John Johnston (born 2 May 1947) is a Northern Irish former professional
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 ...
in both Northern Ireland and England.
Career
Born in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
, Johnston began his career in his native Northern Ireland with
Glentoran
Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882.
History
Early history
In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...
, before making the move to England to play in
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
with
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
, for whom he made 26 League appearances. He made his debut for
Stan Mortensen
Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a h ...
's men midway through the
1968–69 season, in a single-goal defeat at
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
on 14 December. He made a further seven appearances before the end of the season, scoring once — a penalty in a 2–1 victory at
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building
* ...
on 25 January. He also made two starts during the club's run to the fifth round of the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
. He made two League appearances in the
following campaign, under new manager
Les Shannon
Leslie Shannon (12 March 1926 – 2 December 2007) was an English football player and manager.
As a forward, he scored 40 goals in 274 league games in the Football League, playing for Liverpool between November 1944 and November 1949 and t ...
, scoring the only goal of the game in the second of these appearances, at home to
Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...
on 22 November. This went part way to helping ''the Seasiders'' win promotion to Division One after securing second place at the end of the season. He made thirteen League appearances in
1970–71 as the club returned whence they had come twelve months earlier, after finishing bottom of the table. In
1971–72, during which he was loaned out to
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
, Johnston made three substitute appearances, the last of these in a 4–2 victory over
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...
at
Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the ...
on 1 April.
In
1972–73 he joined
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
Th ...
, with whom he spent two years, before signing for
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
. After another two years with ''the Sandgrounders'', he returned to Halifax Town, this time on a permanent basis. He made 73 Football League appearances for Southport in his three years with the club, taking his total number of League appearances to 244.
Johnston later played non-League football with
Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...
.
References
External links
Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Johnny
1947 births
Living people
Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland
Glentoran F.C. players
Blackpool F.C. players
Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Bradford City A.F.C. players
Southport F.C. players
Fleetwood Town F.C. players
English Football League players
Men's association football midfielders
Association footballers from Belfast