OTD: LEE JOHNSON BORN

On this day in 1981, former Sunderland manager Lee Johnson was born in Newmarket. He took charge of 78 matches for the club, winning 40 of them, and was responsible for the club's first victory at Wembley in over 45 years. Alas, he failed to get the Lads out of League One.

Before coming to Wearside, Johnson had seen relative success with Bristol City. He went to Ashton Gate after spells with Oldham Athletic and Barnsley. At City though, Johnson masterminded a League Cup run, where they got all the way to the semi final, defeating Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United along the way. It is testament to his excellent footballing philosophy that he could cause such a cupset. He split opinion massively at Bristol City and it was there when he was first given the nickname of ‘Streaky Lee’. He revealed that after the signing of Matty Taylor from bitter rivals Bristol Rovers, he’d received death threats and was forced to move house after his address was leaked online.

Despite this, he won the Championship Manager of the Month award for September 2017 after guiding the Robins to six undefeated games, scoring 13 times in the process. He became the longest-serving manager in the Championship until his exit in 2020, having been with the club since February 2016. After five months out of a job, Johnson was appointed Sunderland manager, replacing the exciting, witty, fiery character that was Phil Parkinson. He was in the dugout on the afternoon despite only being announced on the morning but he was hardly to blame for that day’s 1-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic.

Fans immediately found footage of Johnson hosting PowerPoint presentations, using such technical jargon as POMO (Position Of Maximum Opportunity). For a club that were used to straight-talking men such as Peter Reid and Mick McCarthy, this really was a left-field choice which was the first managerial appointment of Kristjaan Speakman's reign as Sporting Director. One of LJ’s first actions as Sunderland gaffer was to reinstate Aiden McGeady, the best player in League One who had been frozen out inexplicably by Parkinson. Even at about 50 years old, it was clear that McGeady was still one of the best players to ever grace League One.

In his first season at Sunderland, he guided us to our first win at Wembley since 1973. Sunderland had finally won at Wembley. Admittedly, it was the EFL Trophy. Okay, it was behind closed doors. It was also against a sub-par Tranmere Rovers side who were in League Two. At the time though, it still felt like a memorable moment with everyone at home glued to their TV screens. Arguably, it broke that Sunderland Wembley curse and set us on the path to beating Wycombe Wanderers in the League One play-off final and, eventually, Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final without the spectre of '73 looming.

Johnson came to Sunderland with the club seventh in League One and managed to salvage a promotion campaign and scrape us into the play-offs. We fell at the first hurdle though, with a semi final loss to Lincoln City leading to a vocal minority calling for his head already. The gaffer was given a full summer and was backed in the transfer market though, bringing in the likes of Callum Doyle and Nathan Broadhead. In the 2021/22 season, Johnson had shaped a young team that reflected his style of football and management. It was swashbuckling, all-out attack. It may look pleasing on the eye against clubs like Morecambe, who we smashed 5-0, but his refusal to adapt meant we couldn’t find any consistency. We were humiliated away from home time and time again. Rotherham United outfought us and won 5-1. Portsmouth dealt with the rain better than us and won 4-0. Sheffield Wednesday were more clinical and won 3-0. Bolton Wanderers was the straw that broke the camel’s back. A 6-0 hammering, and a deflated and soulless post-match interview, led to his sacking the following day.

The no-nonsense Alex Neil replaced him and the rest is history. The one thing Johnson was proven right about was Jeremain Defoe, one of the reasons for his exit was his refusal to sign Defoe, who came through the door about five minutes after Lee left. Our new no-nonsense manager went 16 games unbeaten as we stormed through the play-offs and finally got out of League One, whilst Lee Johnson took his philosophy up to Scotland. He followed Jack Ross at Hibernian, who seem to have their own philosophy of signing ex-Sunderland bosses.

Ultimately, there were some high points under Lee Johnson but winless runs meant we were never going to earn promotion. He does deserve credit for giving game time to young stars like Doyle, Dan Neil and Elliot Embleton, although they were flogged throughout the course of the season. In his first month at Hibs (where he also signed Aiden McGeady from us on a free) he admitted to bending the rules in an attempt to sign striker Kevin Nisbet: “I probably illegally approached Kevin Nisbet four or five times! Kevin at his best he is a top player and one I've wanted to get hold of for a number of years." Bizarrely, in early June 2023 Hibs qualified for the Europa Conference League qualifiers. So Lee Johnson went from losing 5-1 at Rotherham and 6-0 at Bolton to managing a team competing on the European stage. They were knocked out by Aston Villa in the play-off round, losing 8-0 on aggregate but Johnson was sacked between the first and second legs.

He went back to managing in the third tier following this, joining Fleetwood Town. Johnson lasted all of 22 games and would win just six of these. Our ex-manager was actually Fleetwood's second boss of the season, after Scott Brown, and he left them second from bottom going into 2024. Another defeat to Bolton sealed his fate, this time it was only 2-0, an improvement from the 6-0 hammering we got. The Fishermen were eventually relegated, finishing third from bottom. He's now managing Belgian side Lommell, where he has been since March 2025. In the 2025/26 season, he led them to promotion out of the second tier via the play-offs.