Robert Johnstone (born 6 November 1911) was a Scottish

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

; his only club at the professional level was

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, where he spent six seasons as the regular custodian until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939. Johnstone had been brought to the ''Jags'' from the junior leagues in June 1933, a week after the previous goalkeeper, Scotland international

John Jackson John or Johnny Jackson may refer to: Entertainment Art * John Baptist Jackson (1701–1780), British artist * John Jackson (painter) (1778–1831), British painter * John Jackson (engraver) (1801–1848), English wood engraver * John Richardson ...

, was sold to

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, and immediately took over the place in the first team, going on to make 255 appearances for the club in all competitions and claim winner's medals in the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rules ...

and

Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup ...

, both in the 1934–35 season;Queen's in too big a hurry
The Sunday Post, 12 May 1935, via Partick Thistle History Archive His position began to come under threat from the young Bobby Henderson before regular football was suspended. During the war he moved to hometown club

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

, but did not make any official appearances for them before his contract expired in 1943; he also had guest spells with St Mirren and

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

References

1911 births Year of death unknown Footballers from Motherwell Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Scottish Junior Football Association players Wishaw F.C. players Blantyre Celtic F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players St Mirren F.C. wartime guest players Albion Rovers F.C. wartime guest players Scottish Football League players {{Scotland-footy-goalkeeper-stub