Lee Johnson reckons the footballing gods are conspiring against Hibs at the moment but is adamant his team will still have a heaven-sent season. First it was work permit delays, now sorted, that meant the likes of Marijan Cabraja and Elie Youan have had to kick their heels on the sidelines instead of being integrated into the team.
Then it was the registration mess that led to being knocked out of the Premier Sports Cup because Rocky Bushiri’s suspension had been overlooked. And on Thursday, to put the tin lid on their build-up to the league opener in Perth tomorrow, a power cut hit their training ground in Tranent and Johnson, normally a pretty chirpy character, wasn’t too chuffed.
“It was annoying if I’m being honest with you,” Johnson said. “The footballing Gods are testing me at the minute on all levels with work permits and power cuts. We just had to adapt, nobody told us, the national grid or whoever it was. It was disappointing - cold showers for the boys and food at home so no mollycoddling today. But we’ve had to get on with it.”
The power might have been off but Johnson is determined to send shockwaves through the Scottish game this season and although the build-up hasn’t been electrifying, he reckons the start of the league campaign is time to hit the reset button. He has built a brand new team, almost from scratch, and revealed that he had given new goalkeeper David Marshall the armband, while Paul Hanlon remains club captain.
“It didn’t feel like that big a decision if I’m honest with you,” Johnson insisted. “Mainly because I haven’t seen Paul Hanlon on the grass yet. I’ve gone through a whole pre-season studying the players’ leadership qualities, looking at what we’ve got, what we haven’t got.
“My conversations with Paul have been good but they have been non pitch-based due to lack of availability. Therefore the trust in appointing him as club captain is evident. And it’s a really important role, a guidance role, it’s a backstop. It’s the daddy of the club if you like.
“He gets the armband if Marsh isn’t playing, simple as that. We recognise these qualities in Ryan Porteous as well. He’s aggressive, he’s got a will to win. We need to control that a little bit and we need to nurture the leadership qualities.
“To be honest, we have to promote leaders everywhere, whether it be our young players or our senior players. Daz McGregor is another example … Lewis Stevenson … these guys know the club inside out. They have very different personalities but they have to bring their own version of their best to leadership because we need it.
“We are a slightly imbalanced squad. We don’t have as many prime players as maybe some of the other clubs. We have a lot of these younger lads that are going to need guidance. Of course the staff will give them that guidance but it also has to come internally from the squad.”
And despite the disappointing Premier Sports Cup exit, the former Sunderland boss isn’t ready for Hibs to quietly settle into life under his leadership. This is a complete rebuild really, when you sign 11, 12 players as we have that’s a rebuild,” he said. “That’s not a topping up of a squad, this is a smash it up and more revolution than evolution.
“Things will take time to settle but we go into the game believing we have a nice mix available to us to start and affect the game. Obviously there is a bit of a hierarchical structure within the league.
“But we are going to do our best to smash that apart as much as possible. We’re going to put a team out to try and win every single football match we play.
“We won’t always be successful in that but we’ll certainly know why we haven’t been. And that’s the key.
“We’re really positive internally. I know we have had the disappointments that there is some mitigation for in terms of not going through in the cup. But in my mind’s eye this is where the season starts. Saturday, 3pm, blam, come out of the traps, ping the lids like greyhounds and get at any opposition we play.”
And while club owner Ron Gordon bemoaned a start of the season that will see Hibs play Hearts and Rangers while still finding their feet, Johnson is delighted. He added: “I’m looking forward to that, it’s good.
“We have two big home games to start and that’s fantastic, that’s why I came up here. I wanted to experience the derby, I want to experience winning derbies, I don’t want to experience losing them but of course that is a threat.
“The fixture list is the fixture list, my gripe with the cup competitions was based on my knowledge of peaking an individual and a team going into a competitive season, not based on disrespect to anyone in particular.
“Now we want to hit the season running, we’re good to go, we have enough players to pick from, and I’m excited about it.”
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