LEE FORGOT HIS SIGNINGS
LEE JOHNSON can’t wait to get his head back fully on managing Hibs – after admitting his deadline day health scare left him unaware if he’d finalised key signings.
The Hibs boss is back in business after a brutal few weeks that saw him undergo emergency surgery for a perforated gall bladder.
Speaking for the first time since that operation in the final few hours of the transfer window, Johnson revealed he’d been curled up in a ball in agony while still trying to conduct business in his office.
Harry McKirdy, Will Fish and Mykola Kukharevych were all secured late in the day – not that the Easter Road boss could remember much about it.
The 41-year-old said: “I was literally in my office curled up in a ball because I was in agony.
“Someone would knock on the door and I’d act like I was all right but as soon as they’d gone I’d go back to curling up in a ball in agony again.
“You just keep trying to do your job.
“I couldn’t have timed it any worse with that week. I was taking calls as the anaesthetist was about to put me under and I’m making decisions on Harry McKirdy.
“The funniest thing was that, when I came round after the four-hour operation, I made three phone calls to find out what had gone on. And then I made the same three phone calls because I completely forgot I had made them.
“Will Fish was a good example. I can’t remember if I did or didn’t sign him. Apparently I did, but I couldn’t remember because I’d just come out of theatre.”
Assistants Jamie McAllister and Adam Owen oversaw the 1-0 win over Kilmarnock the following Saturday.
Johnson said: “Martin Boyle said, ‘Gaffer I’m superstitious, can you not come next week as well?’
“So, lovely. I brought him back from the desert and gave him everything he ever wanted, played him in every game and I’ve lost an organ and he’s chucking that at me!”
Aberdeen are up next in Leith tomorrow and new signing Kukharevych could make his debut with McKirdy suspended.
Johnson, meanwhile, is delighted to see Ryan Porteous back in the Scotland squad. And he hopes it can convince the Hibees defender to agree a new deal.
He said: “We’re keen to keep him and those discussions are still in play.
“The fact we’ve signed his best mate in Martin Boyle and the Scotland call-up shows you can achieve your ambitions at Hibs. That’s important, that message is key.”