Lee Johnson reacts to Hibs fan chants as boss reminds haters he's human in plea for more time
Johnson has apologised for a bad start to the Premiership season and admitted hearing fans anger was 'not nice'.
Under-fire Lee Johnson insists the Hibs haters won’t force him out as he pleaded for time after his side hit rock bottom.
The home support turned on the manager with chants of “Johnson, Johnson get to f***” as Livingston deservedly took all three points after a 3-2 win in Leith - leaving Hibs pointless from their first three games. Johnson now faces a European second leg away to Aston Villa after suffering a 5-0 thumping at home on Wednesday before travelling to Aberdeen on league duty next Sunday.
To add to Johnson’s woes he lost David Marshall to a chest injury in the first half. The 42-year-old was sacked at Sunderland before taking over at Easter Road last May. But the pressure has ramped up with the supporters making their feelings clear. And he said: “I understand it. I'm disappointed because I love it here, and I believe in us.
"I think it's magnified by the fact that we're three games into the season. That's key; nobody wants to be zero for three.
"We're working extremely hard here. We will turn it; the season and the league settles down when it becomes week to week.
"I hope that when we do turn it around, and we will, that those fans accept that and come back onside. That's all I ask, humbly, and I accept the criticism and responsibility but I want to do very well for this football club and we're pushing it in all directions.
“I can understand the scrutiny. I have been here before. It’s not nice. There’s a human there as well and sometimes people forget that.
“We work extremely hard and I just want the positivity in the football club. That focus s on me and I’d rather it was on me than the players. It’s small margins and I honestly believe if we see out 10 minutes at 1-1 our momentum takes the game back.
“I genuinely do apologise because I didn’t want to start like this. I was full of beans – I still am – going into the season and this has caught us out a little bit.”
Asked if he was worried board don’t feel same way about his optimism Johnson continued: “I hope they stick with me, I really do, because I want to be here. I’d never throw the towel in.
“And I understand there will be fans calling for my head. But I genuinely believe that we’ll do it. I think we’ve got a good squad, I think we’ve had a few issues – and we’ve got to tidy up our defensive stuff.
“We can still add, don’t forget. The window is still open and I’ve been consistent in what I believe we need to add, in house. I won’t say that publicly but it’s something I’ve been banging the drum about for some time now – and I’m sure that they’ll do everything they can to help.
"Marshall got a whiplash injury after getting a whack to the chest, his back and chest painful. All of those little things are just not going for us at the moment.”
As for the game, Johnson pinpointed a recurring issue for his team. He added: "I think it's fine margins. It was a game where we get back into it at 1-1 and then within 20 seconds or whatever it was we've conceded again for 2-1.
"We tend to do this a bit too much and I've got to take responsibility for that. We've conceded too many goals this season.
"We've struggled down that one particular side and teams are targeting that area. It's not an individual thing - we've tried a few individuals down that side.
"We've got to coach it better and we've got to make sure we defend crosses better. We're trying to compete on all fronts and it's proved to be a little bit too much for us.
"It does happen, and it has happened all over Europe, but it's not acceptable to have zero points from three games with the teams that we've played."