Every word of Lee Johnson's explosive post-match rant at referee and officials after Hibs draw with St Johnstone

Read every word of Lee Johnson’s scathing attack on the refereeing performance during his side’s 1-1 draw with St Johnstone, why he feels the ‘system is broken’ in Scotland, and how it could be improved

On Jimmy Jeggo’s red card

“A horrendous decision. Jimmy gets a clear first contact on the ball, a good 0.5 seconds before, and his momentum carries him through. The ball bounces behind him; he doesn’t know if there’s someone there, he’s just stretching to compete. The St Johnstone player [Connor McLennan] steams in, they both compete for the ball but the St Johnstone player gets nowhere near and Jimmy wins it cleanly. They’ll talk about the follow-through because of Graeme Shinnie’s one the other day but it’s completely different. Honestly, I’ve had it up to here with these decisions. I can’t believe it. I’m shocked by it. The system is absolutely broken, and needs to be fixed. How do you stop a follow-through? He’s trying to half-tackle and half-pass but he doesn’t know if there’s someone there or not. He wins the ball cleanly, their player comes flying in 0.5 seconds after, and somehow Jeggo gets sent off.

"And did you see how quickly the referee whipped out the red card? And then to not go to the VAR screen… honestly, it’s broken if that’s a sending-off. It was like the show was all about the officials on too many occasions. He didn’t even blow his whistle loud enough. I could name three occasions when he didn’t blow his whistle either loud enough, or at all, and everyone’s playing on and he’s having a go at everyone for playing on. Yeah, because you haven’t blown your whistle!”

Hibs boss Lee Johnson applauds the away fans after the 1-1 draw with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park

On the fixture schedule, demoting and promoting referees, and the LMA

“Where's the system where people get marked and then get promoted or demoted based on those marks? What are we running here? It's ridiculous, even to the point that every game should have been played at 3pm on Saturday, including Aberdeen v Rangers.

"This was the last pre-split game and there was too much going on. It has to be fair, and fairness is everybody kicking off at the same time. We don't know what's going on [in the other games] and the difference in dynamic. They can’t pre-meditate that. Therefore it has to be 3pm.

"There are so many things in Scottish football that need looked at. The managers up here are probably not powerful enough. In England, the LMA is a powerful unit. We feel like we have influence and can change the game for the better but up here I feel like we have no influence, and there are probably 11 other managers who feel the same. It's only to make the game better and more attractive. It's just not good enough. It is going to cost a fantastic competition a lot of integrity.”

On whether Hibs will appeal red card

“My gut instinct is I don't think we can appeal it, because it's not mistaken identity, and it’s those type of things that get overturned. I'll find out exactly what we can and can't do but we've got a player in there who's competitive and genuine who doesn't make rash, dirty tackles. He's genuinely competed for a ball and now he's going to miss the next two or three games or however many it is.

“Obviously a frivolous appeal ends up in an extra game, and I don’t trust [the process]. It was a really poor performance from the official, as bad as I’ve seen. It beggars belief. I've probably played 1000 games as a player, including youth, 500-odd games as a manager, and that's the worst I've seen. Unreal.”

On why Jamie McAllister was booked

"Probably for articulating how poor the official’s performance was.”

On what (or what not) to teach his players

“I don’t trust the system. I’ve been told I’m not allowed to say what I want to do. I was absolutely certain that the referee had made a bad decision but after speaking to him he was talking about the cut on the St Johnstone player’s leg. It’s still a contact sport! What am I teaching my players? There have been too many scenarios this year. Ross County away when David Marshall was bundled into the goal; the Rangers one where we should have had a handball that went to VAR and still went Rangers’ way. It’s unbelievable.

“What do I do as a coach? What am I telling my players? Lewis Stevenson’s handball [against Celtic in December] – are we defending with our hands behind our back? What are we doing? Some of the handballs have hit people from behind! If players are jumping, where do they put their hands?”

On making the top six

“I feel like it's mission one accomplished; we're now competing for a European place. That's brilliant. We've had a rough time of it. We haven't had a clean run at it this season but we've battled through. Over the course of 33 games, we're the fifth best team, currently, in the league and we give ourselves a chance to stay fifth and potentially go higher. Everything's still to play for, which is great.

"I'm disappointed we didn't get the three points. I wanted a repeat of the Hearts performance, but it was a little bit scatty from us. The pitch was bobbly and the ball was a hot potato. There was no class or composure in the first 20-25 minutes. The goal settled us a little bit and we played better and given the circumstances, the boys battled hard in a difficult game to get a point at a tough place to come.

"The game was bad, it was a battle at best, and I should be feeling quite happy that we’ve got the job done in terms of competing for a European spot and having moved up a place in the league.”