PRIVATE PRACTICE
Inside Peter Leven’s hospital stay as Aberdeen boss made substitutions and shouted at Jonny Hayes from his own WARD
His fellow coach wasn't the best at relaying his instructions
PETER LEVEN admits he’s relieved his nurses found him a private room to watch Aberdeen in action last weekend.
Because being away from Pittodrie drove him crazy.
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The Dons stand-in gaffer was rushed to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after an injury to his hip became infected.
Leven said: “Last Saturday was so frustrating, but the media team were brilliant because they got me hooked up to a live stream.
“But I was screaming and shouting down the phone at Jonny Hayes telling him to pass on messages. But he wasn’t passing them on the right way.
“I was getting excited telling him to get boys tighter, and he was passing it on very calmly.
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“I had to tell him, ‘That’s not the way I’m saying it!’. That must have been funny to watch.
“Thankfully the hospital had me in a room on my own so I didn’t bother anyone else when I was raising my voice.
“The staff were great, although I did have to tell one guy who walked past to wait a minute because I was in the middle of making a sub at the time.
“That was a strange experience, that’s for sure, but I was just delighted we got the win.
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“I’m out of hospital now, although I’ll need to remember on Sunday that I can’t be getting too excited and running around the technical area.
“The rest of the coaching staff are glad I’m back, though, because I was a nightmare.
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“Jonny will be glad he doesn’t have to deal with me — and Scott Anderson said if it had been him on the phone to me instead, he’d have just hung up because of the way I was going on!”
Leven has been troubled by his hip injury for a number of weeks, but after travelling to London last Monday for an injection, expected that to be the end of the issue.
He added: “It came out of the blue, I’d had an injection in it because it has been bothering me for a while.
“I came in from training on Friday and got a message from the doctor that I had to go to hospital straight away to have it flushed out because there was an infection in there.
“Initially I said I’d just wait until Monday, but they told me that wasn’t an option. It simply had to be done there and then.
“All I was thinking was I had a job to do, and there was no way I couldn’t be on the Aberdeen bench.
“But the medical staff here told me that wasn’t a choice — the surgeon wanted me there immediately.
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“The hospital and the staff there were amazing. They saw me straight away and have fixed me up.
“They don’t know how the hip got infected, it’s just one of those things that can happen.”
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