Hibs boss Johnson in bizarre Celtic praise as he singles out champions’ secret weapon

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Hibernian boss Lee Johnson has suggested that Celtic have a secret weapon which gives them an advantage over other Premiership sides – the ball boys.

Johnson has endured an acrimonious start as Hibs boss after his side’s Premier Sports Cup exit, and despite beating St Johnstone in Perth last weekend, faces a daunting task against Hearts in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road later today.

As reported by the Scottish Daily Express, Johnson said ahead of the game: “Over the 97 minutes against St Johnstone the ball was in play for just 41 minutes! How boring is that? So, what are we doing about it? We have to speed up the ball boys, referees have to manage the game to get the ball flowing.

“If you book a goalkeeper early for wasting time — and I would take this at my end as well, by the way — I guarantee you he’ll speed up his play. There’s the multi-ball system on the side too. But what kind of ball boys are you using? Are they ten-year-olds or 17? Are they coached or not?

“If you watch Celtic ball boys, they are fantastic. They are drilled like Wimbledon ball boys! If they are 1-0 up with ten minutes to go, bang, two balls come on the pitch at once and it’s, ‘Oops, sorry’, Genius! But if they are behind or drawing, the ball is coming back rapid and the throws are incoming in five seconds.

“We had our ball boys in on Wednesday. They are all Under-14 but we had them around the pitch and it was fast-paced, trying to create the tempo of a derby. It was fire-in-the-belly, ice-in-the-head stuff. They were brilliant by the way.

Some truth behind the back-handed compliment

Although there’s clearly a tongue-in-cheek element to Johnson’s praise, he has a point that Celtic’s ball boys have played their part in the champions’ relentless approach over the last year and can have a huge say in the tempo of any game.

Ensuring that the ball returns to open play as quickly as possible is a key part of Celtic’s suffocating style, keeping the opposition hemmed in and retrieving the ball back in an instant when it’s turned over.

Joe Hart’s quickly-taken short goal kicks have also become a staple of the Hoops’ play, quickly accelerating the ball up the pitch before the opposition have time to reset.

So long as it doesn’t approach anything like the infamous Eden Hazard incident at Swansea some years ago when a ball boy lay down to prevent the Belgian restarting the game – expect Celtic’s pitch-side youngsters to do their bit for some time yet.

In other news: “Absolute adrenaline”; Joe Hart, Moritz Jenz and Kyogo take to Instagram after Celtic win