Lee Johnson has spoken about his time in charge of the Lads. The Hibernian linked manager departed what seems like a lifetime ago at the end of January, after the humiliating 6-0 defeat at Bolton. Johnson is long forgotten due to the excellent job Alex Neil is doing, but our former manager, who had us playing some of our best football for years (as well as overseeing some of the most embarrassing defeats in our history), was full of praise for the club and hopes that we go all the way a week on Saturday.
HEAL
“You have to heal because effectively you have given everything if you like in that period of time. A football club and a manager’s relationship is almost like a marriage and sometimes it breaks up."
FEW REGRETS
“On this occasion genuinely I can look at myself in the mirror and say I have very few regrets in terms of where the club was and where the club is now. I think it’s in a really good space, a really good place and I think primed for success.”
PRIVILEGE
“I feel very privileged to have had the honour of coaching what I see as an iconic club in the country, an absolutely fantastic football club with great people, a fan base which is phenomenal. They are churning out 34,000 in League One on a regular basis."
EXCELLENT JOB
“I think in general terms we did an excellent job, there were a lot of successes in that period and I wish them all the best and am rooting for them to get promotion this year.”
FAMILY
“I think the first thing is investing a little bit of emotional capital back into the family.”
CONSUMING
“It’s so all consuming the manager’s job, I’ve got a daughter who is approaching 14 years old and I’ve been away for effectively 15 months, 7 o’clock until 11 o’clock at night pushing it hard. The first thing is getting that balance to make sure that the family have adequate time with you, but also when it’s in you, you can’t stop that thirst for knowledge."
DIVERSE
“There will be areas of your performances that you want to maybe reflect on, review and focus in on. I think you are always learning. Literally, when you think you have seen it all in football, something changes. It’s so diverse, it’s a brilliant game but obviously the industry is tricky to manage and tricky to negotiate.”
