Hibs boss Lee Johnson has queried whether Ange Postecoglou will start to find Scottish football "too easy" as he discussed the competitive gap in the cinch Premiership.
The Easter Road boss set the question as he claimed only the arrival of a sheikh at a Scottish club could break the dominance of Celtic and Rangers.
Celtic are on course to claim a second successive title under Postecoglou having only dropped five points from 29 games so far and Johnson wonders how the Australian regards the competition.
He said: “If I was Ange, I’m thinking to myself at what point does it get too easy, almost?
“I know that sounds bad, but you know generally if your boys are on it; listen - top manager, top club, top way or working, top philosophy but their challenge would feel like Europe and competing in the Champions League.
“It’s up to clubs like us to make sure that when we do turn up at Parkhead that they are frightened of us more than they are at the moment.”
READ MORE: Ryan Porteous valued at £20m as Hibs await bumper transfer windfall
Johnson admitted he has been shocked by the gap between the Glasgow rivals and the rest of the Scottish Premiership clubs.
The Leith club are some 33 points adrift of second place Rangers, while the Ibrox club are 28 better off than nearest challengers Hearts.
Johnson was taken aback by the difference in the league having felt it was much closer during his time as a player in Scotland.
However, now, Johnson reckons the only chance for clubs to topple Celtic and Rangers from the top spots is through a wealthy owner.
He said: “If some sheikh comes in and takes over one of the clubs, there is always that potential, isn’t there?
“Historically the Old Firm have always whipped away the best players from the rest, which is always a clever tactic because not only are you enhancing yourself, you’re decreasing the quality of the opponents.
“I suppose the dreamer in me says we can but the realist in me knows how difficult it will be to infiltrate that.
“Certainly cups, individual games, the starting point is so make sure you're more competitive in those individual games.
“It’s been done in the past, all the leagues over the world there are shocks, a Leicester for example when they won the premier League and it can happen.
"We have to strive for better and challenge and not just expect that to happen year on year.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel