Mitchell Johnson has explained his controversial public condemnation of former teammate David Warner, revealing a "personal" issue between the pair prompted his article.
The retired quick, who played alongside the retiring left-hander on the international stage for a number of years, penned a column in The West Australian over the weekend, criticising Warner's desire to have a Sydney swansong.
Johnson labelled the Australian opener as 'disrespectful' and 'arrogant' throughout the piece, bringing up the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal and why the 37-year-old doesn't deserve a send-off at his home ground.
The article has prompted a divided response across the cricket community, with the likes of Michael Clarke and Usman Khawaja defending Warner, while national selector George Bailey brushed aside the criticism.
MORE: Tim Paine weighs in on Mitchell Johnson-David Warner drama
In the latest episode of The Mitchell Johnson Cricket Show, the 42-year-old admitted the piece stemmed from Warner's desire to bow out on his own terms, despite a rough patch of form in recent years at Test level.
“This was a difficult one to do, it’s not easy, but I feel like I’m being truthful to myself and when I’ve written it, I probably knew it was going to get a bit of attention," he said.
"Dave wanted to retire from cricket at this point at the SCG… that didn’t really sit that well with me, it’s just my personal opinion.
"I don’t want to be writing pieces that are fluff pieces, I don’t want to be talking people up for the sake of it."
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Mitchell Johnson explains 'personal' David Warner issue
However, while the critique of Warner's on-field performances were valid, Johnson would proceed to take personal shots at 'The Bull' and set social media alight.
While there had not been any well-documented falling out between the pair prior to the weekend's events, Johnson revealed a situation that led to a breakdown of any friendship between the Aussie stars.
In the lead-up to The Ashes, Warner's wife and former athlete Candace appeared on The Back Page and claimed there weren't any options to replace her husband in the Test side, prompting a response from Johnson.
Warner would then send a message to Johnson and the feared left-armer would admit the nature of the exchange led to the more personal side of his recent article.
“I got a message from Dave which was quite personal," he said.
"I tried to ring him to try and talk to him about it, which I have always been open to the guys when I finished playing, when I’m in the media... come and speak to me.
"It was never a personal thing then, until probably this point and this is probably what drove me to writing the article.
"Some of the stuff that was said in that, I won’t say it because I think that’s up to Dave. There was some stuff in there that was extremely disappointing and pretty bad, to be honest."
Mitchell Johnson hits back at 'disgusting' George Bailey comments
The other party at the centre of the Johnson-Warner saga is the head selector for the Australian side and a former teammate of both players in Bailey, who reacted briefly to the comments during a media conference on Sunday.
Bailey shot down the criticism and said he hoped Johnson was "okay", leading to a stern rebuttal from the Queensland native on his podcast.
"I'm okay, I'm actually in a good headspace and that's another thing that was really disappointing," he said.
“To ask if I’m okay because I’ve had mental health issues is pretty much downplaying my article and putting it on mental health, which is quite disgusting I think.
“It’s basically having a dig at someone’s mental health and saying that I must have something going on, a mental health issue has made me say what I have said. That’s not the truth. That’s completely the opposite."
Johnson played over 300 games for Australia across all formats, becoming one of the most feared bowlers in world cricket and a cult hero among fans Down Under.
He also revealed a recent run-in with Bailey surrounding the usage of Lance Morris, who has been selected in the Australian squad for the upcoming series, leading to a text message exchange at 'all hours of the morning'.
Quizzed on whether or not he would attempt to fix the issues with both Warner and Bailey across the Test summer - which will see him commentate the international fixtures - Johnson admitted it might be a stretch.
“It’s a hard question to answer at the moment because it’s so fresh,” he said.
“They’ve made their bed, both those guys, and they’ve made it really clear to me where I stand with them.”
