Phone a friend? King Kenny is a lifeline
Johnson ready to ring in new era with enviable contacts book at fingertips
AS allies go in football management, having Kenny Dalglish in your corner isn’t a bad start.
Lee Johnson admits he’s leaned on the King of Scottish football throughout his nine years in the dugout ever since Dalglish made a personal phone call to help him get his foot in the door at Oldham.
Now he’s made his first move into a Premiership hotseat at Hibs he’s not about to stop as he looks to use every shred of advice to help achieve his ambitions.
Johnson has set out his stall as he looks to drive the misfiring Hibees back into the European spots. He knows a thing or two about the game up here after stints with Hearts and Kilmarnock.
But it’s his extensive list of contacts which are most valuable to the 40-year-old and nobody more so than Liverpool and Scotland legend Dalglish.
Johnson said: “I’ve got some really big hitters in football who have been fantastic with me. Kenny Dalglish, Brian Marwood, Dan Ashworth, these guys are references on my CV.
“It’s because they’re great people, but they’re also top at what they do and the experience that they’ve got. When it comes to decision making, I can phone these guys quickly.
“Kenny is unbelievable. You could be fretting over a decision for five or six weeks and phone him and before the end of the sentence, Kenny’s got it sorted.
“To have the opportunity to bounce scenarios off those guys, is powerful. I want to learn from the best. If you look at Kenny’s leadership and personality traits, an unbelievable human being.
“I remember I met him the first time in Glasgow actually and you could spend 20 minutes with that guy and learn two years worth of management.
“It was an interesting one, when I had the Oldham job, I had my B licence then did my A and Pro Licence in Scotland with the SFA and I was like ‘Kenny, do you have any advice, I’m going in for my interview’, and he said ‘Lee, just be yourself ’.
“I hear he rang the Oldham owner and said, ‘I know you’re meeting Lee Johnson, blah, blah, he’s a real deal’. It’s those things that you can’t buy. The gravitas of Kenny Dalglish.” Johnson’s record impressed Hibs owner Ron Gordon even if the appointment has met with a lack of enthusiasm with supporters. Johnson said: “I understand it. I wasn’t a massive name in football as a player. “I won’t get involved too much with the external noise, I want to prove it on the pitch with the players. It’s not about me, it’s about creating a united identity that we can all be proud of. “Hopefully we can not only win, but win the way we want to. If we can do that then that can be really powerful.”