Mo Johnston
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| Mo Johnston | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maurice John Giblin Johnston | |
| Date of birth | April 13, 1963 | |
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | |
| Playing position | Striker / Head coach | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | N/A | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Milton Battlefield | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1981-1984 1983-1985 1984-1987 1987-1989 1989-1991 1991-1993 1993-1994 1994-1996 1996-2001 |
Partick Thistle Watford Celtic Nantes Rangers Everton Hearts Falkirk Kansas City Wizards |
85 (41) 38 (23) 99 (52) 66 (22) 100 (46) 34 (10) 35 (5) 41 (6) 149 (31) |
| National team | ||
| 1984-1992 | Scotland | 38 (14) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 2005-2006 2007-2008 |
MetroStars/Red Bull New York Toronto FC |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Maurice John Giblin "Mo" Johnston (born April 13, 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a former Scottish football striker, who made his name playing with Celtic and Rangers. He is currently the manager and Director of Soccer at Major League Soccer club Toronto FC.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] Early years
Johnston started his career in 1981 with Partick Thistle and scored 41 goals in two and a half seasons there. He then moved on to English club Watford. After 23 goals in a season and a half and a trip to the FA Cup final with Watford, Johnston signed with Scottish team Celtic. Johnston scored 55 goals in his three years there.
[edit] Nantes
Johnston moved on to French club Nantes in 1987 and scored 22 goals in two seasons there. After initially claiming he would never return to Scotland, Johnston reconsidered and appeared at a press conference to announce that he would sign for Celtic at the end of his contract with Nantes.
[edit] Rangers
In July 1989, after a last minute change of mind, Johnston opted not to sign for Celtic and instead joined Graeme Souness's Rangers. This unprecedented move managed to anger some supporters of both Celtic and Rangers. Some Rangers supporters saw the signing of a Roman Catholic -- who was also a high-profile former player and supporter of their most bitter rivals -- as a betrayal of the club's traditions. While representations in the popular press emphasised the acrimonious reaction of some fans to Johnston's signing, other supporters viewed the signing enthusiastically, the one-upmanship of securing the coveted Johnston outweighing whatever other reservations might have existed on the grounds of religion or footballing enmity.
For Celtic fans, too, Johnston's signing provoked intense indignation amongst some fans. As with Rangers supporters, for the majority this may have been driven principally by partisan footballing loyalties, but views amongst some may arguably have been prompted also by a deeper sense of betrayal stemming from the decision of a 'Celtic-minded' former player and supporter to sign for the club's principal rivals. Just days before signing for Rangers, Johnston had appeared at a press conference at Celtic Park where he declared that "Celtic are the only club that I want to play for..." For much of the Celtic support, Johnston's subsequent change of heart transformed his status from returning hero to traitor. Consequently MoJo, as he was previously nicknamed, was referred to as Judas by Celtic fans. [1] [2].
Johnston was not the first Roman Catholic to sign for Rangers. However, his signing was by far the highest profile one during a period in which Rangers very publicly committed the club to a signing policy which took no account of religion. Since Johnston's signing, numerous Catholics (though few actually from Scotland) have played for Rangers. Equally, Johnston's signing was one of only a small number (and by the far the most prominent) of instances of indirect transfers from one Old Firm club to the other, and was bound to prove controversial, irrespective of the player's religion.
Johnston scored 46 goals for Rangers in 100 games in major competitions and helped them to two of their nine consecutive Scottish titles secured in the period 1988-1997. In 1991, he moved to English club Everton, scoring ten goals in two seasons. Johnston returned to Scotland with Edinburgh club Hearts and then Falkirk, scoring just five and six goals respectively in season and a half with each club.
[edit] MLS
Johnston made the switch to the United States and Major League Soccer in 1996, signing with the Kansas City Wiz (later renamed the Wizards). He scored 31 goals in 149 games for the club, adding a goal in 15 playoff games. He was part of the Wizards team that won the MLS Cup in 2000.
[edit] International career
Mo Johnston made his debut with the Scottish national team in 1984 and had a decent scoring record making him the first choice striker for manager Andy Roxburgh. Prior to that he had been expected to make the squad for Mexico 86 but was dropped by Alex Ferguson after a late night incident during Scotland's preparations for their play-off against Australia. He played a big part in getting Scotland to Italia 90 but retired from international competition after their early elimination. He briefly returned to the national side team for several Euro qualifiers in late 1991 but got injured against Switzerland and finally, in 1992 after scoring 14 goals in 38 caps, permanently retired from the national team. He was in the starting lineup for all three of Scotland's matches in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, scoring a penalty kick against Sweden.
[edit] International goals
- Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February 28, 1984 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |  Wales |
2-1 | 2-1 | BHC |
| 2 | September 12, 1984 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |  Yugoslavia |
5-1 | 6-1 | Friendly |
| 3 | November 14, 1984 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |  Spain |
1-0 | 3-1 | WCQG7 |
| 4 | November 14, 1984 | Hampden Park, Glasgow | Spain |
2-0 | 3-1 | WCQG7 |
| 5 | November 12, 1986 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |  Luxembourg |
3-0 | 3-0 | ECQG7 |
| 6 | February 17, 1988 | King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh |  Saudi Arabia |
1-1 | 2-2 | Friendly |
| 7 | September 14, 1988 | Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo |  Norway |
2-1 | 2-1 | WCQG5 |
| 8 | October 19, 1988 | Hampden Park, Glasgow | Yugoslavia |
1-0 | 1-1 | WCQG5 |
| 9 | February 8, 1989 | Tsirion Stadium, Limassol |  Cyprus |
1-0 | 3-2 | WCQG5 |
| 10 | March 8, 1989 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |  France |
1-0 | 2-0 | WCQG5 |
| 11 | March 8, 1989 | Hampden Park, Glasgow | France |
2-0 | 2-0 | WCQG5 |
| 12 | April 26, 1989 | Hampden Park, Glasgow | Cyprus |
1-0 | 2-1 | WCQG5 |
| 13 | May 19, 1990 | Hampden Park, Glasgow |  Poland |
1-0 | 1-1 | Friendly |
| 14 | June 16, 1990 | Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa |  Sweden |
2-0 | 2-1 | WCGC |
[edit] Managerial career
Johnston retired after the 2001 season, and from 2003 to 2005 was an assistant coach to Bob Bradley for the MetroStars. After Bradley was fired with three games left in the 2005 season, Johnston was named interim head coach. He led the team to the playoffs and was promoted to the full-time position with re-branded Red Bull New York after the season. On June 27, 2006, after a 2-3-7 start to the 2006 season, Johnston was fired.
On August 22, 2006, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE); owners of MLS club Toronto FC, announced Johnston as Head Coach beginning their inaugural 2007 season. Johnston has the dubious distinction of coaching Toronto FC through two records of futility: the MLS longest goalless streak at 824 minutes and the longest goalless streak to begin the season at 558 minutes. Before the start of the 2008 season, it was announced that Johnston would move upstairs to fill the role of Director of Football, though he would retain the title of manager, while John Carver took over coaching duties.
Although well respected by some Toronto FC fans, Mo Johnston has earned himself the name "Trader Mo" because in the first half of the first season alone he had traded 9 players. Throughout his MLS managerial career though, Johnston has developed a reputation of proficiency for drafting players, having chosen future USMNT capped players in Jozy Altidore, Marvell Wynne and Maurice Edu, among others.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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