Lee Johnson insists he’s a fan of the Premiership split - but not the effect it’s having on the surge of managerial separations. The Hibs boss will have two eyes on the park at St Johnstone and an ear on events at Tannadice tomorrow as the his side go into the decisive afternoon for the top six.
Hibs sit just above the cut, a point better off than seventh-placed Livingston who head to face Dundee United, and know only a victory in Perth will guarantee their target to finish in the Euro spots remains on course. For the second week running they’ll face a side without a permanent manager after Saints swung the axe on Callum Davidson following their own failure to get near the top half of the table.
Johnson is now the sixth longest serving boss in the Premiership despite only being appointed 11 months ago. And he said: "I quite like the split, it's good. I’m not sure it's great for managers, by the way, because it's up and down more than a fiddler's elbow in terms of opinion, whether someone is doing a good job or not.
“How many managers have lost their job this year? I'm the sixth-longest lasting! So it just goes to show, the panic sets in for some reason really, really quickly.
“It's not right. For any manager to do well, you need time and you need consistency.
“But for us, it feels like our next step in the journey. We have to secure it and progress not just sixth."
Johnson’s focus will be on three points at McDiarmid Park but he’ll be ready to act should events at Tannadice mean he needs to make a change.
He said: “If we're up in the game comfortably then no, I won’t need to keep in touch with other games.
“But if there is something to consider, then of course I'll have to.
“There could be a time lapse - there was Man Utd v Man City back in the day, when Man Utd think they've won the league then Man City score.
“Those things go on in football all the time. It's very clear to us what we have to do: we've got to win the game.”
Johnson could be without Mykola Kukharevych in Perth with the striker struggling with a hamstring niggle.
Meanwhile the boss admits he wishes he could have joined the supporters last Saturday evening as Leith celebrated a first derby win in 10.
But he admits he needed to turn attention to this weekend and ensuring the feelgood factor continues.
He said: “It's big, isn't it, because the lads know just how much it means to the fanbase.
“I wish I could have been in the mix after the game, down Leith Walk or wherever it is that everyone goes, because the fan in me wanted to celebrate with the fanbase.
“Quickly in football you have to move on. You can't be over-confident from one game - one swallow doesn't make a summer.
“We'd previously performed average and then poor before that one, so again, I'm just striving for that consistency from the boys.
“This is a good opportunity, I think, to show how far we've come, to go and put two performances on the spin and try and build on that.
“Motivation should always come from within. I feel the boys are motivated, I feel like they want it. Obviously there's a lot that can go down at the weekend.
“But we've got to do our job. Our job is to go and secure three points, to battle and then we see what happens at the end of it.
“What we can't do is worry about the external factors, what we can't control is the state of the pitch, what Dundee United do, what Kilmarnock do, Livingston and anybody else does.
“We have to focus on the moment. I have to make sure I get my substitutions right, that I set the boys up, that they've got clarity on the opposition, that they understand the best way to infiltrate their backline. All those things are really important to focus on and from that, that's where your confidence comes from.”
