‘Weirdo’ is counting on reaction from Hibs

HIBERNIAN’S players will be relieved to hear that Lee Johnson has no plans to subject them to advanced mathematics riddles — despite their manager describing himself as a ‘weirdo’ like the character played by Matt Damon in film Good Will Hunting.

But the Englishman says his love for detailed analysis has shown him why the numbers didn’t add up for the Leith outfit last season... leaving them in the wake of city rivals Hearts.

Hibs finished 16 points and five places worse off than tomorrow’s visitors in the Premiership, but it is the finer details Johnson has his eyes on as he attempts to find a winning formula at Easter Road.

And he revealed that he effectively became a successful professional gambler — betting on games while armed with data — following his sacking at Sunderland in January.

‘I’m a bit of a weirdo, aren’t I? In terms of the way I see football,’ said Johnson, who will go up against former Hearts team-mate Robbie Neilson when the Gorgie side make the short trip for the first derby of the campaign.

‘I see a numbers game, I’m always looking for reference points on the pitch, numbers overloads, box entries, distances.

‘What’s that film where he writes all the things on the board with Matt Damon? Good Will Hunting.

‘That’s exactly how I am seeing football matches, I am always taking little reference points and playing the numbers game.

‘Of course it does not guarantee you a win, but playing the numbers game over a period of time does guarantee you progression.

‘The big thing statistically last year was that our attacking threat was not anywhere near good enough and, if you look at the key elements that produce goal-scoring teams, we were not anywhere near Hearts.

‘That, for me, is the acid test. Defensively, we were solid and we know we’re tweaking the dial this year to turn that a bit. Does it mean we’ll concede more goals? Potentially. But hopefully we’ll score more as well.’

Johnson put his theory regarding data to the test by taking on the bookmakers, and came out on top.

‘When I was out of work, I did a bit of professional betting,’ he revealed. ‘And the reason I did that was because I still had all the data from packing skills, which is a German concept, Opta stats, StatsBomb, expected goals stats.

‘So I’m thinking: “This is easy”. This is easy money, I want to put X amount in a little kitty, I’m going to then pick what I believe is the best fixtures in the value bets.

‘I increased my pot in about 24 matchdays, I think it was by about 180 per cent.

‘That was playing the numbers. So it can be done if you’ve got the data, if you’ve got the eye for it, if you understand how it works, you can do it.’

It doesn’t take a betting man, meanwhile, to see that former Hibs forward Martin Boyle wants to make up the numbers at Easter Road again after his disappointing spell with Al-Faisaly in Saudi Arabia.

But Johnson conceded the club will have to open the cheque book to land him.

The Australia international left Leith in a life-changing £3million switch in January.

After his team were relegated from their top flight last season, the 29-year-old has been forced to take a wage cut and wants out.

Talks between the clubs behind the scenes are continuing, although the move is made more complicated by the fact that AlFaisaly are still paying off the instalments of the transfer fee that was agreed at the turn of the year.

Johnson said: ‘That’s my understanding (that Boyle wants to come back) but again I’m talking out of turn effectively because he is not our player and I would be disappointed if somebody else was talking about one of our contracted players in those terms.

‘It won’t be cheap, it would have to take a big investment from the ownership to do that.’

Asked if he was prepared to play the waiting game over Boyle, with the transfer window remaining open until September 1, Johnson said: ‘Yeah. It’s a fine balance, isn’t it? We’re prepared to play the waiting game but don’t want to lose the opportunity to get someone else that’s good.

‘If Lionel Messi becomes available, see you Boyler, we’re taking him.

‘That’s the ruthless nature of football, but while there is communication it means there is a chance and while there is a chance, we’ll wait.’

Boyle was desperate to broaden his horizons at the turn of the year but wing-back Chris Cadden insists he is more than happy at Easter Road after signing a new three-year deal yesterday.

‘I’m loving it,’ said Cadden. ‘There’s no place I’d rather be playing my football. It feels like home for me now.

‘It was a no-brainer for me. It was a tough year last year. I know the feeling of winning with Hibs is great, it’s worth the lows.’