Lee Johnson claims Hibs fans expected him to beat 'English b******s' Aston Villa as he makes Fleetwood comparison

Johnson told Town fans at a function that he was sacke dby his easter Road sacking and that he got 'hammered' by the Scottish media.

Lee Johnson has claimed that Hibs fans genuinely expected him to "English b******s" Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League this season.

The Fleetwood Town boss was speaking at a supporters function when he was asked to compare the Hibees to his current club and he expanded on the standard of Scottish football and the media landscape north of the border. Johnson reckons he was "hammered" by the Scottish press and admitted his past as a Hearts player made things difficult for him in Leith.

But he maintains he was shocked to get the sack earlier this season, despite losing his first three league games and sitting bottom of the table at the end of August. That came after a 6-0 home drubbing to Unai Emery's Villa in the Conference League playoff round. Few Hibs fans held out any realistic hopes, but Johnson reckons his failure to come out on top was held against him.

"I said this to my old assistant manager Jamie McAllister and we had this debate," he said. "Honestly, if I picked a team between the two squads, it would be very even in terms of Hibs players and Fleetwood players.

"What is Scottish football? Well it was difficult for me because I played for Hearts and then Hibs took me on as a manager.

"I got battered by media, really. I felt that but I think everybody does in Scotland. There's a culture up there they're very strong, passionate and opinionated.

"I'm good friends with Robbie Neilson, who got sacked from hearts having got them promoted, got them into Europe then lost a couple of games and ended up gone. I was there 15/16 months and was the second longest serving in Scotland. That gives you a bit of an idea of the intensity that's there.

"I loved my time there. It was. big club in terms of fanbase and history. They finished eighth the season before I took over. We got into Europe and won the best game in Europe for 30 years. We had just got to the quarter-final of the Scottish League Cup.

"We'd sold £3million worth of players and brought young players through for their debuts, so it was a bit of a shock if I'm honest. I wasn't expecting it.

"We lost the first three league games but there were some circumstances behind it, based on laying on the Thursday and the travelling and Aston Villa in Europe in well. So some lessons learned and a really important part of my journey as a coach. Hopefully I'll be able to bring all those experiences here as a positive.

"So what is the standard? Budget-wise, it's is a slightly higher budget than what we've got here. Academy-wise, two really strong academies and facilities. The expectation is huge at Hibs, who were going against Aston Villa's £108million budget, plus £180million on fees and they genuinely expected us to "turn over those English b******s." And I'm English!"

As for his treatment in the media, Johnson used one example to highlight how intense he found the coverage. he added: "There's a lot of dynamics. Even the media, there's a lot of papers to fill. I went out for dinner with my nan and my mum before the Hearts game and somebody took a picture of me walking home along George Street - which is a street I'm sure you guys would enjoy if we went on a pre-season to Edinburgh.

"By the time I got home the CEO was facetiming me because it had gone live that I was drunk , walking down George Street the night before the Hearts game. It was completely untrue and a little bit of defamation of character as I saw it. These were the things we had to deal with.

"Part of it coming here was the purity of the coaching. I think I'm a coach and that's the best part of my skill set. To have the time, focus and consideration to do that, this felt like a good fit.

"I think Fleetwood could be flying and be decent in that league. At the same time, outside the Old Firm, there are some decent, Championship standard players. But I think we have Championship style players."

Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.