Lee Johnson turned down a surprise offer to play for Gibraltar against World Cup winners Germany. Gibraltar are UEFA’s newest members for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and he qualifies through his grandmother on his dad’s side of the family. Athletic chairman Simon Corney had sanctioned the action had Johnson decided to take up the offer.
He said, “My nan on my dad’s side is a full Gibraltarian. I got a phone call from an agent asking if I was interested in playing. I was shocked and just laughed it off, but the chairman then said if I played he would fly the whole squad out to watch!”
“It was nice to be at least thought about, but I didn’t really want to be running around chasing after the world champions when we have a game on the Saturday. I’ll invite the Gibraltar team over to play us. That would be a good game - and I would play. I’d have to work on my fitness first though!”