Johnny MacLeod

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For other people of the same name, see John MacLeod.

John Murdoch "Johnny" MacLeod (born November 23, 1938) is a Scottish former footballer.

Born in Edinburgh, MacLeod started his career at his local club, Hibernian, and played 85 times for the Edinburgh side between 1957 and 1961, where he made a name for himself as a talented right-winger. He also earned four caps for Scotland, all in 1961, the first being the famous 9-3 defeat at the hands of England and the last being a 4-0 defeat by Czechoslovakia in a 1962 World Cup qualifier.

In July 1961 MacLeod was signed by Arsenal for £40,000 (then a record fee for a winger) and made his debut against Burnley on August 19, 1961; he soon became a regular for the next three seasons, playing over thirty games in each. In total, he made 112 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 27 goals, despite manager Billy Wright's policy of usually employing only one winger on the pitch. Arsenal were not particularly successful at this time, usually finishing around mid-table, although they did make their European debut, in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1963-64; MacLeod scored in Arsenal's very first European match, a 7-1 thrashing of a Copenhagen XI ("Stævnet") on September 25, 1963.

In September 1964, with the young George Armstrong pushing for a place in the side, Arsenal found MacLeod surplus to requirements and sold him to Aston Villa for £35,000. He spent four seasons at Villa Park making 123 league appearances, before moving to Belgium to play for KV Mechelen in 1968. In 1971 he returned to his native Scotland to see out his career at Raith Rovers. He retired from playing in 1972.