‘HUNGRY’ JOHNSON’S PLEDGE TO HIBS FANS

Hibernian’s new manager Lee Johnson intends to engage the fanbase with a brand of “aggressive, forward-thinking” football.

The 40-year-old former Sunderland and Bristol City boss was yesterday appointed Shaun Maloney’s successor on a four-year deal.

Hibs have just completed an underwhelming campaign in which they finished eighth in the Premiership, but Johnson hopes to get the supporters’ juices flowing again.

“Hibs are getting a hungry manager,” said Johnson, when asked what type of boss he is.

“I feel like football’s in my blood. My father’s a manager. A lot of my family are in football and I have a lot of experience despite my relatively young years. I want to bring all that to Hibs.

“The main thing is to get a supporter base who feel attached and can identify with the performance. I want the fanbase to really be a part of our performance, that’s absolutely key for me.

“Can we have such a clear identity in the way we play that they can start to recognise key factors in games and therefore get behind us and support us?

“I want an aggressive team in terms of being forward-thinking. I want players to play forward and run forward. The simple aspect is to make sure we are playing with such a tempo and high line we can force the opposition into unforced errors.

“I want us to be worldclass in transition and you need athletic players for that with quality and good decision-making.”

Johnson played for Hearts for a brief spell in 2006 but laughed off any notion that playing for Hibs’ city rivals should be a consideration.

“I don’t think my stint there was that memorable,” he said.

“Over 500 games as a player, I played four for Hearts.

“Maybe it was because I was acting as a double agent for Hibernian very early!

“It’s part of my story. It was a really interesting time with what was going on behind the scenes (under former owner Vladimir Romanov).

“But what you will get from me here at Hibernian is total commitment.”