Lee Johnson reveals health scare left him writhing in Hibs office in 'agony' trying to conduct deadline day deals

Lee Johnson can’t wait to get his head back fully on managing Hibs - after admitting his deadline day health scare left him unable to remember if he’d finalised key signings. The Hibs boss is back in business after a brutal few weeks that saw him undergo emergency surgery to remove 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 HTC 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 and 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. In one sense you want to say, ‘f*** off, I’m in agony here’ but in another sense you know it’s important.

“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’d made them.

“Ben Kensell and Ian Gordon did really well and the coaching staff all mucked in. 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.

“It was a four-hour op. I had a perforated and infected gall bladder and there