Andrew James Johnson (born 2 May 1974) is a former

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Johnson began his career at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, before joining

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in 1997 for £2.2m. Having made over one hundred appearances in Forest's squad, he moved on to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

for £200,000 due to his contract expiring at the end of the season. He made his Albion debut as a first-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

on 22 September 2001. His first goal for the club was scored in a 3–2 defeat away at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on 28 October of the same year. His appearances for WBA ensured that they achieved the second promotion spot in the division and thus moved up to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. Johnson made his 100th league appearance for West Bromwich Albion during the 2003–04 league season, during which he also helped Albion to a second promotion in three years. He made several appearances for his chosen country,

, but failed to score a goal at international level. After becoming a fans favourite at The Hawthorns, Johnson joined

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in June 2006. He was heavily criticised for his performances by the City fans, especially in the 2–1 away defeat to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

on 4 November 2006. Following that performance, Johnson had a spell on the sidelines through injury, but then made a comeback and was the man of the match against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 3 February 2007, and scored his first and only Leicester goal against Coventry City on 17 February 2007. On 25 April 2007, it was announced that having not featured under manager

Nigel Worthington Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City. He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County, ...

Leicester had begun talks to terminate Johnson's contract early, and he was eventually released in May 2007. Johnson was signed by

on 8 June 2007. Johnson started four

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

games for Barnsley in 2007, but lost his holding midfield position to the on-loan Brazilian Anderson De Silva, occasionally being named as a substitute. Barnsley manager

Simon Davey Simon Davey (born 1 October 1970 in Swansea) is a Welsh former professional footballer and football manager. He is now Head Director of a youth club in America called Southern Soccer Academy. He played for Swansea City, Carlisle United and Pr ...

placed Johnson on the transfer list in January 2008 and released the player from his contract twelve months later. Johnson joined non-league

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

shortly afterwards. Johnson retired from football and changed his career to become a qualified electrician.

International career

Before playing for

, he was a member of England youth team. Johnson was an unused member of England U-20 team at

1993 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1993 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 9th edition FIFA World Youth Championship. U20 Brazil defeated Ghana, 2–1 for its third title. It took place ac ...

.FIFA.com and sub-pages
/ref> In an interview with Undr the Cosh in 2022, Johnson stated that he “doesn’t class himself as Welsh,” and that he viewed the international break as “a holiday”.

References

External links

at barnsleyfc.co.uk

at lcfc.co.uk

at wba.co.uk *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Andy 1974 births Living people Footballers from Bristol Association football midfielders Welsh footballers Wales international footballers English footballers England youth international footballers English people of Welsh descent Norwich City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players