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Lee hopes for less ‘carnage’ on return to the capital

NEW BOSS JOHNSON CONFIDENT HE’LL LEAD HIBS REVIVAL AS EASTER ROAD OWNER PROMISES TO STAND BY HIS MAN

By Graeme Croser

LEE JOHNSON’S six-month spell at Hearts barely registers as a blip on his career timeline. Even so, the new manager of Hibs insists he’s reserving a full chapter of any future biography for the tales of ‘carnage’ from Tynecastle.

Having crossed the Edinburgh divide, there’s probably an element of PR in the 40-year-old’s eagerness to paint his spell in maroon as a farce yet the bare facts do point to some justified grievance with the maroon side of the city.

Johnson was recruited in the January window of season 2005-06, a memorable campaign for the Gorgie club but one that descended into relentless turmoil after an early-season surge to the top of the league table under George Burley.

Club owner Vladimir Romanov dispensed with the unbeaten Burley just 10 games in and replaced him with Graham Rix (below), who quickly identified Johnson as the sort of midfielder he would like to add to his team.

Trouble is among eleven players brought in mid-season, Johnson and winger Chris Hackett were the only two actually desired by the manager.

And when Rix himself was sacked just weeks later, Johnson faded from the first-team picture, ultimately departing altogether at the end of the season with just six appearances to his name.

‘That was a crazy time, definitely a chapter in my book, let me tell you!’ laughs Johnson. ‘It was an interesting time and it was difficult.

‘I had moved up with my wife and we’d moved from a very secure friend base on a social level and were then dropped into complete carnage, if I’m honest with you.

‘But it was part of my experience and football is wonderful for that. You get to meet great people and you get to experience big games, big atmospheres and I did that.

‘So, do I regret it? No. Was it a part of what I am today? Absolutely. But, at the same time, there are some really good stories and one day I will be able to tell them.’

While Johnson claims he’s holding back a few tales for his book, he’s always been a reliably quotable guy.

When he left Hearts, he made no secret of his disbelief at being frozen out when the two games he started in were a 4-1 derby win over Hibs and a 3-0 thumping of Aberdeen.

‘I think the last time Romanov commented on me he said he wanted to put my tongue in a vice...’ he exclaims.

Romanov is long gone from the scene, Hearts are now in the stable grip of Ann Budge and the Foundation of Hearts — and Johnson is a Hibee.

Which is ironic given that the current Easter Road owner, one Ronald J Gordon as the club likes to formally refer to him, has gathered a bit

of a reputation of his own. A season that saw both Jack Ross and Shaun Maloney fired surely represents the very opposite of the sort of stability Johnson claims to crave.

And yet while the jury very much remains out on Gordon’s now almost three-year stewardship of the club, the American does at least fess up to mistakes.

After Johnson endearingly references the need to allow players to make mistakes as part of his managerial code, the question is instantly turned back on Gordon.

Should the same not apply to a manager?

‘Absolutely,’ says the chairman, from the seat aside his latest managerial appointment. ‘We have to stand behind him, for sure, and give him all the support. But, yes. I think we all have to navigate that. We’ll make mistakes.

‘We’re always looking to be better, and that requires analysis and self-analysis. Lee will self-analyse in a way that will ensure he’s constantly learning and constantly improving, as I hope we all are — myself, individually, and the club.’

While Johnson remains a young man in coaching terms, he has actually been practising frontline management for almost a decade.

Having lived through disruption as a player, he is well versed in how the right dressing-room environment is imperative towards achieving success.

During spells in charge of Oldham, Barnsley, Bristol City and Sunderland, he has sought to manage with empathy.

‘It is hard being a footballer, a squad needs emotional stability,’ he insists. ‘It is really difficult because it is intense, there’s the pressures and entourages.

‘The focus, and I don’t think this is the case at times, has to be impressing the manager.

‘At times it is about Twitter followers, Instagram, girlfriends,

potential next clubs and agents. That can all get in the way. You need full focus and that is what I will try to encourage, particularly in this day and age when there are so many addictions, so many options that lead to addictions.

‘I’m looking forward to stamping my... no, that’s not quite right. I would say my leadership style is warm but demanding. I want the rapport with players but, at the same time, I expect certain standards to be delivered.’

The harder side of Johnson’s personality is bolstered by the presence of his long-term assistant Jamie McAllister, who is expected to join him in Edinburgh.

McAllister, too, played for Hearts, but is better known for his three years at Aberdeen or perhaps his League Cup clinching goal for Livingston... against Hibs in 2004.

McAllister picked up a six-game suspension last season — three of them a complete stadium ban — for his role in a post-match tunnel dust-up following a game against Oxford United.

‘To be fair, that was a bit unlucky, but I’ll let him answer that one, I think!’ says Johnson.

‘We are yin and yang in terms of personalities but I’m passionate, too. I can show my teeth and I think that is important. At the same time, players have to be allowed to make errors. If it’s a technical error, it’s fine, we’ll go and work on it. Let’s get out there and train.

‘If it’s a tactical error, it’s probably my fault because I probably haven’t articulated my point well enough.

‘But if it’s an attitude error, then we’ll come down on you and we’ll come down on you hard.

‘We’ll make no apologies for being ruthless or aggressive, if you like, with attitude errors. And that includes not fulfilling what we believe are the values of the club.’

Subsequent to Johnson’s time at Hearts, he also played for Kilmarnock and won a League Cup winner’s medal in 2012 after a memorable win over Celtic in the final.

Johnson wants Hibs to believe

they can go toe to toe with both Glasgow clubs in search of trophies. ‘I will, and that’s what I’ve got to portray to the players,; he says. ‘If you look at my playing history up here, I beat Celtic twice — once in the Scottish League Cup final, and in the league away — the first time Kilmarnock had done it in a long time.

‘We also beat Rangers. So, I think you can have a go at these teams, I really do.’

Those Hibs fans who might fear they have hired yet another idealist when what they really need is a ruthless operator who will drive them to markedly improve on last season’s pitiful eighth-place finish will be wary.

However, Johnson does not shirk from the suggestion that rising to meet third-placed — and Scottish Cup finalists — Hearts is a priority.

‘That’s the first challenge, to make sure that we are more competitive than we have been this year,’ he admits.

‘We will set markers but we will only do that by being aligned from top to bottom and being really aggressive.’

While Johnson most obviously takes his cues from his father Gary, a long-serving manager in his own right and currently the boss of non-league Torquay United, he also draws on his mother’s Scottish roots.

His Hearts connections dim and distant, he has pledged to immerse in the fabric of Hibs on and off the pitch.

‘Look, I think I’m a decent person and I want to immerse myself in the community and help with local causes and charities,’ he insists.

‘I then just hope I’m respected within the community at least as somebody who is trying to bring good to it.

‘I feel at home here, I really do. I feel like I understand Scots banter.

‘I did my A and Pro Licenses up here alongside some really big names like Duncan Ferguson and Nuno Espirito Santo. I thought the Scottish course was really creative. Donald Park and Jim Fleeting ran it at the time and I’ve tried to take Parky and Jim as part of my staff a couple of times but unfortunately could not get them across the border!

‘This is a really interesting league and it always has been.

‘We have to make better decisions than everybody else. It is as simple as that. We have to make extremely good decisions, especially against teams with greater resources than us.’

That maxim could apply equally to the boardroom.

Romanov commented on me and said he wanted to put my tongue in a vice

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2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

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