Lee Johnson: What's the best he will achieve with Hibs?

[One Day Soon]

After the intensive recent posting about him following defeat at home to the mighty St Mirren I wondered what people think is the best he will achieve as our manager - both his supporters and his detractors.

As someone who would like to see him move on - or be moved on - ASAP, I am curious as to what those who still back him feel he will achieve this season which is giving them the confidence in him that I just cannot find or feel?

[Paulie Walnuts]

5th place.

[One Day Soon]

5th place.

Ok, what does he need to achieve to fulfil our expectations. Never mind the club's KPIs, I'm more interested in what the fans are expecting.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Ok, what does he need to achieve to fulfil our expectations. Never mind the club's KPIs, I'm more interested in what the fans are expecting.

Sorry I actually just realised you were really only looking for the opinions of folk who were backing him :greengrin

From my point of view I want to see us play a good brand of football. Playing a good brand of football pretty much goes hand in hand with good results, I’ve never seen a Hibs team that play good football and be garbage.

I’d also be looking for us to avoid defeat against anyone with a smaller budget than us in cups. If we do get beat then I’d expect it to be a bit of a smash and grab rather than a game like the St Mirren game at the weekend where we were deservedly beaten.

The brand of football LJ promised would be nice. It’s certainly not what he’s given us.

[Basildon Hibs]

Sorry I actually just realised you were really only looking for the opinions of folk who were backing him :greengrin

From my point of view I want to see us play a good brand of football. Playing a good brand of football pretty much goes hand in hand with good results, I’ve never seen a Hibs team that play good football and be garbage.

I’d also be looking for us to avoid defeat against anyone with a smaller budget than us in cups. If we do get beat then I’d expect it to be a bit of a smash and grab rather than a game like the St Mirren game at the weekend where we were deservedly beaten.

The brand of football LJ promised would be nice. It’s certainly not what he’s given us.

Hopefully handing in his resignation ASAP.

[Cat Stanton]

A pay-off. Hopefully soon.

[Carheenlea]

After the intensive recent posting about him following defeat at home to the mighty St Mirren I wondered what people think is the best he will achieve as our manager - both his supporters and his detractors.

As someone who would like to see him move on - or be moved on - ASAP, I am curious as to what those who still back him feel he will achieve this season which is giving them the confidence in him that I just cannot find or feel?

Half the fun of following Hibs is simply this in answer to the question - Who really knows?

For all his first season kind of backed up the “Streaky Lee” moniker he was given at previous clubs, but we did enjoy some good nights. The inconsistency is such that we could go all the way in a cup but still have a run of 5 league defeats on the spin.

I don’t think anyone can feel too confident of a steady season where we don’t lose too many games to the teams we should feel we should be beating, and picking up a few points against the Old Firm and some wins against Hearts & Aberdeen.

I think we’ll get a bit of everything, but wouldn’t like to predict exactly where we finish!

[Unseen work]

We’ll beat this Swiss lot and go out to Villa.

Reach the final of the league cup.

Out of quarter final of the Scottish to Celtic.

Finish 4th.

Calling it early.

[Stuart93]

We’ll beat this Swiss lot and go out to Villa.

Reach the final of the league cup.

Out of quarter final of the Scottish to Celtic.

Finish 4th.

Calling it early.

Would be happy enough with that

[007]

After the intensive recent posting about him following defeat at home to the mighty St Mirren I wondered what people think is the best he will achieve as our manager - both his supporters and his detractors.

As someone who would like to see him move on - or be moved on - ASAP, I am curious as to what those who still back him feel he will achieve this season which is giving them the confidence in him that I just cannot find or feel?

I think he will achieve more than a replacement would have if we'd sacked him after the St Mirren game.

I wouldn't say I'm confidently backing him but I am very much against sacking a manager that's got us into Europe and through to the next round but lost the 1st league game.

The board stuck by him last season and sacking him now would be a massive change in approach, which I'd prefer us not to have.

[Hibbyradge]

I don't know, tbh.

[kiwihibby]

I don't know, tbh.

With the squad he is building I would say top 4. Okay there have been a couple of early wake up calls but it's not the end of the world. Remember St Mirren weren't a bad side last season.

KEEP THE FAITH

[JammyDoidger]

Meh, certainly won't win anything, I expect us to remain behind the sheep and hearts, which isn't good enough for us, the guys a serial loser. Been in the job a year, three transfer windows, over 20 players signed, sticks with Hanlon and Stevenson, a midfield of Newell, JDH and Campbell, can't take much more of him, fail to win tonight and fail to win Sunday, you'll struggle to find anyone that won't want him out.

[Since452]

3rd is up for grabs. If it wasn't for some horrendous VAR calls we probably would have finished 3rd last season.

[lyonhibs]

A glamorous pumping by Aston Villa is the best we can hope for this season with LJ in charge IMO

[Bridge hibs]

A glamorous pumping by Aston Villa is the best we can hope for this season with LJ in charge IMO

Wouldnt matter who was in charge, Villa are light years ahead of hibs in every shape and form. Celtc would most likely give them a run for their money, the rangers on watching their last 2 games on tv would most likely get beat and hearts and aberdeen would probably get a severe doing too so its not just down to LJ being in charge

[lyonhibs]

Wouldnt matter who was in charge, Villa are light years ahead of hibs in every shape and form. Celtc would most likely give them a run for their money, the rangers on watching their last 2 games on tv would most likely get beat and hearts and aberdeen would probably get a severe doing too so its not just down to LJ being in charge

I know all that, I just mean a glamour game against Aston Villa will be the only thing that history recalls about this season if LJ stays in charge (and we get past Luzern which will be a task in itself)

[flash]

A win tonight then take it from there.

[BILLYHIBS]

I personally think the man is a slavering clueless tactically naive inept idiot ( did I just say that out loud ? ) but I don’t think we are too far away from a really good squad to have a real good go this season

Perhaps a solid reliable pacy established right back an attacking classy midfield player to link defence to attack and a pacy winger as cover or to come off the bench

Only then can I see LJ kicking on other than that he won’t see the end of the season

Maybes the new DoF can pull a rabbit or two out of the hat ?

As it stands fifth

[JimBHibees]

After the intensive recent posting about him following defeat at home to the mighty St Mirren I wondered what people think is the best he will achieve as our manager - both his supporters and his detractors.

As someone who would like to see him move on - or be moved on - ASAP, I am curious as to what those who still back him feel he will achieve this season which is giving them the confidence in him that I just cannot find or feel?

Not saying still back him as such just think see where we are after a decent run of games and see what new players are like. He has just brought in a new striker. Think second part of last season and top 6 games were by and large better than expected and should have been better eg Aberdeen and Hearts 3 points should have been won.

[JeMeSouviens]

I think he'll go on another bad run, we'll be bumping around struggling to make the top 6 but probably safe and he'll be gone by xmas.

Since he's not going anywhere for now, I'd love to be totally wrong and see us having a great League cup run and be challenging for 3rd. But I can't see it from here.

[Northernhibee]

Holding onto his job.

He will always be a manager who is under pressure. When a loss is likely to turn to four or five on the bounce, it’ll be unlikely to get many decent cup runs with this club and as a result, if he can make it to the end of the season that’ll be a success for him.

[blackpoolhibs]

A lion that catches him.

[ScottB]

I think he’s already done it; 5th place. I think we’ll continue to go through the ups and downs we already have with him; periods of good form followed by spells of poor results and performances till he settles into another decent run.

Over the course of a season, that probably keeps up from challenging higher up or for the cups.

[Donegal Hibby]

We made steady improvement which could be seen in our last 6 games last season.
This season we will be right in the fight for 3rd spot . Where will finish ? 3rd , 4th or 5th . No higher or lower than that !. Cups ? . We should beat Raith and go into the next round . After that it's very much hoping that lady luck is on our side and you get a decent home draw while avoiding the old firm. Scottish cup much the same . Hopefully we get to semi or final of a cup and finish 3rd 🤞which I'd be happy with TBH.

[Heisenberg]

Lee Johnson’s cosmic Hibees will win it all.

[Groathillgrump]

We made steady improvement which could be seen in our last 6 games last season.
This season we will be right in the fight for 3rd spot . Where will finish ? 3rd , 4th or 5th . No higher or lower than that !. Cups ? . We should beat Raith and go into the next round . After that it's very much hoping that lady luck is on our side and you get a decent home draw while avoiding the old firm. Scottish cup much the same . Hopefully we get to semi or final of a cup and finish 3rd 🤞which I'd be happy with TBH.

Just a pity we had to wait until the last 6 games of the season to see steady improvement. Earlier in the season would've been preferable.

That 'improvement' seems to have all but disappeared and we're now back to where we were at the start of last season.

Simply not good enough IMO.

[Bushwoof]

We're never going to finish higher than 3rd, and I think we've got a good chance of that this year.
It's also getting to the point where winning a cup is next to impossible too, so probably a cup final is as good as he'll get. Not this year for that though.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Just a pity we had to wait until the last 6 games of the season to see steady improvement. Earlier in the season would've been preferable.

That 'improvement' seems to have all but disappeared and we're now back to where we were at the start of last season.

Simply not good enough IMO.

:agree:

The ‘improvement’ in the last 6 games would appear to be much more of one of his famous streaks than some sort of consolidated improvement. We were crap before it and have been crap since.

We also won 2 out of the 6 games. It was hardly earth shattering.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Before you answer that question you have to know what it's realistic for the club to achieve.

3rd in the league .... Realistic

Winning the league cup or Scottish cup .... Realistic

Making a European group stage .... Realistic. Smaller clubs than us have done it.

In all honesty on the evidence so far I can't see LJ achieving any of these goals. We have gone from being arguably the best cup side in Scotland outside of Celtic for the last 8 years to a club who can't get past the first round we play in. So far the guy has lived up to his 'streaky Lee' tag so far as the league goes, that can be changed by consistently winning games against the likes of Motherwell, St Johnston, Livvi and St Mirren etc, especially at home, that's hardly asking the impossible ... not much sign of it happening if Sunday was anything to go by.

We have absolutely no chance of beating Aston Villa, no modern day Hibs manager would have. But getting past Luzern in this round would at least be some evidence that given a favourable draw making a group stage wouldn't be beyond us in the future. It will be a tough task and an excellent result if we can do it, but it's not impossible and would be the sort of result that might give some sign that LJ can get his players up and his tactics right for big games.

I've said it before, it's not the loss of face losing to smaller clubs in the league or the cup that will lose LJ his job ... it's the loss of income that will eventually force the board's hand.

Failure to progress in either cup last year probably lost the club potential income of at least a million quid.

If we get past Luzern and face Villa the prize money for going out at that stage is about £600,000 ..... Easter Road would absolutely sell out for the game and tickets would be between £20 to £30 a pop. That's potentially another £600,000 if you chuck in hospitality advertising etc. Fail to make it to that game and the owners will be in full on Jim Bowen mode ..... 'lets see what you could have won' ... oh look, it was over a million quid !!!

In just over a year in charge the manager will have lost the club potential earnings of over £2,000,000 through failing to win winnable games ... no manager at a club of our size can survive that.

[Cardinal G]

3rd is up for grabs. If it wasn't for some horrendous VAR calls we probably would have finished 3rd last season.
Still to this day can't understand how Ross Countys clattering of Marshall went to var and equaliser stood. Such fine lines, if you coupled that with Nisbit scoring and not missing penalty at Aberdeen away we would have been 3rd.

[One Day Soon]

I just cannot see what his supporters think he is going to win or achieve. It’s like football roulette week after week with next to none of results, form, performance, style, improvement or momentum going well. He brings little and is delivering even less.

[sean04]

If he makes 8pm tonight then he's done well

[Alfred E Newman]

I think we’ve reached the peak, some great results some shockers. Sneaking into 5th spot last season was probably as good as it will get.

[Nicho87]

A decent pay off

[paddy1875]

Absolutely nothing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jim44]

The guy has absolutely nothing going for him. A monkey could have achieved the results he’s bestowed on us so far this season. We’ll be a laughing stock for getting rid, once again, but we have nothing to lose and much to gain.

[basehibby]

I had my doubts about LJ last season during those two awful runs running up to xmas - but the turnaround achieved in the wake of the Jan window convinced me that he does have some talent as a coach and gave me a good deal of hope that he could put together a side to challenge for 3rd place and hopefully win a trophy with Hibs.

The start to the season has given me pause for thought - starting with two defeats in the league is obviously very poor. The win vs Luzerne though was more akin to the hot streaks last season when we were blowing teams away at times and regularly creating many chances in games. If that form can be replicated domestically again then we could yet see my hoped for challenge for 3rd place & decent cup runs materialise. The reality is though that we do not have the quality in depth in our squad to achieve this consecutively with European football and this has been starkly demonstrated over the last few weeks. You could argue that LJ should have done better in this respect and that's fair enough - he is on a learning curve himself though as this is his first European campaign as player or manager if I'm not mistaken.

[basehibby]

The guy has absolutely nothing going for him. A monkey could have achieved the results he’s bestowed on us so far this season. We’ll be a laughing stock for getting rid, once again, but we have nothing to lose and much to gain.

Slavering nonsense does nothing to convince re the merits of your arguments. The 3-1 vs Luzerne was a great result - have you forgotten already?!?

[Nutmegged]

After the intensive recent posting about him following defeat at home to the mighty St Mirren I wondered what people think is the best he will achieve as our manager - both his supporters and his detractors.

As someone who would like to see him move on - or be moved on - ASAP, I am curious as to what those who still back him feel he will achieve this season which is giving them the confidence in him that I just cannot find or feel?

He's already achieved it, he'll never do better than what he did last season, that's why he should be gone.

[Donegal Hibby]

He's already achieved it, he'll never do better than what he did last season, that's why he should be gone.
And yet on another thread you want Malky McKay as manager, you think he could do any better than 5th ?

[Nutmegged]

And yet on another thread you want Malky McKay as manager, you think he could do any better than 5th ?

Absolutely, Malky is a great coach who can get the best out of average players, if he was given an opportunity at a bigger Scottish club (us, Aberdeen or hertz) I've got absolutely no doubt he'd be finishing 3rd/4th every year with and would offer a far better opportunity in cup comps.

[Donegal Hibby]

Absolutely, Malky is a great coach who can get the best out of average players, if he was given an opportunity at a bigger Scottish club (us, Aberdeen or hertz) I've got absolutely no doubt he'd be finishing 3rd/4th every year with and would offer a far better opportunity in cup comps.
Malky McKay might be a lot of things but being a great coach isn't one of them . He had a win rate of 33.3% at Watford. Sacked at Cardiff , win rate of 20% at Wigan who ended up in relegation trouble under him and escaped relegation as manager of Ross county by the skin of there teeth in a season that they were absolutely brutal in . The only reason Ross county took him is because nobody else wanted him after certain remarks he made and due to him being a poor coach. Given the opportunity I could see us in relegation trouble under him .

[greenlex]

We might limp to fourth. We might limp to a relegation playoff. Either way limping anywhere isn’t good enough. Going up or down fighting is a minimum requirement. It’s not happening with this management team as is.