Bury kick off their pre-season schedule at Tottington United on Friday evening (7.30pm) and there are set to be trialists in action.
Johnson has been taking a look at a few young prospects in training following the club’s latest Emerging Talent Group event.
The Bury boss challenged any players who get an opportunity at St Anne’s to grasp it with both hands ahead of the upcoming campaign.
“We have got some fantastic young trialists who came through the emerging talent ID event we did a few weeks back,” he told The Bury Times.
“They aren’t just players who have said, ‘Can I come in for a trial?’ We do our diligence on all trialists and we have already seen them at the trial event.
“The Tottington United game is the perfect platform for some of these younger lads to showcase what they are about in front of what should be a decent crowd.”
The Shakers are preparing for the step up to the NPL Premier Division following back-to-back league titles.
“I talk about momentum a lot. There are probably only five per cent of football teams who have momentum,” Johnson added.
“I am always wary of, when you have that momentum behind you from doing well in the league season, stripping it back and making too many changes.
“We are going into this season with 16 players from last year so we have huge momentum behind us.
“You can’t buy it, you can’t exchange it, it takes time to build with a group of people. We have got that behind us.
“We will add that sprinkle of quality to it - maybe one or two more still to come in, we will have a look – and hope that momentum gathers over the next six or seven weeks.”
The challenges get tougher as Bury climb higher up the pyramid, but Johnson hopes that his experience of the non-league game can help the Shakers keep moving forward.
“I think what Bury have done really well over the last couple of years is that they’ve signed players and winners from the leagues that they’ve been in,” he added.
“When they won the Counties, they were signing players from the league above. The league we won last year, they were signing players from that league who were experts almost.
“You’re trying to find experts of the levels you’re going into and lads who are used to winning games of football, winning leagues.
“I would much rather be signing a player that's been at the top end of the table winning games than the best player of a team who are bottom of the league, because those players are used to losing.
“It’s a different type of mentality, we’re always looking at players with that winning mentality, attitude and personality.
“Ultimately, you're trying to fill spots where you think you've got a weakness. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t feel like you’ve got a weakness in the squad, you don’t try to bring the player in just for the sake of it.”
