Happy return: Richard Johnson is back leading Middlesex after three seasons at London rivals Surrey as assistant coach
(Picture: Getty Images)Much has changed since Richard Johnson left Middlesex for Surrey in late 2018, having been passed over as head coach, with Stuart Law getting the job.
But, as Johnson returns, replacing Law, something has not: Middlesex are still in Division Two of the County Championship, which they start against Derbyshire at Lord’s tomorrow, and are still a club struggling to fulfil its ambition and potential.
When Johnson was overlooked in 2018, he was interim head coach, a long-time assistant and had been a fast-bowling stalwart at Lord’s. But, after winning the County Championship in 2016, the club was relegated in 2017 and failed to win promotion in 2018.
With a great team breaking up, it was felt that change was required. Johnson sought sanctuary at Surrey, and enjoyed three happy seasons there. When the opportunity to cross the Thames came up again, though, he could not resist, and was handed a sought-after job following a thorough process.
“I’ve never held a grudge, I am not like that,” he tells Standard Sport. “I applied for the job last time, didn’t get it. The club wanted to go in a different direction, not a problem.
“I have gone away for three years, worked under some fantastic coaches at a very different club and picked things up. I’ve come back a different person, and probably a person more ready to take on the role. I had an amazing time at Surrey, and look at it very positively.”
Johnson is fiercely realistic about the scale of the task facing Middlesex.
Steven Finn, James Harris and Nick Gubbins have left in the last year, and he has a squad of two halves: Championship winners such as Tim Murtagh and Sam Robson (who is named in the squad for the first match of the season but has a thumb injury) alongside a talented generation of youngsters, spearheaded by the likes of Blake Cullen and Ethan Bamber (one of a number handed Championship debuts in Johnson’s spell as interim).
A sprinkling of class is added by Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi and Australian Peter Handscomb, who struggled last year but was the top runscorer in the Sheffield Shield this winter. Neither has arrived in time for Derbyshire, but will play the second match in a fortnight’s time.
“We haven’t performed since 2016, including when I was still assistant coach,” Johnson says. “It’s a long period of time not to be competing.
“If you look at our squad now, the senior players are the important ones from my point of view. They are incredible characters who will lead the young players the right way on and off the pitch. The youngsters are extremely talented but you need the senior players to guide them and take the pressure off.”
It has been clear to Johnson that he has taken charge of a group that needs its confidence building. There were green shoots late last season, when they won four Championship matches in a row, but much still to do.
“Every coach, every player, wants to start the season and win every game that comes your way,” he says.
“But let’s be under no illusions, we haven’t been successful for a long time, so that might take some building. But the process is well under way, building a confident team takes time in terms of the scarring of losing lots of games. You have to get over that bit.
“But if you prepare in the best way, plan, have some identity, what are we about, what do we want to be seen as. If you start winning games, you can start dreaming. It’s always a goal to win games. There might be a process first.”
Pitches at Lord’s have been a hot topic in recent years – true when Middlesex won the title, spicy since – but Johnson wants the excuses to stop.
“I think so,” he says, when asked if the squad need their confidence building up. "But that can change quickly as well.
“All the stuff we have done in pre-season, we’ve made it a tough environment to practice in. I’ve said we have to cope with the moving ball better, it’s not an excuse. It’s early season, at Lord’s. The ball can move around a fair bit. We have to get better at that, it’s our home ground, we know what we are getting. We have to really build that as a base to win games.
“We’ve asked for good wickets, nothing more. We’ve got to get better on wickets that do a bit. Sometimes in Division Two teams are desperate to get out, they want result wickets. If we have prepared for them, it puts you in a good position.”
