Lee Johnson is reading out a message which praises his Hibs dug out debut before it adds: ‘You need to get Tavares pressing the centre-halves’.
In any other situation it would be token coach speak between two footballing brains after he’d overseen his first game in charge - a 2-0 friendly win over Hartlepool in Portugal. But the text Johnson is reading to us during a lengthy sit down in the Algarve isn’t from a member of his staff, a friend in the game or even his dad Gary currently manager of Torquay United.
This constructive critique has arrived from his 83-year-old Scottish gran Jannette. Johnson is big on family. Whether it’s his own ancestry or the new Hibee clan he is forming in his fifth job in management, and when it comes to advice, he’s never too big to ignore any. Especially from his Lennoxtown-born gran.
