52-year-old has built up cult status at Ashton Gate after rescuing a club destined for League Two less than three seasons ago.

Crowd pleaser: Bristol City boss Gary Johnson acknowledges the fans after victory over Crystal Palace

Victory over Hull City in today's Championship Play-off Final would complete a remarkable transformation and ensure that Johnson will have a free pint of cider for life in any pub he cares to enter.

He has known such reverence before. As coach of Latvia, he transformed a Sovietinfluenced sweeper system into 4-4-2 and persuaded every team in the country's top league to follow his lead.

He was so successful that the little man from England was given an official note to hand to police in the event of being stopped which stated he could not be arrested.

Delve behind the jocular exterior - at the end of Monday's Play-off Final press conference Johnson suddenly donned a pair of red plastic sunglasses with flashing lights of which Dame Edna Everage would have been proud - and you discover a gifted communicator a sponge for knowledge, a master planner, a man in control of himself and his team.

An example of his meticulous preparation came earlier this month, 24 hours after the first leg of the semi-final against Crystal Palace. Johnson went to the Birmingham-Blackburn game to scout referee Howard Webb - in charge of the second leg - to understand how he officiated and ran a game.

The self-control has been influenced by sports psychologist Mark Layder. T heir association began 13 years ago when Johnson was manager of Cambridge and struggling to cope with outside pressures.

"Gary was more like a warrior in those days," said Layder. "He was so passionate but he didn't know how to use that passion so it came out as anger. He would throw anything he could get his hands on. When he was in a rage, you didn't get in his firing line.

"I had to explain that if you use the anger in a negative way it can turn against you. Now he can control that passion and is very streetwise. He is a master communicator."

Without Layder's help, Johnson believes he might not be in football, such was his struggle with his emotions.

He said: "Cambridge was my first job and I was taking everything personally. I knew I needed a bit of success otherwise I could have been lost to the game. Over the years, Mark has made me a bit more bullet-proof as a manager because so many things are thrown at you and it's very difficult to keep an even footing."

Especially when he arrived at Ashton Gate in September 2005. Johnson's success in taking Yeovil from the Conference to League One had no impact with the Bristol City players he inherited.

What he encountered was a drinking culture among a squad who believed that being professional footballers in England's sixth-largest city meant they were special, no matter that they were occupying the League One relegation zone.

Johnson introduced standards of behaviour, although implementing them proved anything but straightforward.

Senior players challenged his authority but he stayed firm. When striker Marcus Stewart engaged his manager in a blazing dressing-room row and taunted him with: "What do you know? You're just a Conference manager" Johnson sent him out on loan, even though he carried City's main goal threat. In his first month in charge, three players - Bradley Orr, Steve Brooker and David Partridge - were arrested for affray outside a nightclub in the city and later received jail sentences.

At the beginning of the following season, one that ended in promotion to the Championship 12 months ago, Orr was sent off for trying to butt fellow defender Louis Carey in an on-field spat during a game at Northampton.

Orr and Carey now form half of the defence that will attempt to take City to the Premier League today. Unsurprisingly, they are passionate converts to their manager's way of thinking. "It's a very different club now," said Orr. "He's helped me an awful lot. He sat down with me and told me what was expected, how important your lifestyle is off the pitch, but the more that time went on and you saw what he was about, you knew yourself what was required and was expected.

"You had to fathom it out for yourself. The standards were raised instantly and you had to live up to those standards otherwise you'd be out and looking for another club.

"On the pitch, he gives you confidence because he shows faith in you. He lets you express yourself whereas some managers are a bit more rigid. Basically, he just gives you a freedom to play."

Carey is now the club captain. Three previous play-offs with City have all ended in failure. He is equally indebted to Johnson for transforming him into a player who is just 90 minutes away from being able to call himself Premier League class.

"He's a tough bloke," said Carey. "If you're not playing so well first half and you're in the dressing-room at half time, you'd see what he's really like. You're scared of him. If you don't learn and you keep on making the mistakes that he's trying to put right, you're not going to be in the team.

"One of his main attributes is the training. You wake up and there's a buzz about it. It's at such a high tempo all the time. And his ideas in the sessions keep you on your toes.

"If he comes up with an idea and a couple of us look up and say we're not sure that's going to work, he'll listen. And then he'll tell you you're wrong and that we're going to do it anyway.

"But you think he must be doing something right. And the next minute you're all going along with him. His attitude towards the game, his will to win, his enthusiasm - in the end it rubs off on you."

If it rubs off once more today, the cult hero will become a Bristol deity.