Johnson was in the room at the time of the 2008 incident when Katich grabbed Clarke around the neck after the former Australian captain called he and Hussey “weak c---s”.

The incident has been detailed in Clarke’s and Johnson’s recently released autobiographies.

Johnson recalls the events that led to the infamous confrontation.

“I remember just sitting here and there were murmurs going on in the room and looking around at Michael and the team manager and he was coming up to Mike Hussey who was the theme song singer and whispering and Kato had had enough,” Johnson told Fox Sports.

“He went up to Huss and said what’s going on and it sort of blew up a little bit from there and Michael came into the room and it just escalated.

“He had him up against a wall and it was pretty fiery, not something you want to see, but I guess those things do happen in team sports every now and then and it got out and looked pretty ugly from the outside.”

Katich sought reassurance from Johnson following the incident.

“I think from his point of view he wanted me to say something and I said yeah I think you did the right thing at that time. That’s what he felt was the right thing,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he believed the altercation led to Katich being cut from the Test team.

“I think there was definitely an impact with that incident and I think that was definitely part of why he was sacked,” he said.

 “I think Simon was a great senior player and I had a good relationship with him and I really looked up to him and I know a lot of the other guys did as well.”

Johnson said while he and Clarke had good rapport professionally, that is where the relationship ended.   

“He was probably the best captain and technically I guess with the field positions he was very aggressive and I think it suited my bowling. We saw that in the Ashes,” he said.

But asked if he had remained in contact with Clarke following their respective retirements, Johnson said with a grin:

“No.”