Lee Johnson insists he fully backs Hibs’ hunt for a director of football as he dismissed any threat of a clash of egos. Easter Road chiefs this week revealed they’re targeting a new figurehead to work alongside the manager and improve recruitment and all aspects of the footballing side of the club after a rocky start to the season.
But Johnson is adamant nobody is using the move to “bash me on the head”. The 41-year-old worked with a director of football, Kristjaan Speakman, at his previous club Sunderland and was sacked after just 13 months in charge with the Black Cats sitting third in the league.
But having been involved in the decision to create the position in Leith, Johnson insists there’s no concerns it could ultimately cost him his job in Leith. Chief executive Ben Kensell conceded Hibs “haven’t been good enough on the pitch” and that recruitment - headed up by owner Ron Gordon’s son Ian - needs to be better.
And Johnson said: “I just want the club to improve. Genuinely. I don’t have an ego. Of course, I am vicious in my opinion because I have a lot of football experience, and a lot of contacts and football nous.
“Ian, Ben, Ron and myself, that quartet, is massive. We don’t pull any punches when we talk to each other. But at the same time I think there’s a mutual respect and strong relationships within that group.
“No one is using this to bash me on the head. We have had these discussions and obviously it all comes down to the candidate now.
“But I am certainly not throwing my toys out the pram or saying this is the wrong thing to do because this club requires more and more football nous throughout the organisation and the business. I have worked with various forms of the role. Kristjaan Speakman at Sunderland was across all facets of the club. The academy and recruitment, depending on what month it was.
"What does that look like. It’s an organisation of meetings, making sure everything is periodised, somebody who can look at it from 10,000 while everyone else is involved in the hustle around it.
"Every club will have a varied focus on where they think the main focus is required and as time goes on that develops. It should be a very close working relationship and every time I have had that, whether at Bristol City, although it was the CEO there, or at Sunderland with the sporting director, or even at Oldham where the owner was basically the sporting director there and we had contact every day, or Barnsley the CEO there, it was all about relationships and skill sets and about making sure that you fill the gaps the club require.
“It should be a very close working relationship and every time I have had that it was all about relationships and skill sets and about making sure that you fill the gaps the club require.”
Hibs sit seventh, just three points off third after last weekend’s win at Motherwell, but Johnson accepts results need to improve. He said: “It hasn’t been good enough and I have been honest about that so what do you do?
“Do you continue to not let it be good enough or do you canvas people, including the players, to try to improve things so that success comes to us because we are making better and better decisions every day. We want high quality, low quantity and a pathway for our young players.
"Listen, they're intelligent guys, Ben and Ron. You're not in football and business for as long as they've been and understand people like they do without being able to match a blend. Director of football is a really important role.
"It will free me up to do more on the coaching side. That's a fundamental part of it, to make sure that the laser focus can be on the things that matter most in terms of 3pm on a Saturday."
Jake Doyle-Hayes is available for the first time since September for Saturday’s home clash with Dundee United and Johnson revealed the midfielder has knocked back a move to Forest Green Rovers.
Striker Mykola Kukharevych is set to miss between four and 12 weeks with a medial ligament injury though. Johnson said: “Forest Green is not happening. He is a good player Jake, I believe in him a lot.
“There is interest in him but he's not one that I've been actively saying, 'I want him out of the club'. Jake is a good football player. I think me and my coaching staff can improve him. He's young enough.
"I worked with him for half an hour after training on Thursday - can I get him to play forward more, can I get him in positions where he can play forward and dictate the game.. This is going on on a day-by-day basis with all the players."
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