Lee Johnson won’t ever forget his debut for Kilmarnock 10 years ago.Not just because it happened to be at Ibrox in a game the Ayrshire side won 1-0.
What sticks out most for the Englishman from that game on February 18, 2012 was the show of unity flowing down from almost every corner of the ground for Rangers who had gone into administration only four days earlier.It’s the best atmosphere Johnson ever played in and the midfielder admits it got his Killie team mates as pumped as it did the home side.
Fast forward over a decade and Rangers are in a vastly different place. But with Michael Beale now in position and preparing for his dugout debut after a difficult run of results in the pitch saw Gio van Bronckhorst sacked, Johnson expects his Hibs side to be facing an equally passionate cauldron in Govan on Wednesday night.A charged atmosphere not dissimilar to that which he encountered as a player on that Sunday afternoon 10 years ago.
And he hopes his players can respond just like his Killie team mates did to spark their own season back to life.Their last venture to Glasgow ended in a 6-1 drubbing at Celtic Park in October after which Johnson claimed footballers in Scotland were brainwashed into believing they can’t beat the Old Firm.
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