How is ex-Sunderland and Bristol City manager Lee Johnson getting on these days? | OneFootball

Lee Johnson enjoyed a more successful managerial career in England than many others have managed to, first making a name for himself during his time at Barnsley.

Although he also did exceptionally well at Oldham Athletic, he became a more well-known name at Oakwell, managing to turn things around during the latter stages of his spell with the Tykes and guiding them to the EFL Trophy final before being poached by Bristol City.

Arriving at Ashton Gate in February 2016, he lasted a lot longer than many other managers do these days, spending more than four years with the Robins and managing to make a good impact during the early stages of his spell there.

Brought in when the Robins were struggling at the bottom end of the Championship, he managed to guide them to safety during the latter stages of the 2015/16 campaign.

He may not have been able to take them to a much-improved finish during the following season - but the 41-year-old was able to transform them from a lower midtable team to a side competing for the play-offs - with City finishing in eighth position at the end of 2018/19.

Their recruitment during his time at the club played a part in their improvement, with Josh Brownhill, Famara Diedhiou, Antoine Semenyo, Adam Webster and Andreas Weimann all arriving whilst he was at the helm.

Current boss Nigel Pearson will be particularly grateful for the purchase of Semenyo, who was sold for a sizeable fee to AFC Bournemouth in January, with that deal allowing Pearson to spend in the transfer market.

Unfortunately, Johnson's time there ended in failure with the club losing four consecutive league games and all but ending their hopes of climbing into the top six at that point.

He did manage to climb into the play-offs with Sunderland, another one of his former teams. Succeeding Phil Parkinson in December 2020, he managed to win the EFL Trophy with the Black Cats during the following year but lost out in the play-off semi-final against Lincoln City at the back end of the 2020/21 season.

Although he managed to guide the Wearside outfit into the promotion mix during the next campaign, he was sacked in January 2022 following a heavy 6-0 away defeat at Bolton Wanderers, with the club still sitting in third place after that result.

After that decision by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, he may have been provided with extra motivation to succeed elsewhere because he may have seen that decision to sack him as an injustice.

He got his opportunity to do that at Scottish Premiership side Hibernian, joining his current club in May last year and arriving just after the end of their 2021/22 season.

That gave him the whole summer to put his stamp on the squad without being judged on previous results - and he certainly made full use of the English market last summer with David Marshall, Rocky Bushiri, Aiden McGeady and Harry McKirdy arriving permanently.

Ryan Schofield, Will Fish, CJ Egan-Riley and Matthew Hoppe also arrived on loan this season, with highly-rated Ryan Porteous heading south of the border to link up with Watford in January, something that would have been a blow for Johnson considering how much of a key figure he was at the back.

In terms of how Hibs have fared this season, he has endured a mixed time there with the club currently sitting in fifth position.

Their early exits from the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup won't have pleased their supporters - but their unbeaten league run between January and the early stages of this month will have given him a bit of space to breathe.

He would have been under major pressure at the end of 2022 considering the former they were in at the time - but if he can secure fourth or fifth spot at the end of the season - that wouldn't be a terrible achievement.

As previously mentioned, they are currently in fifth spot following a tough double header against Rangers and Celtic - but they have a slightly kinder run of fixtures coming up.

If they can win against Hearts next month, that could be crucial for them in terms of where they end up finishing.