Lee Johnson

In 2000, Johnson signed for Brighton & Hove Albion, scoring in his only appearance for the club against Cardiff City in the Football League Trophy, before having a non-contract spell with Brentford during the final months of the 2000–01 season, in which he failed to receive a call into the squad. He then went on to sign for Conference side Yeovil Town in July 2001 on a free transfer. Managed by his father Gary, Yeovil achieved two promotions, reaching the Football League Second Division. In this time, Johnson won the player of the year award three times consecutively. Johnson joined Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian on 11 January 2006 for a transfer fee of £50,000, signing onto a two-and-a-half-year contract. His debut came as a late substitute in a 4–1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic, and he started his first game in another 4–1 win over Hearts' Edinburgh derby rivals Hibernian. Less than two months after Johnson joined Hearts, manager Graham Rix was sacked, which resulted in Johnson receiving less game time: he only made one substitute appearance prior to his departure, six months after signing. In August 2006, Johnson rejoined his father at Bristol City. On 12 August 2006, Huddersfield Town manager Peter Jackson was sent to the stands after grabbing Johnson around the throat in a touchline incident 10 minutes from full-time. He was part of the Bristol City team that won promotion to the Championship in the 2006–07 league campaign. In the 2007–08 season,…

Oldham Athletic

On 18 March 2013, Johnson was appointed manager of EFL League One side Oldham Athletic, signing a two-year contract. At the age of 31, his appointment made him the youngest manager in the English Football League, with him also managing in the same league as his father, Gary, who was then the manager of Yeovil Town. His first game in charge was a 3–0 victory over Hartlepool United the day after his appointment, which saw Oldham move out of the relegation zone. He went on to lead the club to safety soon afterwards, with a run of form notable for wins against Bury and promotion-chasing Yeovil, which was also highlighted as it was reported to be the first instance of father and son managing against each other since Bill Dodgin Sr. of Bristol Rovers and Bill Dodgin Jr. of Fulham faced each other in the early 1970s. During the off-season prior to his first full season in charge, Johnson vowed to make changes to the squad, resulting in a change of play which lead to fan favourite Robbie Simpson controversially being on the list of players that were released by the club. However, Johnson hit back completing the signings of James Dayton, Sidney Schmeltz and Korey Smith. The latter chose to make his initial loan into a permanent deal with Johnson also appointing the player as the new team captain. Oldham started the season as Johnson intended, winning 4–3 at Stevenage. In January various changes were made, notably losing the services of James Tarkowski to…

Born in Newmarket, Suffolk, Johnson is the only child of Caron and football manager Gary Johnson. He began his career as a youth player with Arsenal, but left the club aged 17 after a feud with a coach. He then went on to join Watford, whose youth system was run by his father; he did not make a senior appearance for the club prior to his departure in 2000.

At the time of his appointment as Oldham Athletic manager in 2013, three members of his family were chief scouts at different football clubs.