Jimmy Johnstone

Jimmy Johnstone

Statue of Johnstone outside Celtic Park
Personal information
Full name James Connolly Johnstone
Date of birth 30 September 1944(1944-09-30)
Place of birth Viewpark, Scotland
Date of death 13 March 2006(2006-03-13) (aged 61)
Place of death Uddingston, Scotland
Height 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Playing position Outside right
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1961–1975 Celtic 308 (82)
1975 San Jose Earthquakes 10 (0)
1975–1977 Sheffield United 11 (2)
1977 Dundee 3 (0)
1977–1978 Shelbourne 9 (0)
1978–1979 Elgin City 18 (2)
National team
1964–1974 Scotland 23 (2)
1964–1970 Scottish League XI 4 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

James Connolly "Jimmy" Johnstone (30 September 1944 – 13 March 2006) was a Scottish football player. Johnstone was best known for his time with Celtic, and was voted their best ever player by the club's fans in 2002.[1] He scored 129 goals for Celtic in 515 appearances.[1]

Born in Viewpark, South Lanarkshire, the youngest of five children, Johnstone grew up at the family home on Old Edinburgh Road, directly across from Robertson Park, the home of local Junior side Thorniewood United FC. After being spotted by Celtic and Manchester United scouts at age 13, he chose to sign with Celtic.

Contents

Club career

Celtic

Johnstone was one of the "Lisbon Lions", the team that won the then European Cup for Celtic in 1967. Jock Stein had instilled in the team the conviction that they could beat the superstars of Internazionale, Johnstone expected that Celtic would "get gubbed". He later recalled: "There they were, Facchetti, Domenghini, Mazzola, Cappellini; all six-footers wi' Ambre Solaire suntans, Colgate smiles and sleek-backed hair. Each and every wan o' them looked like yon film star Cesar Romero. They even smelt beautiful. And there's us lot: midgets. Ah've got nae teeth, Bobby Lennox hasnae any, and old Ronnie Simpson's got the full monty, nae teeth top an' bottom. The Italians are staring doon at us an' we're grinnin' back up at 'em wi' our great gumsy grins. We must have looked like something out o' the circus."

In the tunnel before the game, legend has it that he and Bertie Auld led a Celtic chorus of The Celtic Song much to the bemusement of the Inter players.

In the end, the Italian side had no answer to the free-flowing total football of Stein's Celtic, exemplified by Johnstone, a style in polar opposition to Internazionale's defensive Catenaccio style which had dominated European football. Johnstone described the Celtic style as "like the Dutch speeded-up". In the immediate aftermath of the Lisbon victory Celtic formed the opposition in the testimonial game for the Real Madrid player Alfredo Di Stéfano. Johnstone's performance was such that the Real supporters began to cry "Olé!" every time he dribbled past one of their own team's players.[2] Referring to his encounter with Johnstone in the 1970 European Cup semi-final, in what was billed at the time as the football "Battle of Britain", Terry Cooper of Leeds United described Johnstone as "my nightmare", such was the quality of his opponent's play.

In all he made 308 League appearances for The Bhoys, scoring 82 goals. He also played another 207 times for them in the Scottish Cup, League Cup and in Europe, for an overall total of 515 matches.[3]

Later career

He played for the San Jose Earthquakes of the North American Soccer League before moving to England in 1975, signing for Sheffield United. Johnstone also played for Dundee, Shelbourne and Elgin City before retiring.

International career

Johnstone won 23 caps for the Scottish international side.[4]

Later life

Johnstone's dry wit was in evidence when the Lisbon Lions were paraded at Celtic Park on the 25th anniversary of their triumph in the European Cup. In an aside, Paul McStay, the then Celtic captain, asked Johnstone who he thought would win if the 1967 team was to play the team of 1992. Johnstone paused to consider for a moment, then replied that he thought it would be a draw. McStay suggested that perhaps the veteran was being kind to the current team. Johnstone explained -"well, you've got to remember that we're all in our fifties now!"

A documentary about Johnstone's life titled Lord of the Wing first aired on the BBC in 2004. The film, narrated by Billy Connolly, includes footage of his footballing highlights, as well as numerous tributes from the world of football.

In June 2005, Johnstone became the first living person since the time of the Tsars to have a Fabergé Egg designed in his honour. The egg was designed by Carl Fabergé's granddaughter Sarah [1] and was unveiled at the House of Commons in June 2006. The entire collection of nineteen limited edition eggs sold out within days.

Motor neurone disease and death

Johnstone was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in November 2001. To raise funds for charity and to raise awareness of the disease, he launched a new version of the song "Dirty Old Town" together with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.

Johnstone died in March 2006.[5] The last person to call him was old Rangers rival, Willie Henderson, who had become a firm friend of Johnstone. Thousands of Celtic fans, and fans of many other clubs, including those of arch-rivals Rangers paid tribute to his memory outside Celtic Park on St Patrick's Day, the day of his funeral service. Tributes were paid to Johnstone before the 2006 Scottish League Cup Final, played between Celtic and Dunfermline.[6] There was a minute of applause before the game and the entire Celtic squad wore the number 7 on their shorts in his honour.[6]

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1962-63 Celtic Division One 4 1
1963-64 25 6
1964-65 24 1
1965-66 32 9
1966-67 25 13
1967-68 29 5
1968-69 31 5
1969-70 27 10
1970-71 30 8
1971-72 23 9
1972-73 22 7
1973-74 15 3
1974-75 21 5
USA League Open Cup League Cup North America Total
1975 San Jose Earthquakes North American Soccer League 10 0
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1975-76 Sheffield United First Division 6 1
1976-77 Second Division 5 1
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1977-78 Dundee Division One 3 0
Republic of Ireland League FAI Cup League of Ireland Cup Europe Total
1977-78 Shelbourne Premier Division 9 0
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1978-79 Elgin City Highland League 18 2
Total Scotland 311 83
USA 10 0
England 11 2
Republic of Ireland 9 0
Career total

Honours

References

  1. ^ a b Brian Glanville (14 March 2006). "Brilliant Celtic and Scotland winger who took the European Cup with the Lisbon Lions". Obituary. Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/mar/14/guardianobituaries.football. Retrieved 2 August 2011. 
  2. ^ "Celtic's Greatest Ever Player". Jimmy Johnstone. http://www.jimmyjohnstone.com/news/article.asp?news_id=102&news_page=3. Retrieved 2010-06-09. 
  3. ^ "Johnstone, Jimmy 'Jinky'". The Celtic Wiki. http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/Johnstone%2C+Jimmy+%27Jinky%27. Retrieved 12 November 2011. 
  4. ^ Jonathan Paisley (7 July 2008). "Celtic statue memorial to legend Jinky". Evening Times. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/celtic-statue-memorial-to-legend-jinky-1.960203. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
  5. ^ "Celtic great dies at 61". BBC Sport. 13 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/4800766.stm. Retrieved 29 January 2008. 
  6. ^ a b "CIS Insurance Cup Final 2006". Scottish Football League. 14 March 2006. http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/news/article/jimmy-johnstone-tribute/. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 

External links

Scotland squad – 1974 FIFA World Cup