Johnson is gunning for Gorgie men

LEE JOHNSON yesterday took charge of Hibernian and warned former Hearts team-mate Robbie Neilson that he’s now gunning for him. The 40-year-old former Sunderland boss has been handed a four-year deal at Easter Road — 16 years after briefly playing on the other half of the Edinburgh divide. Unconcerned that his brief association with Hearts will be held against him by some supporters, Johnson says he can’t wait to lock horns with the man who has progressed to become head coach at Tynecastle. ‘I’m really looking forward to going up against Robbie,’ he said. ‘I’ve not heard from him yet, I was going to send him a message saying: “I’m coming for you, Curly Top”! ‘I know the rivalry and it was a massive pull for me. To be honest, as a manager my derbies have been rubbish! ‘My best one was Oldham v

Rochdale and I wanted

something like Newcastle v Sunderland, I wanted Bristol City v Bristol Rovers. ‘So I know I’m going to get a proper derby here. I thrive off that. ‘I want to win, I want to compete and I want to deliver back to the fanbase and prove my worth. I like to think that my experience but also my resilience will help — that I’m big and ugly enough to cope with big pressure.’ Johnson was selected ahead of Jon Dahl Tomasson, with the former Malmo manager the preferred candidate for most fans to succeed Shaun Maloney. Having only played four games for Hearts in 2006, Johnson feels it’s unlikely that will influence fans’ opinions of him. ‘I hope not,’ he said, after confirming Jamie McAllister and David Gray will form part of his backroom staff. ‘If someone wants to pick on me, I think they can think of better things than that, that’s for sure. ‘All I can do is come and offer honest work and work extremely hard. ‘That’s all I can do, being all-in to the football club. At the end of the day, supporters want the club to be successful — if they are seeing signs of that, I think any manager can be appreciated.’ Executive chairman Ron Gordon insists the club will do all it can to back Johnson in the transfer window this summer. ‘We want success and that has to come with a commitment on our part from a resource and investment perspective,’ he said. ‘I think we are committed to doing that — we’re making all kinds of investments to grow the club and take it to the next level. We need to do that on the pitch.’ Gordon was criticised for sacking Jack Ross after he guided the club to the League Cup final and then only giving Maloney four months to prove himself. Asked if he now believed that the trigger had been pulled on Ross too soon, Gordon replied: ‘I could reassess that but I’d have to say yes. ‘There were important lessons for me. That’s water over the dam at this point. We just move forward.’