The Hibs boss sat down with Hibs TV to reflect on the Club's training camp in Marbella, his first season at Hibs, this summer's recruitment and his aims for the new campaign.
Here are three key talking points from the interview.
Opportunities For Academy Youngsters
The Gaffer highlighted that young players will be given a chance to stake their claim for a place in the First Team squad this season.
Johnson took teenagers Reuben McAllister, Rudi Molotnikov, Jacob MacIntyre and Kanayo Megwa to the training camp in Spain with all four featuring in both matches and impressing in training. Johnson told us:
“The Academy have done a great job over the years, we had three 17-year-olds away with us on pre-season and who have all performed extremely well. We are a Club that wants to give opportunities to young players.
“I am super keen on bringing the young players through, they have to be good enough.
"I always think a young player is better embedded into a good team, with good experienced players around them. There is some real experience in this group, and if I was a young player in that group I would do everything I could to learn from those guys.
“I truly believe that one or two of those guys will make their debut this season and have influence. They’ve got the talent but they need to have the right attitude, they need to be curious and their application needs to be on point.
“It is all quite exciting really, we love to see young players coming through, particularly those with green blood.”
New Signings & Squad Building
Johnson was particularly pleased with the Hibees recruitment since the turn of the year. New signings Dylan Levitt, Adam Le Fondre, Jojo Wollacott, Max Boruc and Jordan Obita were all part of the training squad in Marbella and have settled in nicely with the lads. Johnson said:
“I have been really happy with our recruitment this year. Everyone has had a year to work with me and understands the type of player I like to pick in a team. We’ve got speed out wide, we’ve got Martin Boyle coming back, we have a good energy and footballing ability in midfielder and we have strengthened in the goalkeeping department and have strong competition for places.
"The whole squad is starting to build, there is still work to be done, with both ins and out. But every decision is made with the intention of improving the team, the squad and enabling young players to progress.
"I thought we had a really good window in January and that coincided with a fantastic second half of last season. We’ve set up a lovely season in my eyes by getting that European place. We want to do well in the competition and we will use that whole experience to our advantage.
"We obviously go straight through to the second round of the ViaPlay Cup which is important as we are just one win away from the quarter-finals and we need a squad size that is capable of competing on all fronts."
Aspirations For 2023/24
Johnson emphasised how much he is looking forward to the start of the new season and set out some key objectives.
"In-house, we set our objectives and we do that at every level. The footballer in me wants to win every game and that is where we will start.
"We are very ambitious, we want to reach for the stars and be super aggressive in every game. When we play well, we have lots of chances, lots of shots and the product of that is winning games.
"We have come through last season – in the end, in a half-decent place – and we are ready to capitalise on that this year."
Watch the full interview below on Hibs TV!